If you're not familiar with other flight simulators, or some of the flight mechanics of this mod, you may use this guide as you learn to fly.

Prerequisites

To fly aerobatically you'll need to find and equip an Aerobatic Elytra, and the elytra must have fuel and durability. Aerobatic Elytras have 2 flight modes by default (other mods may add their own, and the server configuration may disable some modes):

• Vanilla flight: Mimics vanilla elytra flight, so you don't need to keep another elytra in your inventory. Doesn't use fuel, and requires you to use firework rockets to fly.
• Aerobatic flight: Uses fuel to propel you, and changes how you rotate in the air.

You may switch flight modes with a keybind (by default C), and you'll need to be in Aerobatic Flight mode to fly aerobatically.

While datapacks can modify how the elytra is fueled, by default you recharge its fuel by sneak-using firework rockets with the aerobatic elytra in your offhand. The sneak-using is known as an upgrade recipe, and you may browse other available elytra upgrades if JEI is installed. Upgrade recipes consume all available items in the stack you hold, applying the recipe multiple times, so be careful not to hold more than you want to use.

Durability can be extended with the Unbreaking enchantment, and repaired with Mending, just as any item. Upgrade recipes, including fuel recharge can all be performed in a crafting bench as well, just one item at a time. This enables automation with mods that provide auto-crafting, such as the Create mod.

Flight Quickstart

Flight interface

To learn to fly aerobatically, it is recommended to try using the first-person camera, at least until you get a basic hang of the controls, as it will let you see the flight crosshair, which helps see how you're rotating. After that, some players may find flying in 3rd person easier.

While flying, you will also see a new bar, either above or replacing your XP bar (depending on your config). This bar measures your propulsion strength, or thrust.

Flight controls

Flying for the first time can be confusing and disorienting, as your mouse no longer controls your rotation directly, the camera may flip at confusing angles, and it can be hard to look around to know where you are.

While flying your controls will change in the following ways:

• Mouse movement no longer lets you look around in any direction. Instead, it tilts you (pitch and roll axes), so you rotate in that direction proportionally to your speed
• The forward and backward keys control the strength of your thrust
• The left and right strafing keys will tilt you horizontally (yaw axis) (very slowly)

There are also some advanced controls:

• Sneaking helps you brake to land (for a limited time, has a cooldown)
• When flying at max thrust, sprinting will activate boost mode (for a limited time, also has a cooldown)
• Pressing the space bar will rectify your tilt, helping you move in a straight line.
• Holding the Alt key (configurable) will let you look around while flying.
• Double pressing the Alt key will let you keep looking in a different direction while flying, mostly useful to look below you while exploring.

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Some key learning tips:

• You need speed to fly, both to have enough lift and to be able to rotate freely. Flying slowly is harder than flying fast.
• Flying without thrust is extremely difficult, so you may want to always use between 70% to 100% of thrust while learning.
• Crashing will most likely kill you, so don't be ashamed of learning to fly first in a creative world, with the Resistance V effect or over the sea.
• While learning, it might also help you to change to vanilla flight mid-air to prevent crashes.
• Keep your cool. Losing control of the camera can easily startle some people, but moving the mouse in a frenzy won't be of much help. You don't need fast mouse movements to fly, so learn to fly calmly.

Learning Steps

Before you attempt risky moves, you should learn the basics:

• Taking off from plain ground by running while double jumping to gain enough thrust
• Flying in a straight path comfortably at low altitude (without obstacles), correcting your roll to always have your back face the sky
• Landing in an open field, by approaching land horizontally and braking just before you land by crouching
• Flying at higher altitudes, and approaching land safely to land
• Turning left and right at high altitudes by rolling about 40-60° and increasing your pitch, recovering a straight path afterwards
• Landing in smaller spaces by braking effectively and reducing your thrust before landing

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After you're comfortable in the air, you should also try:

• Rolling comfortably in a straight path
• Using boost mode to gain speed and rolling to slow down (rotating slows you slightly)
• Perform backflips at high altitudes
• Exit backflips facing the direction you want
• Roll and backflip in different ways to perform sharp turns in any direction
• Fly in straight descent while boosted. You will rotate faster than usual, as you're also moving faster

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And finally, if you feel like you can already fly freely, this are some ideas you could try:

• Land at precise blocks, like a 1×1 tower
• Aim a bow while flying, by using the look around key and flying slowly (arrows inherit your speed, so this is quite hard)
• Fly in small spaces without crashing (the vanilla elytra is better for this, so it's not really a useful skill)
• Placing slime blocks at walls or floors just before you crash to bounce (flying slime MLG for extra style points) (you'll want to face the wall as close to 90° as possible)
• Dogfighting (hitboxes while flying are smaller than they seem, located at the player's feet, so, if aiming was hard, this is insane) (you may want to use rocket crossbows with Multishot)

Specific tips

Taking off

To take off, the first thing you need to do is keep pressing forward. While flying, the forwards and backwards keys control your propulsion strength. You will need to reach a minimum speed to keep flying.

Taking off from plain ground is possible, but may require you to jump and initiate flight a few times to gain enough propulsion. Taking off after jumping from somewhere high is easier, as you have more time to accelerate after jumping.

The best advice to learn to take off from plain ground is to just keep moving forward and double jumping. After 1 or 2 jumps you should be flying. Once you're flying at max thrust, you may release the forward key, but it's not necessary.

You should not move your mouse while taking off, at least while learning, as it'll probably make things harder. Just aim where you want to flight and take off.

It is possible to make taking off easier (or harder) by changing the takeoff propulsion in the server config.

Flying in a straight path

To fly in a straight path you'll need sufficient speed, so you should try this with a thrust between 70-100%

To fly in a straight path you won't need fast mouse movements, so do not panic. Perform small mouse movements to adjust your tilt and keep you horizontal and facing the horizon.

To gain altitude just aim a few degrees up. While possible, flying straight up is harder, so don't try it until you're comfortable with how the rotations work.

To approach the ground, aim a few degrees down. Flying straight down will make you go faster, and consequently will make turning in controlled angles harder.

Landing

Landing is not hard, but it's dangerous. The damage you receive when crashing is computed similarly to how vanilla does, which can be disproportionately large if you've descended a long distance.

The vanilla elytra basically resets any fall damage at any tick when your vertical speed is less than 0.5 blocks/s downwards. So, if you dare land at 0.51 blocks/s downwards after falling for 24 blocks, you will likely perish in utter disbelief. It is only when you crash against a wall that your damage is proportional to your actual speed.

Depending on the server configuration, the aerobatic elytra will reset your damage in the same way, but the speed required to reset the damage may be more lenient. If you are braking as you crash, the braking will also slightly reduce your damage.

The safest way to land is approaching the surface with an inclination smaller than 30° and start braking (by sneaking) when you're around 3-5 blocks above the ground.