History Main / HellishCopter

* ''[[{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' does this in spirit. [[spoiler:Corporal Ferro is flying the dropship to pick up the surviving SpaceMarines to bring them back to the [[CoolShip Sulaco]]. However, she has a [[DangerTakesABackSeat hitchhiker]], in the form of a Xenomorph which kills the pilot and causes the dropship to nearly crash into the Marines.]]

* ''[[Film/CliffHanger Cliff Hanger]]'': Stallone's character takes down a chopper by throwing a bag of money into the rotors.

* Superman II (1980). During the Army's battle with the three Kryptonian supervillains Ursa blows a helicopter away with her super breath, causing it to crash.

* SimCopter is all about this. Stock up on a LOT of choppers, because you'll burn your way through nearly all of them. A quick and dirty way to lose the game is to use the "[[TheDeadliestMushroom RADIOACTIVITY]]" cheat. [[VideogameCrueltyPotential Fun stuff]].
* Left4Dead : At the end of the first level, the survivors get on a helicopter and all seems fine, until the pilot turns into a zombie, forcing the survivors to shoot them, forcing the chopper to crash. Pretty much the the exact same thing happens in the sequel.

* ''IfLooksCouldKill'' has a [[NarmCharm particularly silly]] helicopter crash where the rotor section detaches and comes after the heroes like a gigantic buzzsaw.

* Superman II (1980). During the Army's battle with the three Kryptonian supervillains Ursa blows a helicopter away with her super breath, causing it to crash.

Watch enough action movies, and you soon realize that the only thing more dangerous than being on a helicopter is wearing a [[StarTrek V-necked]] {{RedShirt}} or being the [[DeathBySex slutty girl]] in a FridayThe13th movie.[[hottip:* :Goodness help you if you're the [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot slutty girl in a v-necked red shirt in a helicopter]].]]

* ''TheMatrix'': Shortly after their GunshipRescue moment at the office building, the chopper that Trinity appropriated takes too much damage and ends up crashing into a building. [[spoiler: The heroes escape, of course. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready What, did you think this spoilerbox contained something you didn't already know?]]]]

* During the filming for the TwilightZone [[TheMovie movie]], a helicopter crashed during filming, [[HellicopterBlender killing]] [[DownerEnding Vic Morrow and two child actors on the ground]].

--> ''I ran out of bullets. ''* ''IAmLegend'': A series of flashbacks show Neville making sure his family gets to the evacuation point so they can be airlifted out of the city. They board a helicopter which safely takes off and begins to fly across the river when another chopper begins spinning wildly out of control due to being overloaded and misbalanced with people who tried to grab onto the skid as it took off. [[spoiler:There is a quick cut out of the flashback just before we can see the two choppers collide. ]]

--> ''I ran out of bullets. ''
* ''GreenZone'': Al Rawi's men shoot down a US Delta Force helicopter with an RPG.
* ''IAmLegend'': A series of flashbacks show Neville making sure his family gets to the evacuation point so they can be airlifted out of the city. They board a helicopter which safely takes off and begins to fly across the river when another chopper begins spinning wildly out of control due to being overloaded and misbalanced with people who tried to grab onto the skid as it took off. [[spoiler:There is a quick cut out of the flashback just before we can see the two choppers collide. ]]

* The episode of ''TheBatman'' which introduces Green Lantern features a helicopter crash, and Green Lantern using his ring to stop a severed rotor blade from causing any fatal damage.

* ''AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'' has an [[RealityWritesThePlot unplanned example]]: A helicopter that was rented for the movie was supposed to land in the background of a scene, except that the tail rotor struck the ground, causing the chopper to spin out and crash. The pilot escaped relatively unharmed. Thus, a helicopter that ''wasn't'' supposed to crash in a movie ''still'' crashed.

* ''AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes'' has an [[ThrowItIn unplanned example]]: A helicopter that was rented for the movie was supposed to land in the background of a scene, except that the tail rotor struck the ground, causing the chopper to spin out and crash. The pilot escaped relatively unharmed. Thus, a helicopter that ''wasn't'' supposed to crash in a movie ''still'' crashed.

* ''AttackOfTheKillerTomatoes has an [[ThrowItIn unplanned example]]: A helicopter that was rented for the movie was supposed to land in the background of a scene, except that the tail rotor struck the ground, causing the chopper to spin out and crash. The pilot escaped relatively unharmed. Thus, a helicopter that ''wasn't'' supposed to crash in a movie ''still'' crashed.

* ''[[{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' does this in spirit. [[spoiler:Corporal Ferro is flying the dropship to pick up the surviving SpaceMarines to bring them back to the [[CoolShip Sulaco]]. However, she has a [[DangerTakesABackSeat hitchiker]], in the form of a Xenomorph which kills the pilot and causes the dropship to nearly crash into the Marines.]]

** A nigh identical scene happens in the DirectToDVD RogerCorman movie ''Carnosaur II''. [[FollowTheLeader And again in another such film called]] ''[[FollowTheLeader Manticore]]''.

** Actually, it seems to be noteworthy if a POV character climbs aboard a helicopter in the ModernWarfare games and the chopper *doesn't* get shot down somehow

* ''{{Concerned}}'': Gordon Frohman takes down a Combine Gunship ''on accident'' by trying to dispose of a body by throwing it off a cliff. The body gets caught in the rotor blades of the gunship, which causes a [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious]] case of DisasterDominoes.

* ''GreenZone'': Al Rawi's men shoot down a US Delta Force helicopter with an RPG.

* ''{{Concerned}}'': Gordon Frohman takes down a Combine Gunship ''On accident'' by trying to dispose of a body by throwing it off a cliff. The body gets caught in the rotor blades of the gunship, which causes a [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious]] case of DisasterDominoes.

* ''TheMatrix'': Shortly after their BigDamnGunship moment at the office building, the chopper that Trinity appropriated takes too much damage and ends up crashing into a building. [[spoiler: The heroes escape, of course. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready What, did you think this spoilerbox contained something you didn't already know?]]]]

* ''TheMatrix'': Shortly after their BigDamnGunship moment at the office building, the chopper that Trinity appropriated takes too much damage and ends up crashing into a building. [[spoiler: The heroes escape, of course. [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready What, did you think this spoilerbox contained something you didn't already know?]]]]
* ''[[{{Alien}} Aliens]]'' does this in spirit. [[spoiler:Corporal Ferro is flying the dropship to pick up the surviving SpaceMarines to bring them back to the [[CoolShip Sulaco]]. However, she has a [[DangerTakesABackSeat hitchiker]], in the form of a Xenomorph which kills the pilot and causes the dropship to nearly crash into the Marines.]]
** A nigh identical scene happens in the DirectToDVD RogerCorman movie ''Carnosaur II''. [[FollowTheLeader And again in another such film called]] ''[[FollowTheLeader Manticore]]''.
* ''{{Cloverfield}}'': Towards the very end of the movie [[spoiler:the main characters are escaping in a helicopter which is knocked out of the air by the monster. [[HopeSpot They survive the crash]], only to die either from being killed by the monster, or in the ensuing [[DeathFromAbove military air strike]]. Makes for a real [[IncrediblyLamePun Downer]] [[DownerEnding Ending]].]]
* ''[[Film/CliffHanger Cliff Hanger]]'': Stallone's character takes down a chopper by throwing a bag of money into the rotors.
* Happens numerous times in the ''DieHard'' movies, with various helicopters meeting their ends due to rocket launchers, power lines, and ''[[BeyondTheImpossible police cars]]''.
--> ''I ran out of bullets. ''

*During the filming for the TwilightZone [[TheMovie movie]], a helicopter crashed during filming, [[spoiler:[[HellicopterBlender killing]] [[DownerEnding Vic Morrow and two child actors on the ground]].]]

** Theoretically, a helicopter is supposed to be slowed down by its rotor--even not powered--unless it's jammed, due to the inertia of the blades from spinning so fast. [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle This is called autorotation.]] Practically, it depends on the load and in most cases would be just enough to stabilize it so it will fall rotor upside. Probably this idea appeared because most helicopters make bailing out with an ejection seat or parachute iffy at best, on account of their [[HelicopterBlender large spinning blades]]. Of course, now some military models (like Ka-50) have ejection seats anyway -- if you're going to jettison obstructing parts with explosives, you can add a few charges for blades just as well.

*''{{ER}}'': A helicopter crashes down in the Hospital's courtyard, [[spoiler: killing Dr. Romano who was in said courtyard ''specifically'' [[{{Irony}} because he wanted to avoid it]], after having its arm chopped off by one earlier in the season.]]

*''{{Futurama}}'': A traffic reporter reports on his own helicopter crashing. "His last words were, 'Back to you, Linda.' [BOOM!]"