E. Cotton

E. Cotton Timeline Both Status (Vivendi) Deceased Status (Monolith) Deceased Physical description Position Delta Force helicopter pilot Gender Male Chronological and political information Voice Actor Unknown Affiliation Delta Force
	[Source]

"Heard someone needed a ride, got an HLZ for me yet?"

—Cotton to Betters when learning they need to get to ATC HQ.

E. Cotton is a Delta Force helicopter pilot who plays a minor, recurring role in F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, occasionally transporting the Point Man along with other characters.

Both Timelines

F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon

Delta Force Pilot E. Cotton makes two known, enduring, appearances in F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, each time piloting a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter. Cotton is first called upon to assist the F.E.A.R. team toward the end of the Point Man's venture through South River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Needing a means of extraction for the Point Man, F.E.A.R. Commissioner Rowdy Betters compromises with Delta Force Mission Coordinator A. Shepard, convincing him to dispatch a helicopter unit to the treatment plant in exchange for F.E.A.R.'s assistance in locating a missing Delta Force recon team at Armacham Technology Corporation headquarters (Betters believing that Paxton Fettel is heading there, anyway). Helicopter unit "Dust-7" is subsequently dispatched.

Piloted by Cotton, it arrives shortly thereafter, extracting the Point Man and proceeding to transport him and Delta Force operatives T. Atwood and P. MacReady to ATC headquarters. After a somewhat successful insertion at Armacham, "Dust-7" flies off, Cotton not being seen or heard from again by the Point Man for several hours, until he, once more, requires extraction. Called in to assist F.E.A.R. again, Cotton, having already picked up Delta Force Unit Leader Douglas Holiday and F.E.A.R. Technical Officer Jin Sun-Kwon, extracts the Point Man from the top of the ATC Headquarters parking garage. Now pilot of helicopter unit "Dust-2", Cotton transports the trio into the Auburn District with the ultimate goal of reaching the Rammelmeier Industrial Compound. "Dust-2", however, is shot down, just short of its destination. Cotton, along with the co-pilot, is killed in the resulting crash.

Several additional Blackhawk helicopters are observed throughout F.E.A.R., but their unit names are almost never specified. Cotton is the only pilot to be heard over radio and, as such, is the only one to ever be named.

Trivia

• Cotton and "Dust-7" make an appearance in the E3 2004 trailer for F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon, transporting the Point Man to ATC Headquarters in an almost identical fashion as the same sequence in the final release version of the game. In the trailer, however, operatives Atwood and MacReady are absent, "Dust-7" instead carrying Spencer Jankowski and an unnamed Delta Force operative, both of whom are manning the helicopter's M134 Miniguns. Upon dropping the Point Man off, Jankowski opens fire on Replica soldiers with the minigun, actively assisting the Point Man.
• It is possible to push Cotton's dead body out of his helicopter after it crashes in the apartment building.