Fixed-Wing Aircraft: Difference between revisions

Airplanes were first made available as controllable vehicles with the introduction of the [[Dodo]] in [[Grand Theft Auto III]], which was significantly difficult to fly. Unlike [[helicopter]]s, however, controllable airplanes do not enjoy consistent appearances since GTA III, with [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]] featuring only one airplane, [[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]] featuring up to eleven such aircraft, [[Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories]] featuring one, [[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories]] featuring two airplanes, and [[Grand Theft Auto IV]] featuring none at all.

Airplanes are naturally aircraft that rely on their propellers or jet engines for horizontal speed, generating lift using their wings in the process. Controls while on the ground, however, are often heavy and are only effective at low speeds due to their weight and little traction from the landing gears. As such, airplanes often require a stretch of flat surface in order to take off or land, making the presence of airport runways in games they appear in useful in this regard. The only exception to the rule is the [[Hydra]] in GTA San Andreas, which is capable of both conventional and vertical take off, flying, and landing by the simple act of adjusting the direction of its jet thrusters.

Since its introduction in GTA III, airplanes possess a wide range of controls: Including working [[wp:aileron|ailerons]], [[wp:elevator|elevators]] and [[wp:rudder|rudders]], allowing it to [[wp:Flight dynamics|roll, pitch and yaw]], and retractable landing gears in GTA San Andreas, which impacts their aerodynamics and speed. In their initial appearances in GTA III and GTA Vice City, certain aerobatic stunts (i.e. barrel rows or loops) are very difficult to execute (likely because the airplanes featured in these games, the [[Dodo]] and [[Skimmer]], are underpowered), a limitation rectified in GTA San Andreas, which allows airplanes to perform said stunts and are even showcased during [[Pilot School|Flying School]], where a number of airplane stunts must be executed by the player.

The size of airplanes vary greatly throughout the series, with the [[Dodo]] being the smallest, and the [[AT-400]] and [[Andromada]] being the largest airplanes and aircraft in general. Airplanes in the series have encompassed [[wp:monoplane|monoplanes]] and [[wp:biplane|biplanes]], as well as [[wp:seaplane|seaplanes]].