Improbable Piloting Skills: Difference between revisions

[[File:Flying_skills_7093Flying skills 7093.png|link=Don Rosa|rightframe]]

* '''If it flies...''' <br />It doesn't matter what sort of machine it is - so long as it can fly, he can pilot it like a pro. Be it a glider, ultra light, single engine Cessna, mach 50 transforming super fighter, or alien spacecraft, [[Instant Expert|just give him five minutes and he'll figure it out]]. This also applies to when the pilot receives their mid-series upgrade. There's never any mention of the months of retraining needed to fly it... At best he's maybe a little clumsy for one episode, or if not, just as likely to blast off in it to save the day against impossible odds [[Universal DriversDriver's License|five minutes after he first sees the thing]].

* '''Reinforced Plot Armor.''' <br />Planes and most flying things tend to be fragile: if an unnamed character’s craft is so much as nicked by a slingshot's pebble, it will explode in a fiery conflagration. Not so the hero's craft, of course. Once he climbs aboard, any Personal [[Plot Armor]] he happens to be wearing is transferred to it and indeed quite possibly boosted. His craft may be missing a wing, so full of holes it looks like a sieve, and with one engine out, and he’ll still manage to shoot down five enemies with it before making an emergency landing. (Note that the [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B-17-battle-casualty1.gif |B-17]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LveSc8Lp0ZE&fmt=18 Zivi Nadivi] and [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Thunderbolt_II10 Thunderbolt II|the Warthog]] are [[Truth in Television]].)

* '''The Eyes of An Eagle.''' <br />The hero doesn’t just have good vision - he has wide angle telephoto vision with a super slow-mo shutter! He’ll always spot the enemy first and never lose track of him once sighted. He can clearly see and [[High -Speed Missile Dodge|shoot down/dodge incoming missiles]] that would be nothing but a blur to a real human being as they are often moving faster than bullets.

{{examples|Examples}}

* Often enough used in all kinds of [[Gundam]] (except the unlimitiedunlimited ammo thing, which occasionally occurs). Interestingly enough the actual planes tend to be less impressive than or equal to ''contemporary [[Real Life]]'' designs apart from the occasional [[Energy Weapon]] unless piloted by a main character, to hammer home just how much of an advancement Mobile Suits are. The spaceship-like Mobile Armors are all over the performance scale with some being flying (as if someone just threw them) bricks and others matching the vaunted Gundams themselves in terms of mobility.

** Two very similar examples of G-forces: the Tallgeese from ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' and Custom Flag from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', each used by their show's [[Char Clone]] (Zechs Merquise and Graham Akre respectively), boast incredible speed and acceleration, but do so at incredible risk to the pilot (for Tallgeese this is the reason it's a [[Super Prototype]]; the Custom Flag's mods were done on request of the pilot. Both men are shown to suffer effects like [[Blood From the Mouth]], tunnel vision, near blackouts, and in Zechs' case a full-on heart attack as a result of the stresses they put on their bodies in order to fight the Gundams on an equal footing.

** Taken to extremes in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SeedSEED]]'', though not by the numerous [[Ace Pilot|ace pilots]] as one might expect. Rather, the most improbable is Arnold Neumann, the helmsman of the [[Cool Ship|Archangel]], who isn't well known enough to be mentioned even once on the trope page of that series, and yet is responsible for some of the most insane maneuvers ever performed by a battleship in a [[Real Robot]] series. [[Memetic Mutation|Doing a barrel roll]] to point the ship's guns down or circumvent an enemy battleship? No problem. Recovering from a botched atmospheric re-entry? Not even worth a mention. Dodging beams and guided missiles alike between the time they are fired and the time they reach his ship (many times maneuvering so quickly it looks like the crew would surely be turned to red paste against the walls)? All in a day's work. And the Archangel isn't a small ship. It's [[The Battlestar]], and several times larger than the biggest modern aircraft carrier. It ought to break its wings, if not break in half, for doing such things.

*** Goes for his daughter [[Macross Seven7|Mylene]], too, whose first flight in a Valkyrie is about as kick ass as Max's. This after every other candidate failed horribly at it.

** [[Macross Frontier|Alto Saotome]], who, after a few weeks' training, was able to match and surpass seasoned SMS and [[Fun Withwith Acronyms|NUNS]] veterans (and became equal to a cyborg flying a [[Super Prototype]] of his own.) However, it was noted that he had training to pilot before joining the SMS.

* While about 90% of [[Improbable Piloting Skills]] in ''[[Strike Witches]]'' can be attributed to the Strikers being magical, some of the feats are still improbable. Mainly, The Eyes of An Eagle and White Hole Engines, Inc.

* The [[Blackhawk|Blackhawks]]s exhibited just about every type of improbable flying over their [[Long Runner|long run]], but ''White Hole Engines, Inc.'' is undoubtedly the most common. Typically, the Blackhawks are depicted as being able to reach any location in Europe (and sometimes outside Europe) and return to Blackhawk Island with little trouble - even when the location is ''deep'' within Axis territory, like Czechoslovakia in 1940.

* [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Ben Grimm]] is occasionally portrayed as having been an almost impossibly good pilot before becoming the Thing, being able to fly anything from normal planes to spaceships to whacked-out sci-fi vehichles. After his transformation he still has the skills, but is hampered by being too big to comfortably get into a normal pilot seat and strong enough that he's in danger of breaking "fragile" steering mechanisms unless he's very careful.

* In the movie ''[[Biggles]]: Adventures in Time'', [[World War OneI]] flying ace Biggles is able to work out how to fly a late 20th century helicopter by experimenting with the controls for a few minutes. Definitely a case of "If it flies..."

* ''[[Stealth]]'' was mostly based around the notion of introducing [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI pilots]] who would be unaffected by the physical limitations of human pilots. At one point, the AI plane is ordered to pull off a maneuver which would be incredibly difficult for a human pilot to do and survive, in order to destroy a bunker full of terrorists. One of the human pilots disobeys orders and makes the run himself (apparently just to satisfy his ego) and suffers no lasting injury (or punishment). The human pilots manage to keep up with the robot plane for most of the film, except when the plot requires them to fail.

* ''[[Hot Shots]]'' as it is mostly a parody of ''[[Top Gun]]'' parodies most versions of this trope. Topper's plane can cartwheel through the air, paddle enemy planes out of the sky with his wings, and fly through downtown traffic. He also loses both wings, his engines, his instruments and most of his hull but lands successfully on the aircraft using a perpendicular trajectory.

* The titular ship's pilot Wash in the movie ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]''. Flies his comparitively tiny ship through a titanic battle without a scratch and manages to crash land it somewhat safely even after getting hit by and EMP weapon.

* ''[[The a A-Team (Filmfilm)|The a Team]]'' had Murdoch do some impossible things with a helicopter and then culminated with him 'flying' a tank.

* Dobbs from the German TV action show ''[[Der Clown]]''. The movie ''Payday'' takes his badassness to the max as he flies multiple loops with his helicopter only a few hundred feet above ground while successfully [[High -Speed Missile Dodge|evading heat-seeking missiles]].

* "Howlin' Mad" Murdock from ''[[The A-Team (TV)|The A-Team]]'' is of the "If it flies" variety.

{{quote| '''[[The Pete Best|Face]]''': Hey, I got us a Gulf Stream. Can you fly it?<br />

* Colonel Jack O'Neill from ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'' pilots an F-302 on a couple of occasions, despite a conspicuous lack of pilot's wings on his uniform.

* Colonel John Sheppard from ''[[Stargate Atlantis (TV)|Stargate Atlantis]]'' claims he can fly anything. He proceeds to do so over the course of the series. He's flown or operated helicopters, Air Force fighters, human-alien hybrid F-302 interceptors, Daedalus-class warships, Wraith Darts (without knowing the language), Ancient Puddle Jumpers, Ancient Aurora-class battleships, ''the city of Atlantis'', and ''an asteroid''.

* Lieutenant Matthew Scott in ''[[Stargate Universe (TV)|Stargate Universe]]'' is able to fly the shuttle aboard ''Destiny.''

* In ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'', if it weren't for Wash's piloting skills the crew of "''Serenity"'' would have been captured, dead or worse.

* One episode of the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' has Starbuck, stranded on an uninhabitable moon after crashing her Viper, have to get home in the Cylon Raider she shot down in the process. She makes some interesting observations about flying machines.

{{quote| Starbuck: Every flying machine has four basic controls: Roll, pitch, yaw, and thrust. If you can figure those out, you can fly.<br />

Touches a control, and the guns fire.<br />

* ''[[JAG]]'' had Harmon Rabb, Jr. - whether it's pushing a crippled F-14 with his plane, landing a 747 after the pilots have been shot by hijackers, landing a C-130 on the deck of an aircraft carrier, or flying his restored WWII-era Stearman he demonstrates time and again that as long as he's at the stick you're probably going to make it home in one piece. Whether or not the ''plane'' does is a matter of debate.

* ''[[Genius: The Transgression (Tabletop Game)|Genius: The Transgression]]'' features the "if it flies" variant of this trope. [[Mad Scientist|Geniuses]] never take penalties when applying skills to unfamiliar situations. This means that a genius with high Drive skill is an ace pilot with everything that flies, from a crop duster to a space shuttle.

* Some ace pilots in [[Warhammer 4000040,000|Aeronautica Imperialis]], who can use pilot skill checks to miraculously survive when their chosen maneuver would put their plane at below stall speed or at altitude 0 ([[Wronski Feint|otherwise known as 'the ground']]). Especially awesome when a bomber pilot pulls off an insane maneuver.

** To say nothing of [[Great Mazinger|Tetsuya Tsurugi]] who have been broken in several games, and being considered as [[The Ace]] of the group(and yes, this is the same group with several [[Badass]] from mecha anime on it).

* On a larger scale, [[Non -Action Guy]] Joker in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' claims to be able to make the [[Cool Starship]] ''Normandy'' sit up and dance. He proves he's not exaggerating when, among other accomplishments, he swoops down from orbit and drops a TANK in a narrow street, not 30 feet from the main villain without scratching it at all, while facing hostile fire and then swooping back up into orbit with no problems.

* ''[[Ace Combat]]'' has this in spades. Beyond the [[Hyperspace Arsenal]], your character is easily capable of taking down multiple squadrons at once, while attacking ground forces, and avoiding their combined fire. Hard turns at over 1000 &nbsp;mph? Check. Flying the A-10 and F-117 well beyond supersonic in level flight? Check. Being capable of surviving multiple missile strikes? Check. Hell, if you do it gently enough, you can fly into, and seemingly bounce off of, the ground and water.

* [[Final Fantasy XIII|Sazh freakin' Katzroy.]] The first time he gets into a plane in-story, he does a [[High -Speed Missile Dodge]] before the bad guys hit him. And he's a ''civilian pilot'', so it's anybody's guess how he learned to dodge anything in the first place. Also a mild offender of If It Flies.

* The ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star Fox]]'' series picks and chooses which tropes to use. Most common are My Missiles Are Better, Eyes Of An Eagle and White Hole engines. Interestingly, some of the others are subverted - multiple times, especially in 64, you have to boost to catch up to enemies, or brake to avoid them.

* ''[[EveEVE Online]]'' is possibly the poster child for this trope. Although it does take time (lots and lots of time), you can fly any ship, from 747-sized frigates to Titans that are MILES long. And enhance their capabilities just by virtue of being ''that damn good''. Make your weapons more damaging, faster firing, more accurate and longer ranged? Check. Make your ship tougher, faster, more agile and more powerful (in a literal, 'generate more power from the powerplant' way)? Check. And most importantly, do all of the above without actually adding anything to the ship? Big check. Particularly jarring when you consider that this can happen in the middle of a fight if a skill completes at the right time.

* [[Tale Spin (Animation)|Baloo]]. He possesses all the aforementioned skills sans one (the [[Cool Plane|Seaduck]] isn't armed with missiles... unless you count [[Edible Ammunition|thrown fruit]]. [[Improbable Aiming Skills|Which he never misses with, anyway.]]) He figured out the world's very first, prototype helicopter and [[Jet Pack]] in just a few minutes. His old and rusty cargo plane is faster and [[Wronski Feint|more maneuverable]] than the [[Sky Pirates|Air Pirates]]' zippy miniplanes. He can withstand the immense G-forces from said plane's [[Overdrive]]. He can [[Catch a Falling Star|catch small objects (and people) mid-fall]], while [[Explosive Overclocking|flying at top speed]], just by reaching out the window. He can fly through a skyscraper-filled city, under bridges, and into ''[[Aerial Canyon Chase|highway tunnels]]'', the ends of his wings scratching against the walls, and fly out without incident even as the aforementioned miniplanes (about a tenth the size of the Seaduck) smash and crash. He can [[Ramming Always Works|kamikaze into]] [[Wave Motion Gun|Wave Motion Guns]]s ''as they fire at him'' AND glide the resulting wingless husk of a plane safely enough to save everyone on board. If a plane is missing the yoke, he can fly it by yanking the control cables directly. With his ''teeth''. To top it all off, he once flew a prototype jet engine past the speed of sound. We say again: a jet ''engine'', not a jet ''plane''. As in, a turbine that wasn't attached to ''anything''. And [[Rocket Ride|he flew it successfully just by hanging for dear life and tugging on it]], proving that he doesn't even need wings to fly. Oh and he was the first person to break the sound barrier in his world, while riding on the engine. So even when he gloats, no one blames him for it. He has earned it:

{{quote| '''Baloo''': [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|If you can't fly, don't mess with the eagles]]!}}

* [[DuckDuckTales Tales(1987)]] has Launchpad [[Mc Quack]] who literally has the catch phrase "If it has wings I can crash it." He can fly anything, even live animals, with excellent skill. The only thing he can't do is land. He appears to have overcome this problem by [[Darkwing Duck]], or else maybe the [[Cool Plane|Thunderquack]] just has auto pilot landing skills, or a thoroughly reinforced hull.

** Another incident was Air Canada Flight 143, a.k.a., "The Gimli Glider." This plane ran out of fuel over central Canada and had to be glided into land. They couldn't reach the main airport, so they diverted to a former air base, but as they approached they realized they were too high and fast. In order to quickly lose speed, the pilot, Bob Pearson, [[httpwikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_<!--Slip 28aerodynamic29(aerodynamic)#Forward-slip |turned the plane sideways and used the fuselage itself as a giant airbrake.]] -->

** The most well-known, of course, is Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot of [[w:US Airways Flight 1549|US Airways Flight 1549]]. AfterOn January 15, 2009, after losing both engines he pulled off one of the few water landings to not kill anyone, putting down his plane in the middle of the Hudson River.

** United Flight 232. A DC-10's rear engine blew its turbine and knocked out the hydraulic lines, which meant the plane had lost all the control surfaces. The pilot and copilot, assisted by a flight instructor who happened to be onbaord and was kneeling between the pilots, managed to control the plane just by varying thrust on the two remaining engines, and managed to crash land it in Sioux falls. Over half the passengers (185 out of 285) managed to survive, which is impressive given the circumstances.

** A DHL Airbus A300 cargo plane also managed to safely land in Baghdad in 2003 [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Baghdad_DHL_attempted_shootdown_incident:2003 Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident|after being struck with a surface-to-air missile]] in 2003, which knocked out all flying surfaces.

** The Speedbird 9 incident of 1982. British Airways flight 9 was cruising near Jakarta when it encountered a strange kind of St. Elmo's Fire which seemed to envelop the plane in white lights. Shortly thereafter, all the engines failed. The 747 was now a 800,000+ lb glider. With only so much time before they hit the ocean, the crew abbreviated the engine restart procedure to give them more chances. Finally, the engines started back up and the plane turned back to Jakarta. Not long after, however, one of the engines started backfiring and had to be shut down. As they approached the airport, the pilot noticed he could barely see out the windscreen, and, proving [[FinaglesFinagle's Law]] is at work, the guidance equipment on the ground was not working. He had to land using only a tiny sliver of glass on one side that was clear enough to see through. The reason? They'd been flying through a volcanic ash cloud. The plane had literally been sand blasted at 500 miles an hour!

* The real life epitome of "If It Flies..." would have to be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_<!--:Eric 28pilot29Brown (pilot)|Captain Eric Brown]], [[BritsWithBattleshipsBrits With Battleships|RN]]. He's officially credited with having flown [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_flown_by_Eric_%22Winkle%22_Brown:List of aircraft flown by Eric "Winkle" Brown|487 different aircraft types]] in his career as a test pilot (and that's only counting basic models), including everything from Mach 2 jets to gliders and from helicopters to airliners, often hopping between up five separate types in a single day's testing. He even taught himself to fly helicopters with nothing but the instruction manual, [[InstantExpertInstant Expert|mere hours after first seeing one]]. -->