At a glance: all six helicopters spawn with 0 litres of fuel. Top speed is 81 kph (Hummingbird, Police Helicopter) or 72 kph (the rest), and three models are immune to most damage.
Most players who ask how to fly a helicopter in Unturned are not asking about the controls. They are standing next to one that will not start. The reason is in the data.
The real reason your helicopter will not take off
Every single helicopter in Unturned has a starting fuel value of 0 litres. Not low — zero. The wiki lists it identically across all six models.
That single fact explains the majority of “my helicopter won’t fly” reports. Finding one is the hard part, but it is not the last part: you still need fuel, and the tank sizes are not small.
| Model | Starting fuel | Fuel capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Heli | 0 L | 1750 L |
| Hummingbird | 0 L | 1750 L |
| Police Helicopter | 0 L | 1750 L |
| Orca | 0 L | 2000 L |
| Skycrane | 0 L | 2000 L |
| Transport Heli | 0 L | 2000 L |
So before you plan any flight, plan a fuel run. A 2000-litre tank is a serious amount to fill from nothing.
For general vehicle upkeep — batteries, tyres and repairs — see the vehicle guide, and check the vehicles database for the full roster.
All six helicopters compared
| Model | Rarity | Seats | Trunk | Starting health | Max health | Max speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Heli | Legendary | 6 | 25 | 1100–1200 | 1250 | 72 kph | Invulnerable; HMG turret |
| Orca | Epic | 6 | 30 | 800–900 | 1000 | 72 kph | Invulnerable |
| Transport Heli | Epic | 4 | 30 | 800–900 | 1000 | 72 kph | Invulnerable |
| Skycrane | Epic | 1 | 25 | 700–800 | 900 | 72 kph | Electromagnet crane |
| Hummingbird | Legendary | 4 | 25 | 700–800 | 875 | 81 kph | Based on the MH-6 Little Bird |
| Police Helicopter | Epic | 4 | 25 | 550–650 | 750 | 81 kph | Spawns on helipads |
Every model shares the same steering range, 16° down to 8°, and the same reverse speed of 7.2 kph — reversing a helicopter is not a real option.
The rarity trap
Read the rarity column against the health column and the ordering stops making sense. The Hummingbird is a Legendary helicopter with 875 maximum health, while the Epic Transport Heli has 1000 and is immune to most damage sources.
If you are choosing between them, rarity is the wrong signal:
- Want survivability? Transport Heli, Orca or Attack Heli — all three are listed as invulnerable to most damage sources.
- Want speed? Hummingbird or Police Helicopter, at 81 kph against 72 kph for everything else.
- Want firepower? Only the Attack Heli carries a turret, and it is an HMG.
- Want capacity? Orca and Transport Heli both give 6 and 4 seats with 30 trunk slots.
The Skycrane is not a transport
The Skycrane has 1 seat. It is not for moving a squad — it is a cargo aircraft. The wiki describes a powerful electromagnet toggled with Ctrl that lets it carry vehicles placed under its fuselage, and notes it is based on the real S-64 Skycrane heavy-lift helicopter.
That makes it the only helicopter that can move another vehicle, which matters more than speed if your base is anywhere other than where your cars are.
Where to find each one
Spawn locations are map-specific and worth memorising, because none of these are common:
- Hummingbird — rarely at military locations on PEI, Washington and Germany; on the Russia map at the Krovi Estate
- Transport Heli — atop helipads at military locations. The desert variant at Olympia Military Base (Washington), forest at Summerside Military Base (PEI), olive at Schwarzwald Military Base (Germany)
- Attack Heli — the olive variant at Schwarzald Military Base (Germany) and Volk Military Base (Russia)
- Orca — the olive variant at Volk Military Base (Russia)
- Skycrane — the Yukon map, at the “Off Limits” research site
- Police Helicopter — on helipads; Seattle police station (Washington), Moscow police station (Russia), and the helipad at Frankfurt Airport (Germany)
Variants are cosmetic for stats purposes. The wiki states for the Transport Heli, Attack Heli and Orca that all variants are statistically identical, so do not hunt a specific paint scheme for a gameplay advantage.
The map guide and looting guide cover routing to military locations safely.
Before the first flight
- Find fuel. Every helicopter starts at 0 litres, and tanks run to 1750 or 2000 litres.
- Check the model before committing. If you need to survive contact, take an invulnerable one. If you need to cross the map fast, take an 81 kph one.
- Remember the seat count. The Skycrane carries one person. The Attack Heli and Orca carry six.
- Do not plan on reversing. Reverse speed is 7.2 kph on every model.
- Mind the noise and the landing. Helicopters tilt, and landing is the part that ends runs — see tips and tricks.
If you are early in a run and just need to get around, the beginner guide covers ground options that do not need 2000 litres of fuel.
A note on version drift
Unturned’s vehicle stats and spawn tables have been revised across versions, and helicopters are among the more frequently adjusted vehicles. Every figure here — 0 litres starting fuel, the 1750 and 2000 litre tanks, 81 and 72 kph, and the health values — was read from the Official Unturned Wiki in October 2026. If a model behaves differently after an update, trust the in-game stat panel over this table.