Elytra

Elytra (pronunciation: &#91;ˈɛl ɪ trə&#93;  el -i-trə) are items that allow the player to glide.

Flight
Elytra are equipped in the chestplate slot.

To initiate flying, the player must fall from a height of at least four blocks. From there, direction is controlled by looking left or right, and the flying speed and rate of descent is controlled by looking up or down. Looking upwards while gliding temporarily increases the player's altitude, however doing this for too long stalls the player, causing it to descend at a faster rate (indicated by the player moving their limbs).

Elytra allow the player to travel 10 blocks horizontally for each block fallen when flying at a constant 0° pitch, not including the initial fall, resulting in a best constant glide angle of about 5.7°. The maximum flight time is obtained with a pitch of about 14° up. The maximum terminal horizontal velocity is approximately 67.5 m/s and is obtained with a pitch of about 52° down.

It is possible to fly longer and farther by varying the pitch. The player can stay in the air until the item durability depletes, and travel thousands of blocks by repeatedly nose-diving at 45° down and pitching 45° up when close to the ground. To build up enough speed for this technique to work, an initial fall of at least 45 to 50 blocks seems to be needed. Jeb however wrote on Reddit that this behavior will be nerfed in upcoming snapshots.

Durability decreases by one point each second when flying. Elytra have 431 durability, resulting in 7 minutes and 11 seconds of flight. It is possible to apply the Unbreaking enchantment using an anvil and an enchanted book, which affects the Elytra in the same way that enchantment affects tools.

The player will not take fall damage while the elytra are equipped unless hitting the ground at an excessive rate of descent, which can be caused by nose-diving or stalling. Fall damage will then be a result of the height fallen during the nose-dive or stall.

A player gliding with elytra will have a shorter hitbox, 0.6 blocks in height rather than the usual 1.8 blocks.

Repair
When durability reaches 1, elytra will no longer work until they are repaired, and cannot lose more durability. These “broken” elytra have a different, tattered item texture, though they do not appear differently on the player. They may be repaired either by crafting two together or in an anvil, using leather: each piece of leather will repair the elytra by 108 durability, therefore requiring 4 leather to fully repair.

Trivia

 * Despite being equipped in an armor slot, Elytra are invisible when the player is invisible.
 * In real life, elytra are the tough forewings of beetles and earwigs that cover the wings they actually use for flight. Elytra are not actually used for flight in real life.