Zephyr One

"Okay, people! What, you never seen the biggest plane ever built before?!"

- Piper to the other members of her team

The Zephyr One is a mobile airborne command plane designed by Leo Fitz for S.H.I.E.L.D., and intended to be used as a replacement for the Bus.

History
Designed by Leo Fitz, the Zephyr One was used after the War against the Inhumans. The Zephyr One was used by Daisy Johnson, Alphonso Mackenzie, Lance Hunter, and Phil Coulson to extract a new inhuman and bring him to the Playground. Phil Coulson contacted the Playground and ordered Mackenzie to use Zephyr One to transport the Monolith to a castle in England.

Melinda May called Coulson for reinforcements during the Attack on Grant Ward, who flew the Zephyr to his location along with a team of heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents., but were forced to divert to help Andrew Garner, who was being targeted by HYDRA.

May and Bobbi Morse later used the Zephyr One in their search for Werner von Strucker in the hopes that he would lead them to Grant Ward. Their search took them from the Cayman Islands to Lisbon.

Director Phil Coulson used Zephyr One to travel to a high level, but completely off the books, meeting being chaired by President Ellis at NORAD in Colorado to discuss the future of enhanced people. His attendance was as a consultant to Rosalind Price of the ATCU. Before they could reach their destination, Zephyr One was boarded by Mackenzie and Lincoln Campbell, who had come with suspicions that Lash was working within S.H.I.E.L.D. Campbell's theory revolved around the murders of the Inhumans from Afterlife, whose locations were kept in Jiaying's ledger, which was confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and given to Dr. Andrew Garner. Mackenzie also mentioned that May had looked up Garner's flight logs which coincided with the murders. Realizing that Garner is Lash, Coulson has Zephyr One divert to find him and May. After capturing Lash, S.H.I.E.L.D. agreed to hand him over to the ATCU to put him in stasis until a cure could be found.

Zephyr One later participated in Operation Spotlight to infiltrate the ATCU and find out their true intentions for Inhumans. After Garner's containment module sent a virus into their system, Agent Mackenzie intercepted Steve Wilson's call, posing as FBI cyber division, which enabled Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter to infiltrate the facility. Johnson fed Hunter technical terminology to establish his cover as an IT specialist. May and Campbell then took a quinjet to await the agents' extraction. When Morse went further into the facility and found Nature Max Supplements Fish Oil pills and Terrigenesis cocoon, at the same time, Johnson had found records that the ATCU was purposely giving Terrigen to its employees and witnesses of Inhuman incidents to create more. Worse, Johnson finds that one of their employees, Giyera, was Inhuman, and contacted May and Campbell to initiate the extraction.

Capabilities
"This new aircraft can stay in the air much longer than the old plane, days really, so rapid response anywhere..." "You love your new toy, don't you?" "I very much love my new toy..."

- Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson

Landing Bay
The Zephyr One has been designed to incorporate a landing bay for Quinjets on the dorsal surface and has been observed to allow at least two to land at any given time. The plane has been adapted to carry Containment Modules on board, that can be sent to specific locations indicated by a tracking device planted on the ground then use jets on the bottom to fly back up to the plane. Aside from some windows, the interior of these pods is made from "polytechnic adaptive materials" that can withstand some superhuman powers, and is customized by use. These pods can be transferred into at least one larger holding cell made from similar material for storage purposes.

Weapons Systems
The Zephyr has a vast array of missiles that is capable of leveling the Castle, as it is seen firing three of them at the Castle, destroying most of the standing structure.

Stealth Systems
The Zephyr has implemented the same cloaking technology as other S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft.

Flight Systems
The Zephyr is able to stay in the air for days if needed, much longer than the Bus, allowing for a greater range and flight time before having to set down for refueling. During a deployment, Zephyr One stayed in the air for six weeks before being recalled.

Due to its engine design, the Zephyr is capable of entering seemingly dangerous angles without stalling. A particularly skilled pilot can even enter these angles during launch, allowing the Zephyr to squeeze through openings that could not accommodate it otherwise. This proved necessary after the Sacking of the Playground, as the hangar doors were unable to open completely due to damage inflicted by a Hive-controlled Daisy Johnson.

Trivia

 * Mark Kolpack, the visual effects supervisor for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., said "The Zephyr One is inspired by a mixture of a Romulan Bird-of-Prey with a head shape."