For the school in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, see Pilot School.
The Flight School is an activity in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Description[]
Located on Exceptionalists Way at the Los Santos International Airport in Los Santos, San Andreas. In GTA V, it becomes available after the mission Friends Reunited. In GTA Online, it becomes available after the player downloads The San Andreas Flight School Update and is at least rank 6.
Description[]
In Grand Theft Auto V, 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 the Pilot School in 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 how well the player completes the lesson. Mission failure will occur if the player destroys an aircraft, is wasted, strays too far away from the course and enters an out-of-bounds area, or takes too long to complete the lesson. Unlike missions, these exercises do not have checkpoints or the skip option (after failing 3 times).
In Grand Theft Auto Online, the flight school consists of 10 solo lessons that include combat maneuvering, low-flying challenges, formation flying, and more.
The flight instructor in GTA V is Jackson, while the flight instructor in GTA Online is JT Boyd.
Lessons[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
The twelve lessons to pass are:
| Lesson | Image | Description | Given Vehicle | 
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training Take Off |  |
Take off and pass through two checkpoints. | Cuban 800 | 00:32 | 00:50 | 01:00 |
| Runway Landing |  |
Land safely on the runway. | Cuban 800 | 00:35 | 00:55 | 01:10 |
| Inverted Flight |  |
Perform barrel rolls and fly upside down. | Mallard | 01:40 | 02:00 | 02:20 |
| Knife Flight |  |
Fly sideways and maintain altitude with the rudder. | Mallard | 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. | Mallard | 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. | Mallard | 10 ft | 45 ft | Finish |
| Loop the Loop |  |
Perform an inside loop. | Mallard | 01:35 | 01:40 | 02:05 |
| Helicopter Course |  |
Fly through checkpoints in a helicopter through Los Santos. | Frogger | 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. | Frogger | 02:10 | 03:00 | 03:30 |
| Skydiving |  |
Skydive and land on a stationary target. | n/a | 3 ft | 10 ft | 20 ft |
| Drop Zone |  |
Skydive and land on a moving target. | n/a | 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. | Mallard | 02:50 | 03:15 | 03:40 |
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
The ten lessons to pass are:
| Lesson | Image | Description | Given Vehicle |
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outside Loop |  |
Perform an outside loop. | P-996 Lazer | 00:58 | 01:20 | 02:00 |
| Engine Failure |  |
Land the Miljet with an engine failure. | Miljet | 10m | 30m | Finish |
| Chase Parachute |  |
Catch a parachute in midair and land safely. | n/a | 2m | 4.50m | 7m |
| City Landing |  |
Land a plane in bad weather conditions. | Titan | 10m | 30m | Finish |
| Moving Landing |  |
Land a Swift on a flatbed trailer before it drives into the tunnel. | Swift | 00:19 | 00:25 | 01:00 |
| Formation Flight |  |
Fly in formation. | Besra | 600 | 450 | 300 |
| Shooting Range |  |
Destroy targets using a Buzzard. | Buzzard Attack Chopper | 25 | 15 | 10 |
| Ground Level |  |
Fly through checkpoints, keeping as close to the ground as possible. | Besra | 1m | 3m | 10m |
| Collect Flags |  |
Fly through 30 checkpoints in any order. | Besra | 02:40 | 03:00 | Finish |
| Follow Leader |  |
Follow your instructor. | P-996 Lazer | 02:25 | 02:40 | Finish |
Cut[]
| Lesson | Image | Description | Given Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation Flight |  |
Cut Flight School lesson from Grand Theft Auto V. It apparently involved flying in formation with AI-controlled Mallards, just like the lesson of the same name later introduced in Grand Theft Auto Online. | Mallard |
| Escort Cargo |  |
Cut Flight School lesson from Grand Theft Auto Online. It apparently involved escorting a Titan to a designated area, likely protecting it from enemy-controlled planes/helicopters along the way. | P-996 Lazer |
Rewards[]
Grand Theft Auto V
After completing all the lessons. Several aircraft will spawn scattered throughout the State of San Andreas. A Duster can be found parked on the cul-de-sac of the western edge of Marina Drive, Grand Senora Desert, near the shore of the Alamo Sea. It usually spawns in red.
Completing the lessons is necessary for 100% completion.
Grand Theft Auto Online
The player will unlock the Elitas T-shirt after completing all 10 lessons with at least a bronze medal, and will earn $18,600 if each lesson is completed with a gold medal. If the player's first completion of each of the 10 lessons earns a gold medal, they will receive a combined maximum total of 13,950 RP and $232,500, making Flight School one of the most potentially lucrative activities available online. However, it's counted as a normal contact mission and therefore players need to manually deposit their earnings.
Gallery[]
Video Walkthroughs[]
Trivia[]
General[]
- The flight school's logo, being an image of two hands clasped as if for prayer backed by a pair of wings, is a visual pun on the phrase "on a wing and a prayer", used to describe the trust passengers of aircraft have towards the plane or helicopter's crew to safely respond to a developing incident.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Dom Beasley appears in the video introduction of the Skydiving and Drop Zone lessons.
- Although Trevor is a trained pilot due to his military experience, he can still go to the flight school and complete the exercises to reach 100% flying skill faster.
- Despite Trevor's experience, Jackson will still call him a beginner during the lessons, because the dialogue is always the same in every lesson.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- In Outside Loop, two stems from the score "Greyhound" (a similar instrumental can be heard in the Pause Menu) are played. This is the only mission in the game that partially features this score.
- In Shooting Range, the instructor claims that the Buzzard is equipped with air-to-ground missiles, which contradicts its actual performance, as the Buzzard can attack all targets.
- In the demonstration video of Engine Failure, the instructor claims that this course had lost a lot of pilots, which is an obvious reference to the large presence of Fire Trucks and Ambulances just in case of an accident.
- Quite a quirk: They can end in accidents themselves even if the player landed without an accident.
- In Moving Landing, the image depicts a Swift helicopter landing on the bed of a Flatbed. In the actual mission, the player has to land a Buzzard on the back of a Flatbed Army Trailer.
- In the PC version, the chopper provided is always a Flying Bravo Swift.
- Sometimes, after completing a lesson with a gold medal, they can offer even more than 20,000$ as a reward (PC version, occurred with Formation Flight).
See Also[]
- Stunt Plane Time Trials, another air-based activity featured in the special/collector's edition (original) and in the enhanced edition.
- Pilot School - 3D Universe counterpart.
- Knife Flights and Under the Bridge, two air-based challenges.
