History Main / OutsideRide

* The practice of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_desant tank desant,]] the tactic of soldiers riding on the hull of a friendly tank so they can disembark and provide it infantry support when it meets the enemy. This was most commonly used by Russian forces in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, but is uncommon these days due to increases in tank speed and most modern forces that can afford tanks can afford separate transports for their infantry to let them keep up. Many tanks were even built with this in mind, and had telephones attached to the outside hull to allow the soldiers to communicate with the tank crew without having to shout over the engine or risk exposing the crew by opening a hatch.
** It is customary in modern era for the troopers to ride ''atop'' on their personnel carriers instead of inside, especially at combat zone. The inside is reserved for the gear or carrying wounded troopers. The rationale is that if the personnel carrier is hit by an RPG, it becomes a death trap for everyone inside. It is also far easier to jump straight into combat off the top of the vehicle than from inside. Moreover, every man atop the vehicle is another pair of eyes for observation and another rifle for counterstrike. This practice became standard in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. Bulletproof vests and kevlar helmets have made this practice safer to the riders than what it used to be in WWII.

* The Fremen climb on the backs of {{sand worm}}s to move across long distances on Arrakis/Dune in ''Film/Dune1984'', ''[[Film/Dune2021 Dune: Part One]]'' and ''Film/DunePartTwo'', steering them using hooks and ropes on their gill-like external organs.

** Coupled with TraintopBattle in ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad''. Many fight scenes involve characters hopping onto the War Rig to hijack the truck. And of course, this is just one of the things that makes the Doof Warrior even more awesome. [[ThePowerOfRock Playing a flamethrower/guitar hybrid]] is [[RuleOfCool cool enough]], but it's even more awesome when it's on top of a speeding truck.

* In ''Film/{{Mercenaries}}'', Clay jumps on to the back of the truck carrying the missiles before jumping off to ambush the drivers when they stop.

* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', Sonic and Tails have a regularly used biplane called "The Tornado". Tails flies the thing from a regular seat. Sonic prefers to ride it by ''standing on the wings.''
* Fox does this several times in ''Videogame/StarFoxAssault'', riding on the wing of another ship while shooting things with a powerful energy bazooka. Subverted in that the ship has to fly very slowly and carefully when he's riding it: if they were to perform the maneuvers they usually do, he'd fall off immediately. This carries over into the ''Videogame/SuperSmashBros'' arenas based on ''VideoGame/StarFox'' games, where everyone runs and jumps on the wings as easily as on stationary surfaces.

** The Big Blue stage in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Brawl]]'' has characters fighting on ''all'' of the VideoGame/FZero cars as ther race. [[LookBothWays Falling on the track itself is near-instant death.]]

* Some more train examples happen in ''VideoGame/WarioLand2'' and ''VideoGame/WarioLandShakeIt''.

* Comicbook/CaptainAmerica punctuates his escape from ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} at the start of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' by leaping on top of a fighter jet and eventually [[NiceToTheWaiter buying the pilot a burger later on]].

* Franchise/SpiderMan often does this, using his enhanced reflexes and athletic prowess to catch a ride and his [[WallCrawl clinging ability]] to hang on:
** Way back in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, Spidey hopped onto the Chameleon's helicopter and ripped the door off in order to get to him.
** He pulled a similar move at the climax of the first Hobgoblin storyarc when he jumped onto the side of an armored van in order to get to the villain.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

** In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron,'' Cap and Ultron fight atop a truck in Seoul.

** Doable in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' though not for long in the case of airplanes. One mission has a motor officers land on the hood and fight you with GoodOldFisticuffs. At the end of the mission, one officer managed to survive by jumping on top of the car's hood but has to recover from the impact, and, before he can jump out, is quickly dispatched by HelicopterBlender.

** Doable in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' though not for long in the case of airplanes. One mission has a cop land on the hood and keep shooting at you, but he's quickly dispatched by HelicopterBlender.

* In the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty gets to school quickly by holding onto the rear bumpers of cars while standing on his skateboard. This turns out to be something of a ChekhovsSkill when he uses the same technique to keep from being run down by Biff in 1955.

* ''VideoGame/TonyHawksProSkater 4'' introduces skitching, which allows the player to hold on to the rear bumper of a car (just like in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'') for a speed boost and some extra points.