Minecraft Planes, Tips and Tricks for Flying In Minecraft

Usually I update with a new mod or texture pack, but to be honest I've just been flying around in my Minecraft world for the last week and in the process I've learned a trick or two. I'm going to format this article in a question / answer method, so you can pretend that you asked the questions and then read the answers. What fun we have!

Can Minecraft Planes land on / in water?

You can land on water. Heck yeah you can! Even better, you can take off on water too. You need not fear the great wide Minecraft oceans anymore, my friends, for your plane will float like abandoned plastic debris and take off like a graceful seagull.

What's the best Minecraft engine / plane combination?

Although arguably uglier than other planes, and with no offensive capacity at all, the wooden biplane can be fitted with a v8 engine, creating a light, fast, immensely maneuverable craft that is useful for short or long haul journeys. There are a vast variety of engines to choose from (rotary, V4, V6 and V8,) but for my money, V8 is the only way to go. Once you've flown with a V8 engine all the others seem not only slower, but also sluggish and unresponsive.

I prefer the wooden biplane because it has no extra trimmings and therefore doesn't get in the way when you're trying to look around. Some of the 'prettier' models obscure one's vision horribly.

Can you fly a Minecraft plane in the Nether?

Yes, yes you can. It's awesome in fact. Just keep in mind that the Nether is much more difficult to navigate than the normal world because of the flowing pillars of lava and walls of flame everywhere. It's very easy to get lost in the Nether because unlike the normal world, which has a great deal of variation in it (grass, trees, sand, mountains, plains, gravel, lakes) the Nether is more homogenous in appearance, and leaving some torches won't be enough to find your way home as it might be in the normal world.

How do you land a Minecraft plane?

Though planes take off like planes (requiring speed and momentum to get off the ground) they are capable of landing like helicopters. Cut power at any time and the craft will simply sink onto the earth below as gently as a feather. (Admittedly it will take a few seconds to cut the power, so you still have to make adjustments for that, but once the plane loses all power, it will sink pleasantly, not nose dive terrifyingly.)

Do Minecraft planes come with ejector seats?

If you press 'E' it is possible to eject from a plane going at speed. This will probably result in an untimely demise if you don't have a parachute. (A mod that includes parachutes is the next mod on my list of mods to review, because there is nothing more exhilarating than bailing out of a fighter plane and seeing it fly off into the sunset without a pilot at the controls. Where will it end up? Who knows.

Anything else I should know?

Hitting the 128 height limit will result in your plane straightening out into level flight rather sharply. This is problematic if you were attempting to fly over one of those mighty outcroppings that Minecraft loves to generate every now and then. If you're approaching a mountain that juts above cloud level, go around, not over. Over will not work well.

Want the Planes for Minecraft mod? Check it out here...