Flying School

Takeoff

Description

Press and hold X to accelerate along the runway. When the plane's tail rises, pull back on the left analog stick to lift the nose and take off.

Vehicle Given

Rustler

Tactics

The first lesson is always going to be an easy one. In fact the great thing about the flying school is that they are all easy if you can fly a plane.

The first time you attempt the flying school you might need a few attempts, but once you know what you're doing, it's very easy to get complete all objectives with gold medals.

All you need to do with this lesson is accelerate until you see the back of the plane lift off the ground, then pull back on the analog stick gently so the plane is going up at about a 45° angle.

As soon as you're airborne, press the button to retract the landing gear, then fly straight up towards the corona.

From there nudge the analog stick forwards and dive down slightly towards the next corona, then pull it back again and head to the final corona.

This lesson doesn't require any turning, so if you don't go straight the whole time, you're doing something wrong.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Land Plane

Description

Press R3 to extend the landing gear.

Vehicle Given

Rustler

Tactics

This again requires no turning, so just hold accelerate from the start, aim slightly forwards so the nose points down you lose altitude and pass through the corona, then level out the plane so that you're flying low, but straight over the runway.

Hit the button to bring down the landing gear, then hold the brakes in periods of about half a second on, then half a second off.

You should be almost stopped before reaching the red circle and if you land just in front of it, you should carry into it.

As long as you're mostly in the circle you'll get 100% for position score.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Circle Airstrip

Description

Press and hold X to accelerate along the runway.

Vehicle Given

Rustler

Tactics

This is a repeat of the first lesson, with some relatively easy turning manoeuvres added in.

Follow the same instructions from the first lesson, accelerate forwards, pull back on the stick when you see the back end of the plane lift off and pull up the landing gear.

Ignore the message telling you to use the rudders to turn, they're pretty useless. Instead, just use the analog stick to turn to the right (or left, depending on which course you chose).

Once you're facing directly towards the corona, use the stick in the opposite direction to balance out the plane.

You'll then need to make a series of left (or right) turns flying through the coronas.

You can pull back on the analog stick to turn a lot sharper, but you shouldn't really need that functionality for this lesson.

Gently fly through the coronas and get used to levelling out the plane. Once you cross the dam, the nearest checkpoint to the airfield will be the last.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Circle Airstrip And Land

Description

Press and hold X to accelerate along the runway.

Vehicle Given

Rustler

Tactics

This is basically the same as the previous lesson, with a repeat of the second lesson added onto the end.

You've already done all three parts of this objective before, so you just need to combine them into one.

Do the same thing as before to take off and fly around the coronas until you reach the one just past the dam, then you'll need to make a relatively sharp turn to the right and dip down towards the runway.

Bring down the landing gear and try to fly straight along the runway, as low as possible.

When you're about half-way down the runway, hold the brakes on and off for half a second each, like before, and try to touch down just before the red marker.

Stopping anywhere inside the marker will give you 100% position score, but you'll need to make sure you land the plane smoothly, because if you come in with too much of a hard landing you'll damage the plane and pick up a damage penalty.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Helicopter Takeoff

Description

Press and hold X to accelerate upwards.

Vehicle Given

Hunter

Tactics

This is extremely easy to do. If you've played GTA Vice City you'll know how to fly a helicopter.

All you need to do here is hold accelerate until you are told to stop, hold the rotate button to spin around 180°, then fly forwards and through a corona.

I'd advise spinning through 180° as soon as you take off (while you're ascending), so you're prepared to head straight forwards through the corona which will save you a few seconds. Other than that, this is very easy.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Land Helicopter

Description

Push the left analog stick forward and press X to maintain your forward speed.

Vehicle Given

Hunter

Tactics

This could be considered slightly difficult at first, buth once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake.

You need to hold accelerate and gently nudge the left analog stick forwards to fly along the runway, then release the accelerator when told and let the helicopter glide towards the red marker.

Just before you get to it, pull back on the analog stick which will sort of work like a brake and can usually help you stop right over the red circle where you just need to hold the brake button to descend to the ground.

The time limit is quite tight, but by using the pull back technique instead of the L3 hover button, you can cut a few seconds off your time.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Destroy Targets

Description

Destroy the three trucks at the end of the runway.

Vehicle Given

Hunter

Tactics

There shouldn't be too much of a challenge with this lesson, besides blowing up the targets.

When you start, just fly along the runway the same way you did in the previous lesson.

When you see the trucks, either try to lower the front end of the helicopter and fire rockets or hold the shoot button to fire the machine gun.

Although the machine gun takes longer, it essentially has auto-aim which targets the nearest vehicle, so if you cant hit anything with the rockets, use the guns.

Once you've taken out the three trucks, you'll need to make a 180 and fly back towards the top left of the airfield where you'll need to take out two moving cars.

The moving vehicles will probably be easier to destroy with the machine gun. Just hover near them and hold shoot until they both blow up.

After that you'll need to fly back to the runway and land in the red marker, very similar to the previous lesson.

You need to land with a perfectly straight heading in the red circle though, or you'll lose position score, so rotate with L2 or R2 on your way down.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Loop-The-Loop

Description

Press and hold X to maintain your height, keep the plane level and head for the first corona.

Vehicle Given

Stuntplane

Tactics

Hold accelerate and fly towards the first corona.

Keep the plane level and just as you get to the corona, push forward slightly, tilting the nose down.

As soon as you go through the corona, you'll be told to hold back on the analog stick and do a loop-the-loop, so pull back and watch as the plane does a backflip.

You'll then need to level out the plane and fly through the last corona.

This lesson is pretty strict about how much time you take. I'd advise not actually doing the backflip until you are about halfway through both coronas so that you don't have as far to travel while trying to level out.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Barrel Roll

Description

Press and hold X to maintain your height, keep the plane level and head for the first corona.

Vehicle Given

Stuntplane

Tactics

Use the same start for this one as you did for the last one, but this time, just as you get to the corona, pull back so you start to ascend.

As soon as you pass through the corona, hold left to do a barrel roll.

Usually this will make you drop out of the sky slightly, but because went a little higher at the start, you should be almost perfectly level to fly through the next corona.

Just remember that the barrel roll is a lot easier if you are ascending while performing it. I don't understand why, but it makes it a lot easier to balance out as you go through the last corona.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots

Parachute Onto Target / Land On Target

Description

While freefalling, push the left analog stick forward to dive forwards.

Vehicle Given

None (Parachute Weapon)

Tactics

Let's keep this simple. As soon as the objective starts, hold the left analog stick forward for 22 seconds on the timer.

At exactly 22 seconds, press the button to open your parachute and pull back on the analog stick so that Carl sticks his legs out in front of him until 40 seconds.

At 40 seconds, let go of everything and let the parachute naturally descend towards the target zone.

You'll probably need to tap back on the left analog stick a couple of times in order to land perfectly in the middle of the end-zone, but that's pretty much everything you need to do for the perfect jump.

Gold Medal Criteria

Screenshots

Original PS2 Screenshots