Jet

The Jet is a jet airliner featured in Grand Theft Auto V. It is the first controllable wide-body aircraft in the series and the second controllable airliner, after the AT-400 in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Description
Taking the appearance of a Boeing 747-400, the Jet is the second largest controllable vehicle in the game, only smaller than the Cargo Plane. Although mostly based on the 747-400, the upper hump extends to the midsection of the frame, which is a feature of the succeeding 747-8.

Unlike its predecessor, the AT-400, the jet bears the liveries of multiple airliners present in the HD Universe, and can be frequently found servicing and stationary in Los Santos International Airport. The Jet is only controllable in single player; it is largely absent from Grand Theft Auto Online, appearing in only a single Adversary Mode, and it cannot be controlled. The aircraft doesn't have any functional doors and can be accessed by pressing (PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4),  (Xbox 360 & Xbox One), or F (PC) standing anywhere under the plane, the player will then warp inside the aeroplane.

747-based airliners first appeared in Grand Theft Auto IV, but they only served as a scenery prop and were not controllable in any way.

Performance
Given the Jet is a commercial airliner, it might be no surprise that, even with its weight, it still remains as one of the fastest airplanes in the game. It's faster than all propeller powered planes, like the Cuban 800 or the Velum, and, in terms on speed, it can be considered on-par with the Shamal. Strangely though, a Police Maverick can keep up with it with little difficulty; in real life, the 747-400 is actually one of the fastest sub-sonic aircraft in service.

While it is obviously heavier, and thus harder to maneuver than most small aircraft, its handling is surprisingly light and unrealistic for an airliner. In comparison to the aforementioned Cargo Plane or the Titan, other two large aircraft in the game, it feels lighter than both of them, being even able to easily make barrel rolls, its larger wings also make it one of the most stable planes in the game. However, it is almost impossible to glide the Jet - with all engines lost, it can only glide for about 1-2 lengths of the fuselage before it stalls.

The Jet's fuselage is highly durable and can take a good number of shots before exploding. However, the engines are an Achilles' heel - they will explode (and in turn cause the entire aeroplane to explode) if they impact any objects with the slightest force, including any obstacles on the ground while taxiing (in fact, the jet is pretty much the only aircraft that can be destroyed by the player without leaving the ground). This vulnerability makes some of the Jets that spawn at the airport challenging to maneuver onto a runway for takeoff.

A Jet can fly with one engine damaged for a reasonable distance (e.g. from the Grand Senora Desert to the Palomino Highlands) before all engines fail.

On the other hand, due to its size, it's not the most convenient airplane for transporting the player around Los Santos. Given that Fort Zancudo is a heavily secure military base and that the McKenzie Field Hangar airstrip is obviously way too small for the plane to fit in, the plane can only be safely landed in Los Santos International Airport. It is difficult, but not impossible, to land a Jet in Sandy Shores Airfield, and even in the latter it might be considerably challenging, since fences or large rocks might hit the engines and destroy or disable the plane.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * The Jet's most prominent appearance is during Legal Trouble, where multiple land causing devastation on the runways of LSIA, and is prominently the responsibility for Molly Schultz's death.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Appears taking off during the Adversary Mode Keep the Pace as part of the GTA Online: Lowriders Update.

Locations
Multiple Jets can be found and entered in Los Santos International Airport from the very beginning of the game:
 * XB360/PS3 versions
 * Three frequently spawn around the main terminal.
 * Sometimes two others spawn in the south hangars.
 * Jets are seen taking off and landing on runways 12L and 12R respectively, sometimes simultaneously. Jets that land on runway 12R will usually taxi down the length of the runway, before turning to a stop near Hangar 1, on the southeast side of the airport.

Prior to the San Andreas Flight School Update 1.16, Jets could have been hard to obtain, since entering the airport gave the player a 3 star wanted level, and multiple police vehicles invading the tarmac might slow down and, if the engines are shot, potentially damage the Jet. The police cruisers could also crash against the aircraft wheels and eventually destroy them.

Since update 1.16, players have the hangar (and dock and helipad) available from the very start of the game as Franklin and Michael, where the automatically owned Besra, Vestra and Miljet are stored. Therefore, the wanted level is now avoided and the player can freely enter the airport to steal a jet. The wanted level still occurs when entering the airport as Trevor, given he can't buy a hangar.

Jets can also be seen flying at high altitude above Cassidy Creek, although the only way to acquire one is to somehow manage to land a helicopter on its wing and enter the plane.


 * XB1/PS4/PC versions
 * Compared to last gen, only a few can be found around the tarmac of Los Santos International Airport.
 * Jets randomly spawn while flying an aircraft high above the clouds, though it is very hard to obtain it, because you have to land on top of the Jet, then exit your vehicle without falling off or the two vehicles colliding, then hijack it. You can either do this with a small and fast helicopter or an airplane. When encountering a commercial airliner midair, you have to first spot it before it's passing you, then you have to keep up with the plane. It is hard to do so with a helicopter.
 * Jets can be seen taking off when first entering the airport, however, this is much rarer than previous gen.

Decommissioned aircraft
Two dismantled Jets, bearing older FlyUS and Air Herler liveries, can be found wrecked in the Thomson Scrapyard. A small part of both planes' fuselages are enterable, yet there isn't much to do inside since it is completely empty, not even having passenger seats. A small section of the fuselage of a Jet can be found in the Los Santos International Airport, propped up on some stands. Much like in real airports, it is a firefighter training aircraft, therefore having a blackened and burnt fuselage. It has no visible livery.

Incidents and accidents
A crashed Jet bearing the older FlyUS livery (the same as in the scrapyard) can be found in the bottom of the ocean near the Paleto Bay shore. It doesn't have many accumulated coral parts around it, which suggests the crash might have been recent and therefore not much before the game's events. It doesn't play any role in the main storyline, but three submarine parts for the Death at Sea side mission can be found in there.

Another sunken Jet can also be found east of the Port of Los Santos and south of the Murrieta Oil Field. It is, unlike the previous one, filled with corals around the fuselage, doesn't have any recognizable liveries and has a few acquirable weapons surrounding it, hinting to a possible hijacking or smuggling operation. This theory is also reinforced by the fact that the cockpit window is full of bullet holes. Like the FlyUS sunken one, it also doesn't play any role in the main storyline, and three submarine parts for the Death at Sea side mission can also be found in there.

Trivia

 * Multiple 747-based planes are found in GTA IV's Francis International Airport bearing FlyUS liveries, but none of them are pilotable. They can be seen taxiing, parked in the terminals and flying around Liberty City, but never taking off or landing.
 * Its lack of an entering animation, the unrealistic handling, and its rather simplistic name suggest that the Jet might not have been planned to be pilotable at first. The plane's unrealistic ease of control may have also been a possible over exaggeration of the handling praise pilots have given to the 747 series. Alternatively, it may have been added in as an Easter Egg.
 * The windows on the plane light up at night. They turn off a few seconds after a pilot exits, as the engines spool down.
 * The Jet has three sets of taxi lights - one is mounted on the front landing gear, and the other two are mounted near the wing roots.
 * The Jet cannot be stored in any hangar. This is, however, not necessary, given that they are commonly found around the airport grounds, where Michael's and Franklin's hangars are located.
 * The Jet is one of the most prominent aircraft which can be seen in LSIA and ,along with the Shamal and Luxor, it can be seen taking off and landing at the airport. This defies actual trends of 747 usage, as usage of 747s on international routes has declined in recent years due to airlines shifting focus to more economically viable aircraft, and has declined as such as to prompt Boeing to develop a future replacement. This means that it would have made more sense for the Twinjet found in the airport to be pilotable.
 * However, the 747 is still very popular among airlines from other countries, with British Airways (the inspiration behind Air Herler) currently holding the largest fleet in the world. This means that 747s are still common visitors to the real-life LAX.
 * As seen briefly in Michael De Santa's trailer, the Jet was supposed to have another livery, possibly from an airliner cut from the final game. It's currently unknown whether this was a fifth livery of if it was replaced by any of the other four in the final release. The style of the livery seems to follow design trends used by small American airlines in the 1970s-80s. GTA 5 airport.jpg
 * Despite having 4 engines, only two of them actually receive damage. The outermost engine on the starboard, for example, will not show signs of damage if shot - rather, the innermost engine will start smoking. Owing to game mechanics, one engine will start smoking after the complete failure of the other engine on the opposite side.
 * Jets parked by NPCs will sometimes disappear off-screen and will reappear when the player leaves the area, either taking off, taxiing or landing, even when Jets are landed by the player, they can disappear off-screen, and re-spawn in the airport.
 * The Jet, along with the Cargo Plane and the Freight Train, are not listed in the BradyGames guide, strengthening the theory that the Jet might have been added very late in the game's development. The absence of the ability to control jets in GTA Online also adds as evidence.
 * If the player hits a Jet piloted by a NPC with another plane, the Jet will go out of control and not move anywhere else and after that, the player can freely take the Jet. If the plane is in the takeoff process, it will either take off and crash, or break and slide off the runway.
 * In Legal Trouble, jet blast from a Jet realistically causes police cruisers to flip over. This mechanic is not seen in normal gameplay.
 * The Jet's engine sounds are very loud and can drown out the radio sound, and is even louder for a player who has a higher volume level. This can be avoided by switching to first-person view, which muffles some of the engine noise, or lowering or turning off sound effects in the game options.
 * Every Jet that spawns, regardless of the airline, shares the same registration (LS-RGK21081). The registration does not match the ones used by the countries of origin of the airlines seen in the game.
 * Despite its huge size, it can seat only two persons, a pilot and a passenger.
 * If moving a vehicle gets in the way of an AI controlled Jet on the ground, it'll cancel take off or taxi along and stop by emergency, if it survives without exploding on impact (which is quite rare, depending on the size of the vehicle used). If the Jet is hit while moving at high speed, it sometimes takes off but then rolls and falls into the ocean at the end of the runway, or slams into the grass at the edge of the runway instead, exploding violently.
 * The first person view inside the Jet's cockpit shows that the plane does not have a glass cockpit, like the 747-400 it is based on (and most other modern airliners). Also the plane is controlled using an antiquated centre stick, not a yoke, and lacks throttle levers, unlike the Cargo Plane.
 * Oddly enough, the Jet doesn't have any door in the cockpit. However, what looks almost like a 'stitch' line in fabric is present in the outline shape of a door.

Glitches

 * After you land the Jet in either the airport or an airfield, get out of the Jet, then switch to another character and switch back to the character who you were controlling the Jet before switching. Upon switching, the Jet will be visibly floating in mid-air, albeit very slightly and sometimes only a few feet in the air, right above where it was initially parked. This also happens when quick saving and reloading the file in a jet while stationary, except the character will be in the jet. This doesn't seem to happen all the time, and it may take several tries to replicate this glitch.
 * When starting a mission, especially in Rockford Hills, when the player first takes control, a Jet can usually be seen or heard crashing unrealistically into buildings/palm trees and exploding.