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Can Sonic fly a plane?


Teoleulbogo

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I just had a random thought. In Sonic Adventure when Tails is telling Sonic about adapting the chaos emeralds as a power source Sonic simply states that Tails can use his plane the Tornado(the original red one). So here's the question: If Sonic owns a plane shouldn't he know how to fly one, and if he can fly a plane then why is Tails as taking him everywere like a choufer?

Edited by metal madness
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I just had a random thought. In Sonic Adventure when Tails is telling Sonic about adapting the chaos emeralds as a power source Sonic simply states that Tails can use his plane the Tornado(the original red one). So here's the question: If Sonic owns a plane shouldn't he know how to fly one, and if he can fly a plane then why is Tails as taking him everywere like a choufer?

Sonic can and does fly a plane.

If you play as Tails alone in Sonic 2, it's Sonic who flies the Tornado instead of Tails, proving he does have some piloting skills.

So yes, Sonic does know how to fly his own plane.

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Not to mention there's various Advance games that make Sonic the pilot in place of Tails - it may even be in more cases than just the player using Tails at the time but I can't recall right now.

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This is the only time I can recall Sonic flying the Tornado in the games. I remember how odd I thought it was when I first finished Sonic 2 as Tails all those years back :lol:

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If Sonic owns a plane then why is Tails as taking him everywere like a choufer?

He always needs to make a quick drop off when he reaches his destination. SOMEONE needs to land the plane, right? This isn't Starfox!

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SOMEONE needs to land the plane, right?

Tell that to Tails in Sonic Heroes, who was content to run away and just sorta... let the Cyclone fly aimlessly until it most certainly crashed.

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Essentially what Mechano stated in his first post.

In the more recent Sonic Unleashed, Sonic also pilots the Tornado I from country-to-country. Although Sonic knows how to pilot the average biplane, it's quite possible that he may not be able to control the more complex and intricate variations of it (See: Tornado II, Tornado III) - which is may be why we rarely see him fly that much anymore.

Edited by Hunter the Christmas Fan
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Yes. And his actual piloting ability seems to be on par with Tails too! If my memory's right when Knuckles and Amy have their endings in Sonic Advance, Sonic pilots the Tornado despite the fact that logically, Tails is free to do this. I think he does it at the end of successfully cleared Sonic Advance Special Stages as well. But I think it's taken to pretty absurd proportions in Sonic X episode 63 in which Sonic suddenly has an absolutely incredible talent in piloting the X-Tornado and performs aerial maneovers that would command remarkable skill. Surely considering he's that good it would've been shown more in the series....?

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Tell that to Tails in Sonic Heroes, who was content to run away and just sorta... let the Cyclone fly aimlessly until it most certainly crashed.

Eh, knowing what Tails was like by this point, it's probable the plane had an autopilot or somesuch.

In the more recent Sonic Unleashed, Sonic also pilots the Tornado I from country-to-country.
...wait, what? I'm pretty sure Tails himself said he was the one flying the plane not long after you actually rescued him. Where'd you get this idea from?

EDIT: Not to mention the QTE minigames which put Sonic on the turret gun while Tails is in the cockpit the whole time.

Edited by Blacklightning
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Eh, knowing what Tails was like by this point, it's probable the plane had an autopilot or somesuch.

"I FORGOT TO PUT IN THE LANDING GEAR" ~ Sonic Adventure, preceding Tails's second plane crash in that game.

He also randomly crashes his plane in a Shadow cutscene too.

I think, based on this, the Cyclone in Heroes almost definitely crashed.

It's like "Tails crashes his plane" is a running gag now.

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Sonic owning the original Tornado just begs the question about how he got it. Did he make it himself? Was it inheritance? Did someone give it to him? And was he sufficiently mechanically-inclined before meeting Tails to maintain it? It has been described as a vintage biplane afterall, which kinda implies that it needs maintenance.

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the tornado originaly belonged to sonic.

it woud only make sence that he would know how to fly his OWN plane. no point in having some thing you cant use.

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the tornado originaly belonged to sonic.

it woud only make sence that he would know how to fly his OWN plane. no point in having some thing you cant use.

"Art" would disagree with you. =P

I actually reckon Sonic stole the plane from Robotnik. Because as we all know, there were no other sources of technology on pastoral, animal-dominated Mobius before the good Doctor arrived on the planet.

AS WE ALL KNOW. ;)

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Eh, knowing what Tails was like by this point, it's probable the plane had an autopilot or somesuch.

...wait, what? I'm pretty sure Tails himself said he was the one flying the plane not long after you actually rescued him. Where'd you get this idea from?

EDIT: Not to mention the QTE minigames which put Sonic on the turret gun while Tails is in the cockpit the whole time.

Tails pilots the Tornado I during the Tornado Defense levels (The first trips from Apotos to Spagonia/Shamar to Eggmanland) as well as some cutscenes in Apotos and Eggmanland, yes. Sonic pilots the plane elsewhere, however. This is made evident once you progress onwards to Adabat, in which the Tornado I is hitched to the docks near the entrance to the hub, and Tails presence is nowhere to be seen. In addition to this, Tails goes to Professor Pickle's Shamar lab and stays there for the remainder of the game after reaching Adabat's Temple of Gaia, waiting for Sonc to return - meaning that unless Sonic hired a resident of Adabat to fly the plane back for him, and ran the entire distance (Keep in mind that Adabat is an island nation), he piloted the Tornado back to Shamar.

That's where I got this idea from.

Edited by Hunter the Christmas Fan
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Don't forget Sonic flew the Eggmobile in Sonic 3.

Sonic's probably a better pilot than Tails is, actually; He's flown a plane and a complicated mad scientist hovercraft... thing. And he's never crashed, compared to Tails's three (Four if you count abandoning his plane in Heroes) crashes.

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(Four if you count abandoning his plane in Heroes) crashes.

Come to think of it, that's been kind of bugging me...Why would Tails just abandon the Tornado Two, likely resulting in it crashing into a mountain and exploding?

I guess there could be some sort of auto-landing program installed in the thing, but then again the real answer, like a lot of things that happened in Heroes, is probably just "Because it was cool."XD

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Don't forget the JP manual for Sonic 2. Sonic flew the plane in at Westside Island. I think that's the only true "canon" instance that we have of it, though, since every time you play as Tails between Sonic 2 and Sonic Adventure it's practically the kid's own self-insertion fantasy, just replacing Sonic as the hero in the exact same story.

Now, as for whether or not it's weird for Sonic to be able to fly the other versions of the Tornado as seen in the games and Sonic X, I think it's a non-issue. About a decade or so ago, I logged many hours of flight training (and I do mean in-flight, not just sitting in the FBO) under a former Vietnam fighter-bomber pilot, and one of the things he said to me stuck with me: If you learn the fundamentals of flight, it doesn't matter if you're landing a Cessna 152 or the space shuttle. It's all the same. One might have an extra throttle, a fancier autopilot, or other more complicated accessories (flaps and what have you), but there's nothing magical about any particular fixed-wing aircraft. As long as you know its stall speed, everything else is just a matter of feeling it out.

As for the origin of Sonic's plane... I think I always humored some small thought that maybe it was his father's. Apparently, whoever made those really old JP comics (with "Nicky" as Sonic) had the same idea, since Paulie, Sonic's dad, was apparently a pilot himself. All severely non-canon, I know, but it feels like the one connection to Sonic's pre-Sonic-1 past we have and gives me warm fuzzies. You know, up until the thing gets obliterated by the Egg Carrier in Sonic Adventure. Oh well.

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Don't forget Sonic flew the Eggmobile in Sonic 3.

Sonic's probably a better pilot than Tails is, actually; He's flown a plane and a complicated mad scientist hovercraft... thing. And he's never crashed, compared to Tails's three (Four if you count abandoning his plane in Heroes) crashes.

Tails crashes at the end of Sky Chase, at the beginning of Sonic Adventure, crashes again while boarding the Egg Carrier, leaved the Tornado III unattended and probably lets it crash, he crashes at the Circus Park level in Shadow the Hedgehog, and finally he goes boom in Eggmanland in Sonic Unleashed.

I'm counting 6, here.

(Warning, AoStH reference)

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"Introducing, the Rescue Rocket!"

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"WOW! Can I drive?"

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"..."

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"...not a chance!"

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Sonic can fly a plane. From what I read about the backstory for Sonic 2, the original Tornado was owned by Sonic so that he might travel areas surrounded by water. :D And depending on who you play as in various games you can see Sonic piloting either the Tornado/Tornado 2.

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I think, based on this, the Cyclone in Heroes almost definitely crashed.

It's like "Tails crashes his plane" is a running gag now.

It was definitely ditched at way too low an altitude in its attack mode, but it survived the last times, so it is only the amusement factor. And yes, that factor is real high, as if those planes are expendable or at least never irreparable. In Sonic Heroes, though, that was the Tornado 2 - the Cyclone is the walker configuration of the Tornado III, which as far as I know is only seen in Sonic Adventure 2.

Those familiar with the Japanese story in Sonic 2 know that Sonic is the original owner and pilot of the Tornado from before he even met Tails. Tails instantly fell in love with it, and although Sonic is definitely a fine pilot, his subsequent activities around planes (wing walking) suggest that he would rather leave the driving to someone else. Tails is also the mechanical genius, much more capable of making a vehicle to his liking.

As far as Tails constantly crashing, if that is a gag, it is extremely recent. We can cut him a lot of slack: in two Sky Chase sequences the Tornado got shot down (permanently the second time). That rough landing on the Egg Carrier could possibly be attributed to a lack of time to completely fine tune the prototype Tornado 2 design. The only other instance I have seen is the beginning of Sonic Heroes, and it is so far out I still get a good laugh out of it.

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We just have to remember Tails' dream sequences in one of the Sonic X Sonic Adventure episodes.

Sonic caught him painting the Tornado blue.. which he didn't mind at all :P

and another one where Tails is running from robots and Sonic comes blazing in with the plane shooting.

" It's more fun up here " says Sonic as he allows Tails to pilot

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Tails crashes at the end of Sky Chase, at the beginning of Sonic Adventure, crashes again while boarding the Egg Carrier, leaved the Tornado III unattended and probably lets it crash, he crashes at the Circus Park level in Shadow the Hedgehog, and finally he goes boom in Eggmanland in Sonic Unleashed.

I'm counting 6, here.

We can extend this to seven, if we count the Tornado I's demise in Sonic Rush Adventure (hit by lightning). If we want to branch outside of planes, Tails also managed to crash a hovercar in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Oh, and if we want to delve outside the Sonic Team canon, we could also include Tails' "plane" getting shot down by Eggman's defenses in Sonic Spinball.

...Tails isn't a very lucky guy.

Edited by Hunter the Christmas Fan
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It is my view that Tails is just simply a better pilot than Sonic, hence why even though it says "SONIC" in big fancy letters along the side, hence why it magically gained Tails' double tail logo (Hey it's just like how Robotnik sticks his logo on everything). However, Tails just has lots of bad luck. Shot down, then a prototype gone wrong, followed by T1's wing being blown off, then not finishing a prototype in time and forgetting a landing gear. Ironically in SA2 despite the Tornado 3/Cyclone having more damaged done to it, it faired better than it's predecessors. Heroes it probably had an autopilot. ShadowTH, he got shot down, again. As for other events, I've not played those games. But I have to say this.

Tails is obviously a good pilot 'cus he's not died even when his plane went halfway into a sandbank from a crash.

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