Controls:
Throttle controls main rotors. (75% throttle for landing, 80ish% for hover) Roll controls turning. Pitch controls forward/backward tilt of rotors. Yaw controls side/side tilt of rotors (strafing left and right). VTOL slider controls side mounted guns.

Description:
The Samson is the RDA's aerial truck, designed to carry out mostly non-combat missions. It can be used to drop supplies and personnel at distant field sites, including delivering avatars for interaction with the Na'vi. The aircraft features minimal armament for defensive purposes only, making it an easy target in a battle against Earth weaponry. But it remains the workhorse for operations on Pandora. Its closed-rotor system and cutters on leading edges allow for safe operation in the rainforest (the “vine-strike” kit is a modification for use on Pandora).

The stub wing pods can fire rocket pod missiles. The Samson is not designed as an attack aircraft, so it is not armored, although there is some composite armor in the pilot’s seats and the dual-layer canopy can withstand a strike by a Na’vi arrow. It is rumored but not confirmed that a Na’vi arrow fired in an attack dive can generate enough combined speed to penetrate a Samson canopy.

Because the load capacity of the Samson is dedicated mostly to cargo and personnel, there is little armament on board. As big as a 20th century Black Hawk helicopter, the Samson is a twin turbine, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) ducted-rotor vehicle. Its only onboard armaments are two stub-wing mounted missile launchers controlled by a standard targeting computer with IFF lockout. In addition there are two manually operated door guns, in either 50 or 30 caliber.

Note that the 30 caliber gun can only be mounted on the starboard side, due to the gunner’s position when shoulder-firing the weapon. The Hydra 50 caliber gun can be mounted on either side for manual operation, because of its grip configuration. The same articulating pedestal will accept both weapons. The pedestal may be locked with pins to form a rigid mount for fixed-forward firing, controlled by the pilot. In fixed-forward mode the weapons are trained by aligning the airframe to the target, like a WW2 fighter.


(Description taken from pandorapedia)