Flying Boat

Engineered in Hizuru between the years 852 and 853, the flying boat is a dual-purpose craft that operates on water or in the air as the situation demands, with folding wings for storage or towing behind a ship. Its existence traces back to a secret bargain: Zeke Yeager slipped an iceburst stone sample to ambassador Kiyomi Azumabito to court an alliance between her nation and Eldia, and Hizuru's engineers rapidly turned the rare Paradis mineral into the aircraft's primary fuel.

Flying it is only half the challenge. Any competent pilot can take the controls, but the craft cannot leave the ground until a dedicated crew of engineers completes maintenance and pre-flight checks, a process that consumes half a day or more even with proper facilities.

Kiyomi delivers the finished craft to Paradis in the wake of Eren's Liberio raid, originally so observers could watch a limited test of the Rumbling from the sky. The Yeagerist uprising destroys that plan, and when Eren unleashes the full Rumbling at the close of Marley's counterattack on Shiganshina, the aircraft's purpose changes entirely: it becomes the alliance's sole means of overtaking the Wall Titans marching toward the continent.

Survey Corps members opposed to the Yeagerists join Marley's surviving Warriors and fight their way to the Paradis harbor where the craft sits docked, rigged with explosives by Yeagerist guards. Armin Arlert and Connie Springer first try talking Samuel and Daz down from the detonator, but the standoff collapses into open battle across the harbor. The alliance prevails, tows the flying boat out by ship, and sets course for Odiha to complete servicing, since the Rumbling has already reached Liberio.

In Odiha the Azumabito engineers race through preparations, delayed further when Floch Forster puts a bullet through the empty fuel tank. Repairs and fueling finish with Wall Titans bearing down on the city, and the craft clears its hangar moments before the building is flattened.

The craft passes from Hizuru and the Azumabito engineers into the hands of the joint Survey Corps and Warrior Unit alliance. Onyankopon serves as its pilot, flying from Odiha toward Fort Salta, the destination Yelena predicted for Eren's Founding Titan.

Fuel is nearly spent when the aircraft finally reaches its target. Ymir Fritz turns Zeke's Beast Titan into artillery, hurling projectiles skyward, but the craft weathers the barrage long enough for the Survey Corps soldiers and Warriors aboard to leap into the fight against Eren. Onyankopon then attempts a crash-landing on the mesa; the machine is destroyed in the impact, though he is pulled alive from the wreckage.