There are several thing you must do in this game. Your general objective is to keep everybody and everything safe from the volcano and the periodical air strikes. And the submarine.

Starting on the left hand side of the playing area, the first island is your base. This is where you start from, and if your helicopter gets damaged, landing here will repair it. You can also refuel from here as well. Should you also rescue any people, this is where you must drop them of to gain the points. Rescuing is done by lowering the rope and flying the end of it into the men. Depending on how much rope you lower, you can carry up to 5 people at once. When dropping them off, be careful that you just lower the bottom person on the rope to level with the ground - they will automatically climb off. If you go down too low you will kill them.