Welcome to MCHeli!

You must forgot about 1.12, because there is no way to update to new version.

Now, onto the mod!

MCHeli is an awesome, highly configurable mod which adds a whole load of new planes and helicopters to Minecraft! It has a built-in asset system a little like Flan's Mod, meaning anyone can create new vehicles without any real coding knowledge!

Great! What's included?
Like I said, there's a great asset system, but quite a few planes and helicopters are included by default. There's too many to list so I suggest just trying it out! They fall into a few general categories though;

Helicopters
Helicopters are helicopters. You've all seen them, they go up and down and all around.
The helicopters in MCHeli can take a few minutes to master the controls of. Throttle will simply accelerate you in whatever direction the roters are facing, so if you keep the controls level, you'll just go straight up. Push your mouse up, the controls will tilt the nose down, and you'll move forward. Once you get the hang of it, controlling them is very natural and you'll easily get all around the world!
Some helicopters can land on the water, and will float! Helicopters can also take assorted amount of passengers, including extra gunners to help fight off any targets.

Planes
Planes need a bit of space to take off. The throttle will slowly speed you up, and once fast enough tilt your nose up to take off. The nose, just like in a Helicopter, is controlled with the mouse.
Some planes, like the helicopters, can land on the water and will float. Most also have multiple seats - the V-22 Osprey for example can seat up to 14!

VTOL
VTOL are a special type of plane which work a bit differently. By pressing F, you can switch between standard and VTOL mode. This is currently only available in the Harrier and the MV-22 Osprey. While in VTOL mode, the controls act quite similar to a helicopter, whereas in standard mode it will fly like a normal plane.
For all those CoD fans who are screaming "VTOL WARSHIP INBOUND!", yes, the Osprey is that same ship, but without weaponry.

UAV
Possibly one of the most amazing things about this mod is the UAV. Place down a UAV station, and pick one of the UAV-enabled vehicles - the MQ-9 Reaper is a good choice.
When you right-click the UAV station, your character will sit down and a GUI will appear. The GUI has a single inventory slot, and a set of coordinates. Set the coordinates to where you want the vehicle to spawn - I recommend somewhere on the ground, as they start with their throttle zeroed. Once you're ready, place the UAV's item in the slot, and you'll switch to controlling the UAV.
There are both plane and helicopter UAVs. Most are quite standard size, but a few are quite small- like a RC toy. Some can even take passengers!
The UAV does have a limited range. You should remember, you are not actually in the UAV- you're sitting at the station. If someone sees you at that station, they can kill you where you sit. Even things like sound are still relative to the player, not the drone - it's incredibly realistic.

Chains & Containers
Another beautiful aspect of the mod is the chain system. You can chain ANY non-living entity (eg, minecarts) to a helicopter. When flying that helicopter, the chained item will hang below, and can be dropped at a key press at any time. Included is a container, which is a small 54-slot chest which can be carried by a helicopter, great for server roleplay deliveries and air drops!
The chain can also be used to tie ANY two non-living entities together. You could just tie two minecarts if you wanted to, or maybe airlift a Flan's vehicle. Bear in mind, vehicles such as Flan's titans take damage during flight and very quickly lose their legs... Oh, and don't give them obsidian boots. Just don't.

The Parachute
The parachute is a single use item, and I'm sure you can guess what it does. Right-click with it in-hand, and you'll deploy a parachute to guide you slowly and safely to the ground. Great as a quick escape if someone has locked on with a Stinger!

Weapons!
Yes, I said stinger. The stinger missile is the only ground-controlled weapon which the player directly holds, and is also the only weapon to actually consume ammunition. It can lock on to any vehicle in-flight, and does a fair amount of damage on impact.
However, weapons don't end there... Most military aircraft are equipped with an assortment of machine guns, missiles, bombs, and even torpedoes. The only downside to these is that none of them consume ammunition.
There is a configuration option to disable explosive damage. I highly recommend that for any server running this mod.
But still the weapons go on! So the stinger bores you, and flying & shooting isn't your style... Why not try out one of the many turrets! There's plenty, from a small mounted machine gun right up to a 46cm cannon!
Finally, we have the Ground Laser Target Designator; a ridiculously awesome device. Simply aim it where you like, right-click and a 3-plane airstrike will whiss past, decemating your target! This is also available from the Apache.

Installation
Like I mentioned before, installation is a little different to what you're used to but it is very straightforward!
When you download the file, you will be given a .zip instead of a normal .jar. All you need to do is extract the .zip, and place the folder inside (called mcheli) into your /mods folder as a FOLDER, not a zip or jar. You can ignore/delete the META-INF folder, that is simply there because Curse's file filter won't accept files without one.
The reason for this is the asset system. If the folder is zipped, then Java cannot read the files correctly, and therefore can't load the assets - meaning you won't have any vehicles. If your game loads with no vehicles, then this is what has happened.

Extra Addons
As well as the included vehicles, there's a whole host of addon vehicles you can download! Most of them are made by the same person, but unfortunately the download page is in Japanese. Google Chrome will let you automatically translate, but this breaks the spoiler boxes, so open those BEFORE you do it.
I wrote an English guide which is included on his post, so follow that for installing addons.
Get the addons here!

Configuration
There is a config file which gets generated which gives options for disabling explosives and other similar things, as well as changing controls.
However, if you are feeling adventerous, you can delve right into the asset system and edit things in there. By doing this, you can do things such as altering recipes, changing the handling properties of vehicles, or even adding new textures. Try and experiment, you can always re-install if you break it!

End Bit
This is licensed as all rights reserved and the java has an extra level of obfuscation to protect the source code, due to how complex the mod is. However, it is freely allowed in not-for-profit mod packs. As far as I am aware, I am the only person EMB4 has given redistribution permission to.
If you have any questions or get stuck, leave a comment or join #silvania on Esper.net IRC, I'm usually there but most people in that channel are pretty good with the mod.
Finally, if you create your own add-on, give me a link! AdFly links ARE allowed by EMB4 but I'm not sure if Curse allows them. I will use your AdFly links everywhere else, but here I'll keep the link direct unless I hear otherwise. I'll be creating an online repo for them in the future to make it all a bit easier :)

MCHelicoper mod