Welcome!

If you are reading this guide then it is safe to assume that you have an interest in flying in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. This guide will cover as many mechanics as possible, from setting up and learning your controls, to understanding the flying skill, to taking lessons at the San Andreas Flight School, and more!

A little bit of background information on me. I have played GTA Online (and GTA V) for over 900 hours and have spent with a large portion of that time spent flying Planes and Helicopters. I have a love for flying and Grand Theft Auto brings an awesome experience for flight enthusiasts. My first flying based game was Jane's Combat Simulator back on the Windows 98, well over a decade ago and I've enjoyed flying games ever since.

If you enjoy this guide make sure to check out my Ultimate Guide to GTA Online for all of GTA Online condensed into a nutshell. Also make sure to leave a rating if you enjoyed the guide!

The Flying Skill is a very important skill to understand and develop for your character if you wish to have better control while flying.

The Flying Skill will vary it's starting progress like all skills based on the Story Mode character or how you invest your starting progress for your GTA Online character. The Flying Skill directly affects performance in a number of ways:

1.) Taking Off.
2.) Landing.
3.) Turbulence.
4.) Turning Control and Yaw Mangement.

These are affected depending on the level of your Flying Skill. If your skill is low you will have a bit more trouble taking off, landing smoothly, controling your turning and tilting (yaw), as well as have an increase in turbulence affecting your stability.

Once you have maxed out your Flying Skill you will have the best possible control. You can take off as normal, land and stop much more smoothly, turbulence will barely affect you, and you will have much more control over turning and tilting.

There are multiple ways to level this skill:

1.) Flying for extended periods of time: every 10 minutes = 1%.
2.) Flying under bridges: each bridge = 1% (can be repeated bridge).
3.) Gold Medals in Flight School: Each Gold Medal earned awards 3-5%.

The Flight School is the fastest option for leveling your skill quickly, alongside flying under bridges. While it will still take some time, it is a very rewarding skill to max out and was the first skill I maxed out in GTA Online for my character (before even Stamina).

This guide is assuming that you are learning to fly with Mouse & Keyboard controls, as flying with a game pad is simplier and self-explainitory.

The keys for flying air based vehicles will stay the same between vehicles and are actually a lot easier than you might think. The following keys on the keyboard are used:
W - Acceleration
S - Deceleration
A - Turn Left
D - Turn Right

8 - Nose Down
5 - Nose Up
4 - Yaw Left
6 - Yaw Right

F - Eject (Duh)
E - Utility (Hydra Mode, Cargo Hook)
G - Landing Gear
Space Bar - Fire Selected Weapon

Additional Controls: In addition to the controls mentioned above there are a few others that you may use, but are mostly OPTIONAL.

Mouse Button 1 - Holding down gives controls similar to 4, 5, 6, 8 in which mouse movement determines direction.
Mouse Wheel - Change Weapon (Cannons, Missle, No-Lock Missle).

While these controls may seem confusing and a bit daunting to some players, they are actually very good and responsive keys to use. WASD should be common sense, controling your acceleration/deceleration, as well as turning the plane/copter left and right. 4568 on the numpad are used as additional controls for movement. Controling the nose either up or down, which determines your speed and direction, as well as yawing (tilting) to the left or right. I will elaborate on these further.

Nose - Nose controls are important for flying a plane/copter. When in a plane, in order to gain clearance to take off you must have the nose pointed upwards, which is achieved by holding down 5, if you wished to decend altitude once airborne, 8 will tilt the nose down wards. Note that these keys are relative to the planes horizontal position. If the plane is sideways (say west), 5 would turn you to the left (west), while 8 will turn you to the right (east). For helicopters the Nose is inverted; when the nose is up the helicopter will slow down and even go backwards, when it is down the helicopter goes forwards. The elevation for the nose and helicopter controls is also determined by the acceleration/deceleration keys. Ex; Holding S while holding 8 will cause you to decend forward, rapidly. Holding S while holding 5 while cause you to descend slower, but backwards (mostly used to stop acceleration).

Yaw - Yawing is simply the tilting of the plane or helicopter. 4 and 6 do this, for planes it can tilt the plane to the left and right, sometimes all the way to the side and even upside down. For Helicopters, yawing will allow you better control when in a more stationary position or if you need to make sharp turns and is not normally possible to fly the helicopter upside down. Yawing in a plane can be used in conjuction with the 5 and 8 keys to make very sharp and sudden turns, allowing for a quick turn around and to avoid danger.

What is Turbulence?

The exact definition of Turbulence: In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and flow velocity in space and time.

Essentially Turbulence is conditions that affect your control over your aircraft, often increased during incliment weather. You notice this often as the vehicle seems to jerk in different directions or has trouble staying leveled. Turbulence has affects all over the map and your control over it is determined by your Flying Skill.

On a normal sunny day, turbulence will be minor at normal elevations. Once you get higher up you will see a slight increase in turbulence (usually above cloud level). During rainy weather turbulence will worse as wind conditions pick up and rain hammers your vehicle, making control much more difficult even with good Flying Skills. Snow is the worse condition to fly in, as your visibility is at it's lowest, and your control (even at max) is very unstable although not impossible.

Take note of the weather conditions when flying, turbulence in minor spouts are easily corrected by adjusting your aircrafts Yaw in the opposite direction.

The San Andreas Flight School is one of the best ways to learning Flying in GTA as well as level your Flying Skill. This section will cover the Story Mode (aka Single Player) version of the San Andreas Flight School missions.

Training Take Off: Take off and pass through two checkpoints.
Aircraft: Cuban 800
Gold: 0:32
Silver: 0:50
Bronze: 1:00

Runway Landing: Land safely on the runway.
Aircraft: Cuban 800
Gold: 0:35
Silver: 0:55
Bronze: 1:10

Inverted Flight: Perform corkscrews and fly upside down.
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 1:40
Silver: 2:00
Bronze: 2:20

Knife Flight: Fly sideways and maintain altitude.
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 0:54
Silver: 1:15
Bronze: 1:40

Flat Hatting: Low altitude flight through checkpoints.
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 2:15
Silver: 2:35
Bronze: 3:00

Touch Down: Land a plane on the bridge outside Fort Zancudo.
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 10 Feet.
Silver: 45 Feet.
Bronze: Land Safely 45+ Feet.

Loop the Loop: Perform an inside loop.
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 1:35
Silver: 1:40
Bronze: 2:05

Helicopter Course: Fly through checkpoints.
Aircraft: Frogger
Gold: 2:40
Silver: 3:15
Bronze: 3:45

Helicopter Speed Run: Race through checkpoints.
Aircraft: Frogger
Gold: 2:10
Silver: 3:00
Bronze: 3:30

Skydiving: Land on target.
Aircraft: None.
Gold: 3 Feet.
Silver: 10 Feet.
Bronze: 20 Feet.

Drop Zone: Land on a moving target.
Aircraft: None.
Gold: 0 Feet.
Silver: 7 Feet.
Bronze: 20 Feet.

Earn Your Wings: Fly through course with inverted and knife flight checkpoints (indicated by blue and green markers).
Aircraft: Mallard
Gold: 2:50
Silver: 3:15
Bronze: 3:40

The San Andreas Flight School is one of the best ways to learning Flying in GTA as well as level your Flying Skill. This section will cover the Online (aka Multiplayer) version of the San Andreas Flight School missions.

Outside Loop: Perform an outside loop.
Aircraft: P-996 Lazer
Gold: 0:58
Silver: 1:20
Bronze: 2:00

Engine Failure: Land a Miljet safely after engine failure.
Aircraft: Miljet
Gold: 10 Meters.
Silver: 30 Meters.
Bronze: Land safely, 30+ Meters.

Chase Parachute: Skydive after a parachute then land safely.
Aircraft: None.
Gold: 2 Meters.
Silver: 4.5 Meters.
Bronze: 7 Meters.

City Landing: Land in incliment weather conditions.
Aircraft: Titan
Gold: 10 Meters.
Silver: 30 Meters.
Bronze: Land Safely, 30+ Meters.

Moving Landing: Land a helicopter on a moving flatbed.
Aircraft: Swift
Gold: 0:19
Silver: 0:25
Bronze 1:00

Formation Flight: Fly in formation through the city.
Aircraft: Besra
Gold: 600 Points
Silver: 450 Points
Bronze: 300 Points

Shooting Range: Destroy targets.
Aircraft: Buzzard
Gold: 25
Silver: 15
Bronze: 10

Ground Level: Checkpoint flight with low altitude.
Aircraft: Besra
Gold: 1 Meter.
Silver: 3 Meters.
Bronze: 10 Meters.

Collect Flags: Collect checkpoints in any order as fast as possible.
Aircraft: Besra
Gold: 2:40
Silver: 3:00
Bronze: Finish, collect all 30.

Follow Leader: Follow JT Boyd around the city.
Aircraft: P-996 Lazer
Gold: 2:25
Silver: 2:40
Bronze: Finish.

A Dog Fight is the act in engaging into combat while both parties are inside an aircraft. Plane vs. Plane, Helicopter vs. Helicopter, Plane vs. Helicopter.

Dog Fighting is the hardest skill to learn in GTA V as it is not directly taught to you in any way, shape, or form other than pure experience. If you are to survive battles while airborne against other airborne adversaries you must know how to Dog Fight successfully.

Rules of Engagment

Know Your Enemy: What Aircraft are they using? What's their experience if any?

Fight on Your Terms: Engage when it is favorable to you and your location.

Watch Your Six: Never lose sight of the enemy, a lost visual can result in death.

Evade: Corkscrew, U-turn, Loop, use any and all evasive maneuvers to keep the enemy from hitting you.

Don't EVER Get Cocky: Kid.

Dog Fighting is a very stressful way to engage another enemy, as opposite of just pointing a gun and pulling the trigger, you are now flying the gun and chasing them down, while avoiding their shots. You will quickly find that maneuvering is key to staying alive, whether it's through doing sharp turns, commencing a U-turn, or dodging in and out of buildings. Don't ever slow down, or stop unless you know you will be safe.

Often times fighting around buildings can be incredibly difficult, but also incredibly advantagious. If your control is good and you stay focused, you can often find yourself using the tall buildings to take missle hits for you while also potentionally causing your pursuer to panic crash into one. The same can apply for tunnels and bridges.

Remember altitude, if you can't see your target, look up and down. The higher you are flying, the more exposed you are to enemies who are below you, likewise you are least likely to be spotted if you fly under your enemy.

Weapon choice is key to engagement as well as knowing when to switch. Aircrafts are outfitted with a few varities: Cannons, Explosive Cannons, Rockets, Homing Rockets. Cannons are simply machine gun mounted projectiles that can deal great damage over time but are widely inaccurate and are often better for shreding stationary or ground targets. Explosive Cannons are like Cannons but the rounds explode violently on contact, these are amazing for taking out armored or heavy targets like tanks or other jets and are VERY accurate. Rockets are free fired underneath the wing of your plane or helicopter and will wildly fly off in the direction roughly of your cross hair. Homing Rockets are like Rockets but will follow the last locked target for a period of time, till they hit or get out of range.

When life or death hangs in the balance and death is something of a 4,000 foot drop, you will want to rely on your parachute for survival.

Parachutes are unlocked at Rank 11 in GTA Online and available most anywhere in Story Mode. Parachutes can be found on top of high locations that you cannot get down safely without an aircraft. Once you have purchased a Parachute you will now automatically recieve one each time you enter an aircraft, helicopter, plane, or otherwise.

You do NOT have to have the Parachute visible to have it equipped. The Parachute can be changed in terms of the chute, reserve chute, the parachute bag itself, and parachute smoke.

In order to activate a parachuting you must be falling from a great height, or eject out of a flying vehicle. Your parachute should be visible, and you are now skydiving.

W will accelerate your speed downwards while S will slow you to a more accurate downward decent, A and D function as your normal turning. Pressing F or Mouse Button 1 will activate your Parachute. Your controls remain very similar; W will aim you downwards for more speed and rapid decent, while S will maintain a slowly decreasing altitude. A and D control your turning while holding the Left Shift will slow your speed down entirely, used in conjunction with W and S will allow for increased accuracy for landing.

Using X will activate any parachute smoke you have on, allowing you to signal your position to others, or simply show off. Pressing F again will detach your current chute and cause you to free fall again, either to your death or to activate your reserve chute.

Reserve Parachutes are purchased at Ammunation and act as a backup to your primary chute, if you lose it mid flight. Reserve parachutes must be bought before they are activated each session.

You can also fire a weapon while Parachuting by holding the Right Mouse Button and Firing with the Left Mouse Button. Only Pistols and the Micro-SMG can be used. A Parachute that is shot will shudder for a moment, while repeated fire can eventually detach the chute from it's owner.

If you wish to practice your Parachuting skills, join a Parachuting mission in GTA Online and compete with others for points based on accuracy and control. Parachuting is NOT affect by the Flying Skill.

Here is a list of Planes that are Purchasable in GTA V and GTA Online.

Mallard
The Mallard is a light weight stunt plane that is perfect for performing stuns, knife flights, inverted flying and so on with relative ease.
GTA V: $250,000.
GTA Online: $250,000.

Velum
The Velum is a light weight aircraft capable of transporting players from one location to another in realtive ease. The Velum struggles to perform stunts but can accomade with it's extra seating. Comes in two variants.
GTA Online: $450,000 (normal) $950,000 (5-seater, luxury).

Cuban-800
The Cuban-800 is a midrange aircraft capable of transporting players as well as for luxury flights. It has fairly good speed but can struggle with turbulence and stunts.
GTA V: $240,000.
GTA Online: $240,000.

Duster
The Duster is a crop fixed-wing airplane. It is capable of performing stunts to a degree but is relatively slow and not capable of deploying pesticides, but can be a humorous get away vehicle for two.
GTA V: $275,000.
GTA Online: $275,000.

Mammatus
The Mammatus is another single-propeller engine plane that has fairly good acceleration but a slow top speed, and is actually the slowest plane in GTA V. It's inability to raise it's landing gear slows it down and makes it much harder to maneuver.
GTA Online: $300,000.

Shamal
The Shamal is a luxory jet that has a wide array of performances, capable of fitting a large number of people and performing a few different stunts. The Shamal can accelerate at a fairly rapid rate and is very quick once airborne.
GTA V: $1,150,000.
GTA Online: $1,150,000.

Luxor
The Luxor is similar to performance and style as the Shamal but being more for private use than commerical like the Shamal. It's interior is slightly different but in terms of performance is identical to the Shamal.
GTA V: $1,500,000.
GTA Online: $1,625,000.

Titan
The Titan is the largest flyable plane in GTA Online and can carry up to 10 people total. Based off the C-130 cargoplane it is capable of good speed and is fairly easy to land for its size. It has the most versatality out of all aircrafts in the game and can be landed nearly anywhere.
GTA Online: $2,000,000.

Vestra
The Vestra is the 3rd fastest plane in the game, capable of reaching speeds increadibly fast and able to perform maneuvers and rolls with ease, even better than the Mallard. It's luxory design isn't just for looks either as its capable of taking several hits and still able to maintain flight.
GTA V: $950,000.
GTA Online: $950,000.

Miljet
The Miljet is a Military Luxory Jet that is capable of holding up to 16 people in it. It's large space though makes a slight suffer in performance with acceleration and turning, but it is capable of reaching fairly good top speeds.
GTA V: $1,700,000.
GTA Online: $1,700,000.

Besra
The Besra is a flight training jet that is capable of reaching top speeds comparable to the F-996 Lazer, having a higher acceleration but a slower top speed. Still landing it as the 2nd fastest plane in the game, behind the Lazer.
GTA V: $658,000.
GTA Online: $1,150,000.

Hydra
The Hydra is a fighter jet only available in GTA Online. It is the only plane capable of taking off and landing vertically, VTOL. It features a range of weapons such as explosive cannons and homing and non-homing rockets. While on par with the Lazer, the Hydra's rockets have a shorter range to the Lazer's missles.
GTA Online: $3,000,000.

Dodo
The Dodo is a seaplane capable of landing on land and in water with relative ease. It can hold up to four passengers and is fairly slow, on par with the Duster, and having some maneuverability. It is exclusive to Returning Players.
GTA Online: $500,000.

This section will cover a list of Helicopters that are purchasable in GTA V and GTA Online.

Maverick
The Maverick is an average helicopter, solid controls and performance and is capable of transporting 4 people across the map or provide close range air support with player used weapons.
GTA V: $780,000.
GTA Online: $780,000.

Frogger
The Frogger is a very fast helicopter with a more modern design, capable of taking off and landing with ease and having good control while airborne. It can hold up to 4 players as well as the Maverick.
GTA V: $1,300,000.
GTA Online: $1,300,000.

Annihilator
The Annihilator makes it's return from GTA IV but only in GTA Online and does not appear in Story Mode. The Annihilator is the same as it's old counter-part, a big sluggish but armed with high caliber guns that are capable of shredding targets to pieces, though the rounds are not explosive.
GTA Online: $1,825,000.

Cargobob
The Cargobob is a unique and popular vehicle as it is the only flying vehicle that is capable of lifting up and transporting other vehicles, including boats. The Cargobob features an unside winch for attaching to vehicles and can haul most every vehicle. It can also hold up to 10 players total.
GTA V: $2,200,000.
GTA Online: $185,000 (Trick, no longer possible to purchase).

Buzzard
The Buzzard Attack Helicopter is an incredibly agile helicopter, armed with a pair of machine guns and homing and non-homing missles capable of tearing enemy land and air targets apart. The Buzzard is capable of making very sharp turns and reach top speeds quickly.
GTA V: $2,000,000.
GTA Online: $1,750,000.

Swift
As its name entails, it is the fastest helicopter in the game and one of the few to feature retractable landing gear. It can reach top speeds very quickly but is not very resistant, relying on speed to escape any pursuers as it cannot take much of a hit.
GTA V: $1,600,000.
GTA Online: $1,500,000 (Classic) or $1,600,000 (Flying Bravo).

Valkyrie
The Valkyrie is a GTA Online only vehicle that is incredibly durable for its size, but is not very fast. It's low speed, high armor is made up for it's abundant weaponry. Sporting two high caliber mini-guns on both sides of the helicopter and featuring an assault cannon underneath the nose, operated by the co-pilot it is capable of raining down hell with ease.
GTA Online: $2,850,000.

Savage
The Savage is a powerful vehicle, armed to the teeth with lots of weaponry and is even capable of transport. It features homing and non-homing missles which can be fired back to back without a cooldown, alongside an underbelly cannon that fires high caliber explosive rounds. It's powerful weaponry comes at a cost at a lack of endurance, while it can maneuver great, it can't take too many hits.
GTA Online: $1,950,000.

There is a lot to consider when flying and to close out I'd like to offer a few points of advice to help you out just a bit further.


1.) It's not the controls, it's you.

The Flying controls are very good, if not excellent all around with both a gamepad and mouse+keyboard. If you are having trouble flying, it's not fault controls, you either do not have very high flying skill or you lack practice needed to fly.

2.) Beep, Beep, Beeeeeeeep.

That sound will be your almighty panic button, it's the sound of another player locking onto your vehicle. Your first instinct might be to bail and while that can be a safe route, sometimes it is unnecessary if you are focusing. Looking behind you can help you judge how far away a missle is from you, or if you are timing the beeping you can sometime predict when a missle will reach you and you can dodge it.

3.) Cannons or Missles?

Sometimes it can be very tempting to stick to homing missles and never touch the cannons, but you will find out quickly that moving targets aren't always easier to hit with heat seekers. Sometimes you need to close the distance and shred them to pieces with the cannons, and explosive cannons are exceptionally good at this. Dive bombing a tank with a Lazer set to cannons 9 times out of 10, results in a dead tank.

4.) Pull em up!

One of the most common beginning mistakes when flying in GTA is forgetting to pull up your landing gear, once you are airborne make sure to bring them up as while they are down you will be much slower. Though this can work to your advantage if you need to slow your speed, or do a strafing run.

5.) Don't Panick Steer.

Sometimes it can be a very common occurance to suddenly lose control of a plane or a helicopter. The most common response is to spam controls to maintain some kind of balance, but this often just hastens the death. Remain calm, correct the problem slowly and precisely, this should be done even under pressure.

6.) Homing Launcher.

As a new player in GTA Online one of your best biggest investments should be a Homing Launcher, not only is it effective against Tanks and other land vehicles, it can be used to swat players out of the sky with ease. Do note that it has a long lock on time and it is easier to hit your target from the sides or behind rather than the front.

If you enjoyed this Guide make sure to check out my other Guide for GTA Online!