U41 Ptakojester

U41 Ptakojester
Vehicle in Just Cause 3
Type	Cargo plane
Weapons	None
Rarity	Very rare
List of owners	Medici Military; The Rebellion; Black Hand; Former Prisoners of Lacrima
Top speed (km/h)	~210 (330 to 360 with nitrous)
Top speed (mph)	~130 (~205 to ~223 with nitrous)

This article has been evaluated to be at quality level 6.
Bolo finds this pleasing, but she would like more.

The U41 Ptakojester is a plane in Just Cause 3.

Appearance[]

The U41 Ptakojester is a large 4-engine military cargo plane, the largest plane and largest controllable vehicle in the game, much larger than the Bering I-86DP from Just Cause 2.

It can spawn in three different liveries, corresponding to its three different operators in the game. These are the Medici Military, The Rebellion and the Black Hand. All versions of the plane, regardless of owner, have the markings "5TR41-14" and "92-52189" on them. While the latter shares similarities with the US Air Force's standard system of registration (which, if followed, would denote the aircraft as having been procured in 1992), the former does not follow any known format of a nation's ICAO standardized registration used in real life.

Each variant has an additional tail marking:

Medici Military - MAF07, MAF12, MAF22, MAF26, MAF43, MAF57 or MAF83.
The Rebellion - S-742
Black Hand - I-26

In terms of real life inspiration, the Ptakojester most closely resembles the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in terms of size and shape, where the C-5 Galaxy would have much different wings and a completely different cockpit. The tail is similar to the An-225 Mriya's, but if one looks closely, it resembles the top of a C-17 Globemaster's tailplane, with vertical stabilizers jutting out of it. Also the landing gear resembles that of an Antonov An-124 Ruslan, while the shape of the cockpit glass resembles those from various aircraft in Boeing's lineup. Real aircraft similar to this have a nose door instead of or as well as a rear door, hence the raised cockpit.

According to the rebel drop info: "The gargantuan U41 Ptakojester transport plane can hold an impressive ten full-sized land vehicles in its cargo bay. Landing strip recommended."

Early beta versions of this plane had two small humps on its back, just like the An-225 Mriya. One beta version had a T-shaped tail. Another beta version is shown the the E3 trailer, where the jet's hatch doors are two control plates and then the door, instead of the final version. The door itself is shown not to go all the way down. Either it wasn't able to in the beta or the player had an option in the beta for full control on how the door comes down.

Due to developer oversight, the camera position when flying the plane is beyond the render range for all of the external and on-board lights. As a result, the lights only show up when in stunt position or otherwise outside of the plane. If the camera is pushed in further due to a physical obstruction, it is possible to push it within render range for the lights, albeit temporarily.

Performance[]

Its size makes it the least agile plane in the game. It flies relatively smoothly until turning, which can cause a loss of altitude. Pushing its speed beyond 300 km/h with nitrous causes its nose to rise; as a result, the entire plane gains altitude. This may be slightly annoying if you simply want to fly at 330 km/h forward without having to correct it.

Despite the rebel drop info, this plane is actually able to take off from a relatively small strip of land. The size of the required airfield increases if there is more cargo. If equipped with nitrous boosters it can take off almost immediately. However, it is still a good idea to be in an open area to be rebel dropped, as it is hard to dictate which way the plane will be facing when Rebel dropped. Some suggested places to rebel drop are the fields in Prima, or the butte in eastern Cava Grande.

The aircraft is quite durable, and it is possible to hit multiple other aircraft without making this plane explode, despite this, landing can be quite difficult because some runways aren't long enough or have obstructions which the plane can hit and suddenly explode, killing Rico.

Despite apparently being able to land on the large runway in Insula Lacrima (as shown in Stowaway,) the plane is actually still too big and will hit the chaos objects and other objects alongside the runway.

Additionally, the plane is effectively amphibious, as it can float on water if kept above a certain speed. This amphibious ability can be used to great effect for landing the plane on beaches and other coastal areas. It should be noted though, that staying stationary in the water will cause the plane to slowly sink, and opening the cargo door will only quicken that process. See Amphibious vehicles for other floating non-boats.

As seen in the launch trailer and the mission Bavarium on a Plane, it is possible to transport vehicles in it. As a matter of fact, it has a fully functional interior - the first vehicle to have this functionality in the game series. It is even possible to fit another plane inside, like the CS7 Thunderhawk, though this is not recommended as said vehicle would usually explode inside the fuselage causing a loss of control and subsequent crash. It is advised to grapple any transported vehicle to the walls of the plane to keep it more stable.

There are two hatches on top of the cockpit area; one to pilot the plane and one to enter the cargo bay. The cockpit can also be accessed by a door in the cargo bay. The cargo bay ramp can be opened and closed via a button inside the cargo bay.

These functions can be operated by the following controls:

Xbox One : Using RB in the cockpit to open/close the cargo bay door and holding Y to enter the cargo bay.
PC : Holding down the left mouse button to open/close cargo bay door and holding E to enter cargo bay.
PS4 : Using R1 in the cockpit to open/close the cargo bay door and holding to enter the cargo bay.

Versions and locations[]

Medici Military[]

There are no fixed spawn locations for this variant and it must be hijacked in flight from one of the settlements where it spawns. As a vehicle with only three spawn points in free roam, this is one of the rarest vehicles in the game.

In missions:

A Terrible Reaction - The military drops paratroopers. As shown in a game trailer, it flies so close to the ground that it's possible to blow up with a rocket launcher and it is possible to hijack but will lead to a "mission failed" as you will have abandoned Mario. It has also been reported that any rockets fired at it will harmlessly clip their way through the plane.
Missile Cowboy - At least one can be seen flying around. However, that one (or all of them) will crash into terrain before their paratrooper loadout can parachute out.
Abandon Ship - Paratroopers drop from one.
Tangled Up In Blue - At least one can be seen.
Bavarium on a Plane - Rico, Tom and Dimah use the plane during this mission.
The Shatterer of Worlds - At least one can be seen flying around.

In free roam:

During a settlement liberation, eventually the text "Commando time!" will appear on screen, and a Medici Military marked U41 Ptakojester will appear and drop paratroopers. If you are skillful with the Grappler/Parachute/Wingsuit/Bavarium wingsuit, it is possible to catch up to it and hijack it. This occurs only at the following three bases:
- Alte Potentia - Power plant. It can be a bit tricky to hijack it from here, because the AI will fly into a nearby mountain unless its course is changed by the player.
- Cava Grande - Large mine. It is easiest to hijack from this base, if one stands near the top of the white storage facilities to the west and uses the grapple-parachute technique. For some odd reason, this one is said to not drop paratroopers.
- Griphon - Air force base. Once at a certain stage of liberation, this becomes the only location where it will reliably respawn. Note: to get the plane to respawn the player will find the most success in either fast travelling to the location or by killing Rico when at the location. Also, in order to keep it respawning, the player should avoid progressing the base liberation further than the point in which the plane is called in.

Black Hand[]

This variant only appears in the Mech Land Assault DLC and briefly in the Bavarium Sea Heist DLC and cannot be found in the base game. In a similar fashion to the Medici Military, it has no fixed spawn locations. To operate one, it must be hijacked from an enemy settlement when it brings paratroopers.

Used in the mission Stowaway. After the mission, the plane becomes a static, uncontrollable and invincible vehicle at the Unnamed airport on Insula Lacrima.
Used to bring paratroopers to the following locations during the "Hold the Fort" part:
- Nebio Sud Detention Camp.
- Novola Central Detention Camp. There are 2 featured here.
- Alvea Detention Camp.
Used to bring paratroopers to the Hive during the mission Storming the Hive. This mission has two of them, but it's unknown where the other plane is stored. For whatever odd reason though, rebel paratroopers come out instead of Black Hand paratroopers. The only possible explanation here is that the rebels had captured the planes for themselves, as at this stage of the DLC all of Lacrima is under rebel control.
The "Nebio Sud - Mech Arena" challenge has several bringing paratroopers in. If you destroy the plane quickly enough, you can kill all of the paratroopers, although there is a glitch where despite the plane being physically destroyed, the paratroopers will still spawn.
Briefly featured in the mission The Setup, where Rico steals the Rocket Boat.

The Rebellion[]

Unlocked for Rebel drop after liberating Falco Maxime: Centcom.
It is recommended to drop the beacon in an open area, like the fields of Prima.
- It is very difficult to launch one from an airstrip like Griphon because you don't know which way the jet will spawn, and it's likely you will hit something on the airstrip.
You can spawn this variant in using Air races. For some reason this version spawns with pieces of another destroyed Ptakojester merged into it, making it appear damaged.

Bugs & glitches[]

There is a glitch where if you grapple one of the outer engines to the open cargo door mid flight, the plane will spin constantly and becomes out of control. It will explode on impact on land and on water it will land smoothly and will be able to take off again, as if the cargo door isn't open.
A bug exists where the plane's engines will stay with each other after the plane explodes, as if attached.

Trivia[]

Ptakoještěr is Czech for Pterosaur (extinct flying reptiles).
It is the successor to the Alexander AX-14 from Just Cause (1) and the Bering I-86DP from Just Cause 2.
- Just Cause 4 reuses most Just Cause 3 vehicle models under a different name. This plane is reused as SkyCastle Cargo Jet.
The plane is long enough that it is possible to back flip from the plane and stay on the plane without falling off.
Aside from Crash Bomb vehicles, this plane has a bigger than any other vehicle in the game, due to its enormous size.
The only time you can find soldiers in them during missions; Bavarium on a Plane and The Setup in the Bavarium Sea Heist DLC.
If you are skilled enough you can fly a Carmen Albatross into this plane mid flight, if you can find one that flies with its door open.
An Urga Mstitel can catch up to it in flight.
It seems that the in-game description has been updated in some patch. Previously on the PC, the description was different and stated: "The huge transport aircraft U41 Ptakojester can hold an impressive ten land vehicles of normal size in its cargo bay. Runway strongly recommended." See also: Cut game content from Just Cause 3.
The Black Hand version has 3 different subvariants in the game files. They are compared in a video at the bottom of the page.
- "v4603 plane_urga cargotransport_blackhand_01" Normal version.
- "dic3 v4603 plane_urga_cargotransport_blackhand_01" Unique cargo door opening sound, however normal closing sound.
- "v4603 plane_urga_cargotransport_blackhand_mission_01" Same as previously mentioned, but non drivable and you can only open the cargo door and cant close it.
The Medici Military variant also has 3 subvariants in the files:
- "v4603_plane urga_cargotransport_military_01" Normal version.
- "v4603_plane_urga_cargotransport_military_01_paratrooper" No known difference from the normal one.
- "v4603_plane_urga_cargotransport_mm340" Cargo door control switch in the cargo bay is non-functional, however you can open the cargo door from pilots seat. This is probably the version used in Bavarium on a Plane.
It's rumored that the description in the rebel drop used to differ, but it's not known what the original was.
We have to give credit to The Rebellion for coloring the whole plane. The rest of their vehicles, though much smaller, always have an incomplete repainting work.