For the school in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, see Pilot School.
The Flight School is an activiy in Grand Theft Auto V, located on Exceptionalists Way at the Los Santos International Airport in Los Santos, San Andreas. In single player, it becomes available after the mission Friends Reunited. In GTA Online, it becomes available after the player downloads The San Andreas Flight School Update.
Description
Only Michael and Franklin need to take lessons to increase their flying skills, unlike Trevor who is already an expert pilot. Trevor will tell Michael to attend the school if his flying skill is not high enough, if the player chooses the Offshore method after the mission Scouting the Port. Note that Michael is NOT required to go to Flight School in order to initiate the heist, however the training is useful.[1]
Like in the Pilot School of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the player will learn to fly airplanes, helicopters, and to perform skydiving. There are 12 lessons in total and for each one the player will be awarded with a different medal (gold, silver, or bronze), depending on the time it takes to complete the lesson. Mission failure will occur if the player crashes the aircraft, strays too far away from the course and enters an out-of-bounds area, or takes too long to complete the mission. Unlike missions, these exercises do not have checkpoints or the skip option (after failing 3 times).
In GTA Online, the flight school have 10 solo missions, that include combat maneuvering, low-flying challenges, formation flying and more.
The flight instructor is called Jackson.
Lessons
GTA V
The twelve lessons to pass are:
| Lesson | Description | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training Take Off | Take off and pass through two checkpoints. | 00:32 | 00:50 | 01:00 |
| Runway Landing | Land safely on the runway. | 00:35 | 00:55 | 01:10 |
| Inverted Flight | Perform barrel rolls and fly upside down. | 01:40 | 02:00 | 02:20 |
| Knife Flight | Fly sideways and maintain altitude with the rudder. | 00:54 | 01:15 | 01:40 |
| Flat Hatting | Fly a checkpoint course through the Port of Los Santos and the LSIA maintaining a low altitude. | 02:15 | 02:35 | 03:00 |
| Touch Down | Land a plane on a bridge in Lago Zancudo as close as the final checkpoint as possible. | 10 ft | 45 ft | Finish |
| Loop the Loop | Perform an inside loop. | 01:35 | 01:40 | 02:05 |
| Helicopter Course |
Fly through checkpoints in a helicopter through Los Santos. |
02:40 | 03:15 | 03:45 |
| Helicopter Speed Run | Fly through checkpoints in a helicopter through the Palomino Highlands and Los Santos as fast as possible. | 02:10 | 03:00 | 03:30 |
| Skydiving | Skydive and land on a stationary target. | 3 ft | 10 ft | 20 ft |
| Drop Zone | Skydive and land on a moving target. | 0 ft | 7 ft | 20 ft |
| Earn Your Wings | Course through the city performing stunts learned in the previous lessons. Green checkpoints are for knife flights and blue checkpoints for inverted flights. | 02:50 | 03:15 | 03:40 |
GTA Online
| Lesson | Description | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outside Loop | Perform an outside loop. | 00:58 | 01:20 | 02:00 |
| Engine Failure | Land the Miljet with an engine failure. | 10m | 30m | Finish |
| Chase Parachute | Catch a parachute in midair and land safely. | 2m | 4.50m | 7m |
| City Landing | Land a plane in bad weather conditions. | 10m | 30m | Finish |
| Moving Landing | Land a Swift on a flatbed trailer before it drives into the tunnel. | 00:19 | 00:25 | 01:00 |
| Formation Flight | Fly in formation. | 600 | 450 | 300 |
| Shooting Range | Destroy targets using a Buzzard | 25 | 15 | 10 |
| Ground Level |
Fly through checkpoints, keeping as close to the ground as possible. |
1m | 3m | 10m |
| Collect Flags | Fly through 30 checkpoints in any order. | 02:40 | 03:00 | Finish |
| Follow Leader | Follow your instructor. | 02:25 | 02:40 | Finish |
Video
Trivia
- The school was established in 2004, the same year Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released.
- Although Trevor is an experienced pilot from his military past, he can still go to the school and finish the exercises to reach 100% flying skill faster. Despite his experience, Jackson will still call him a beginner during the lessons.
- Dom Beasley appears in the video introduction of the Skydiving and Drop Zone lessons.
- The flight instructor in GTA Online seems to be quite rude and likes to trash talk his students.