Flying

Flying is a gameplay mechanic officially added in Beta 1.8, the Adventure Update. It is the most versatile form of transportation, and can only be used in Creative mode, but third-party mods can enable flying in Survival mode. Flying makes the player move at around 10.8 meters/second (38.88 km/h), which is about 150% faster than the normal walking speed, being 4.3 meters/second. Flying decreases the Player's friction by a lot (making the player move as if he/she were on ice). If a player is flying in fluids, the player will not sink, but will still be slowed down.

Flying is not limited by any processes such as food depletion, which limits sprinting. Flying mode can be toggled by double-tapping the "jump" key and can be activated at any altitude. It is automatically disabled if the Player hits a flat surface. Flying increases the player's field of view by 10, and way to distinguish between flying mode and regular (non-flying mode) is to look at the Sun or Moon, which will zoom in or out during the mode change. The player will deal critical hits if moving downwards (by Sneaking) while attacking.

Players flying in The Void will only recieve suffocation damage if they are below altitude -64.

Flying is not enabled on vanilla servers, and the player will be kicked.

History
Flying was added in Beta 1.8pre1, and was officially introduced in Beta 1.8.

Jeb tweeted about it, etc.

Bugs

 * When flying near unusual level surfaces (such as Redstone Repeaters), it is possible to sink 1 block into the ground.

Trivia

 * It is possible to sprint while flying, which gives a minimal speed boost. To do so, start sprinting, and then activate flying.
 * If a player's game mode gets changed from Creative to Survival while flying, they will stop flying and will take fall damage upon landing.
 * If a player flies very close to a floor (but not on the floor), he/she will make a large amount of stepping sounds when moving.