Excelsior

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Excelsior
The Excelsior behind a Rage-Johnston F6 Comet
Vehicle in Just Cause
Type	Presidential Plane
Weapons	None
Rarity	Mission only
List of owners	San Esperito Military

The Excelsior also known as The Excelsior, El Grande is a plane in Just Cause.

Appearance

This plane is a large plane with 6 engines that look identical to the ones on the Alexander AX-14. It's the largest aircraft in the Just Cause game series.

Unlike all in San Esperito Military vehicles, this aircraft is white with unusually large cyan areas. Usually cyan and white stripes are only used to mark a vehicle as belonging to government forces. It's also decorated with several government symbols that can be seen on all military vehicles.

The plane is a fairly bulky aircraft due to the design of the cargo bay, which is shaped very similarly to the Alexander AX-14.

The plane has 18 wheels in clusters of 6, with 3 pairs in each. Two sets of wheels in the rear and one in the front. Strangely there are 2 more open hatches on the bottom that look just like the rear wheel hatches, but their purpose is unknown.

Purpose

It serves as Salvador Mendoza's "Air Force One". The largest and most rear room in the plane is a windowless cargo compartment and has a bunch of wooden boxes in it. The next room is empty and has a side door. This is where Rico meets Salvador. No other rooms can be seen in the game.

Performance

Not much is known about it, because the player cannot control it. However, it is known that a Rage-Johnston F6 Comet can catch up to it pretty effortlessly. It is about as fast as the Alexander AX-14, but its sheer size would presumably require a larger turning circle.

When spawned with modifications, the player can enter the pilot's seat and control the throttle and roll, but the plane exhibits glitched behavior. It will fly in constant loops if the throttle is held down as the nose keeps rising.

Location

It is seen taking off from the central runway of the Mendoza International Airport during the last mission Taking Out The Garbage Vol 3. After taking off, it flies south-west, and Rico has to catch up to the plane. Once inside, he fights a few Black Hand mercenaries and briefly confronts Mendoza before both leave the aircraft. It is never seen again after that.

Trivia

• The inside of the plane isn't really programmed as being inside the plane. The aircraft interior is actually located high in the sky and can't normally be seen. This has been discovered thanks to a rare glitch that lets Rico fall through the floor of that interior at the moment when he spawns there. There's no known fix for the glitch, but it's very rare.
• Another glitch makes the plane not appear at all. A sign of that is if in-game subtitles say "mission_m17_info". In that case, restart the game.
• The name is revealed only once, during the mission where it appears. Rico is briefed that Mendoza is trying to escape on his plane and the aircraft's name appears on screen as the next mission objective: "Board the Excelsior plane".
• The concept of a 6 engine plane is nothing unusual. Such could be observed on the famous Antonov An-225 freight plane. Some planes in the 1930s (example) had as many as 12 engines because engines were not very powerful yet.
• There is only one other plane that is only seen once in a mission: the Agency cargo plane. For a full list of rare vehicles, see Rare vehicles.
• There are many things that have the name "Excelsior", but it's not known if this plane's name is based on any specific thing, even if it does. Disambiguation at Wikipedia.
• This plane is the last place where the Black Hand can be found in storyline missions. They however are still present in heat, at Isla San Cristobal, in side missions and in liberations.

Gallery

First image of it on this wiki.

Being chased.

Rico rebuking Mendoza's taunt while inside the cargo hold of the aircraft.

The airforce can hit the presidents plane with their missiles, if the player flies at the right place, but this causes no harm to the Excelsior.

The pilots cabin is empty.

Inside the Excelsior plane, at the rear of the cabin.

Inside the President's Execlsior Plane cabin.

In the foreside of the cabin inside the Excelsior plane.

Orthographic views of The Excelsior El Grande.

Extracted game model with Rico for scale.

To scale with other JC1 fixed-wing aircraft.

Video