🛬 Heli Lander

The helicopter landing game

Landing is the hardest part of flying a helicopter, and Heli Lander is all about it. Each level starts with your helicopter in the air and a small yellow H somewhere below: on a hospital roof, a narrow mountain ledge, the deck of an oil rig, a fishing boat bobbing in the waves or the back of a truck driving down the road. Your job is to put the helicopter down gently, level and right on the H. Touch down too fast, while sliding sideways or while tilted, and it is a crash.

If you remember lunar lander games, you will feel right at home, but with a helicopter, wind, waves and things that move.

How to land

With hover assist on, the helicopter holds its height whenever you let go of the up and down keys, which makes landing much easier for beginners. Tilt left and right to move over the pad, stop, then hold down to sink. The panel at the top shows your speed down and your speed sideways, compared with the pad: green means safe, yellow means careful, red means too fast. Ease off the down key for the last few metres and the helicopter settles gently onto the deck.

For a real challenge, switch to Pro mode. The up key is now full thrust, and without it gravity pulls you down, so you have to pulse the thrust to control your descent, just like a classic lander game.

Fifteen landings

Start with Pad Practice and the Rooftop of the hospital. The Mountain Ledge is a small shelf on a cliff, and the Windy Roof adds gusts. At sea, the Fishing Boat drifts and bobs, the Oil Rig has a crane boom to fly under, and the Ferry Chase never stops moving. Skyscraper Gap is a straight drop between two towers. Night Boat is a boat at night with a mast in the way, and the Storm Rig is all about gusts. Then land on a Moving Truck, the top of a Lighthouse, the deck of an Aircraft Carrier next to parked helicopters, a Mountain Rescue ledge under an overhang, and finally The Big Storm: a pitching ship at night.

Stars

Every landing earns one star. Land softly, under 1.4 metres per second, for two stars. Land softly, close to the middle of the H and with more than a quarter of your fuel left for three. Stars unlock new helicopters: Coastguard, Navy Grey and Golden Ace.

Landing tips

Get above the pad first, then come down: never descend while still moving sideways. On moving boats and trucks, match their speed before you sink, and the relative speed shown in the panel will drop to zero. Lean slightly into the wind during gusts. Watch out for things above the pad, like the crane boom and the overhang, and approach under them from the side. Do not waste fuel climbing high; stay just above the obstacles.

Play anywhere

Heli Lander runs in any modern browser on computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones with no download or account. On touch screens, use the left buttons to tilt and the right buttons to climb and descend. Progress is saved only in your browser and there is nothing to buy. See the Parents & Safety page for more.

More helicopter games

Practise real helicopter landings in 3D in Helicopter Simulator 3D, land on an aircraft carrier in a plane in Perfect Landing Pro, or carry swinging loads in Heli Cargo Lift. Every helicopter game is on our Helicopter Games page.

Frequently asked questions