Tutorials/Flying machines

Flying technologies first appeared in Minecraft in snapshot 14w18a (Minecraft 1.8) when slime blocks became sticky.

Engines


Engines are the base of flying technology, they can make a structure to move in the air and through liquids. Some engines can move to only one direction, and require another mechanism to stop and re-construct them to make them move to a different direction. Other engines can change direction by only moving blocks inside them without re-construction. You can download from Planet Minecraft the smallest engines that move to only one direction: (made by Xbxp (tamedZombie)) The smallest engines are relatively slow, there are faster engines like Dico's engine. A compacted (by Xbxp | 14 blocks) version of Dico's engine is available to download Here, or you can build it by following the schematisc. This is how it looks:

The X-marked blocks may be placed the lasts, then the engine piston(E-marked)has to be block-updated in order to turn on the engine(in the picture's case, to remove the sign).

Splitters and Ropes
Each piston can only push/pull up to 12 blocks, that is why it is very important to use minimal amount of blocks in flying machines. But there is a way to push and pull more than 12 blocks, it is done using little parts called Splitters. They split the structure into smaller structures that move together but have space between them. Splitters can only push, but there are Ropes for pulling. Ropes are made of Splitters, while each Splitter is connected via slime blocks to the Splitter behind it.

List of flying creations
You can download here a world save with a guide that shows few versions of each mechanical part and explains what it does and how to use it.

Trivia

 * If you place a slime block over a piston's arm side and a redstone block over the slime block, the piston will become powered by that redstone block. However, after the piston extends, it will become unpowered and retreat. This gives the opportunity to make smaller engines.

Gallery
File:Flying_module_array.png|A flying module array. The first module is a covered engine, the second and third modules are the middle ones and the final one is made like the last two, but without a splitter in front. File:Ship.png|A flying ship.