As indicated by the section title, there are 4 aspects to controlling your plane: turning, throttle, maneuvering, and environment. Turning is probably the simplest. It controls your direction of travel and where your guns are pointing. Throttle on the other hand, is something ignored frequently. 100% throttle is the ideal under most situations, but learning when to manipulate it is an important tool. Afterburners are also grouped under this aspect as they are essentially a setting above 100%. While the basis of the maneuver system is simple enough, the control you have over it adds complexity. Much can be done simply by altering how long the maneuver button is pressed. Finally, there is the environment. While this is not under your direct control, mountains and other map features can alter how your plane flies.

While simple at first glance, there is hidden depth to turning in Sky Knights. How quickly your plane can turn is dependent on the speed of your aircraft. Each plane has a curve of how strong it turns based on speed. Below is a graph of the F-5's posted on the Discord by Bankler.
More curves like this can be downloaded at this location[www.skyknights-game.com]

Generally speaking, a plane has an ideal turn rate and loses turning ability the further it is from that speed. This means low throttle leaves you incredibly vulnerable with little ability to turn or disengage. Additionally, the curve means that intercepts made at high speeds must be very accurate or else be prone to overshoot dramatically. Cruising speed is usually close to the ideal turning speed. This means that a little afterburner must be applied to hold this speed in a sustained turn.

Turning will result in the loss of two "resources": speed and stamina. The speed loss is minor as it is recovered quickly outside of the turn, but it can be used to make an opponent overshoot. Several full circuits can be made before low stamina prevents you from turning. However, the stamina loss can have a large impact while maneuvering. Maneuver input and turning input should be isolated from each other as much as possible. While there are circumstances that overrule this, it is a generally good rule to follow.

Controlling your speed only matters in reference to another object. It can let you get behind an overzealous pursuer, escape from a threat, or get in more gun damage on a ground target. Getting the most of this advantage of course requires the most difference in speed. As such, 0% and 100% are almost the only throttle settings you will need to use. The most important part of using throttle is recognizing situations where change is needed. Not every pursuer can be avoided by bleeding speed. This intuition comes with practice. The more you try using throttle, the more outcomes you'll see, and thus the more accurate your ability to manage it becomes. Setting up practice rooms against a single or a few bots is highly recommended. The time between dogfights lets you consider what occurred and what you can do better. Additionally, it lets you focus outside the normal pressures of a match.

Afterburners are a very useful tool. While their strength varies for each aircraft (see the Sky Knights Wiki[skyknights.gamepedia.com]), it is generally a significant change in speed. Unless time is of the essence, or you are returning to base, afterburners should not be used to get from point A to point B. They provide a huge advantage in dogfights and therefore should be used as little as possible. Afterburners are best used for disengaging from an enemy or entering a battle at the right time and place. If several planes are busy dogfighting, then afterburners can let you engage when you're at an enemy's 6 o'clock.

While the next section will cover the specifics of how the maneuvering system works, this covers what it generally lets you do. The maneuver button allows manipulation of altitude, direction, and speed. This means there's a whole lot you can do with it. While Sky Knights is primarily a 2d game, altitude can play a significant factor. Normally your plane flies at a uniform height. However, mountains and maneuvers can change this. If you gain enough altitude, this can put you above the enemy's guns. In theory, with enough altitude gain you can even fly over AAA unharmed. Although, this will not last long because your plane will slowly return to that uniform altitude.

The extent of a maneuver is of course based on how long you hold the button down. The game explains two uses: full loops and half loops. These are both useful maneuvers and have a large margin of error. However, even more can be done by holding down the button for a quarter of a loop or even less. Warning: performing three fourths of a loop will leave your plane pointing straight down. If you run out of stamina or speed at this point, a crash is likely.

The most obvious sources of control due to the environment are mountains. Approaching a mountain will cause your plane to automatically pitch up to avoid it. The longer your heading points towards the mountain, the gentler the pitching up will be. Sudden direction changes near the edge of a mountain will result in massive stamina drains. Not only can this drain stamina, but it tilts your guns near vertical. This can take a target that you are pursuing or approaching head-on out of your line of fire. As such, flying above mountains can provide some degree of safety from approaching aircraft. Sheltering near the edge of a mountain is risky as the protection it provides is less reliable. It is hard to balance being near enough to make attackers fly overhead, but far enough that your plane doesn't climb to mountain altitude.

The other automatic source of plane control from the environment is the map border. While out of bounds, you cannot start a maneuver or turn significantly away from the map interior (can't exceed roughly 45 degrees in either direction). This is very restrictive and so the behavior of a plane outside of the map can be easily and accurately predicted. However, there are some ways to subvert this. Notice that you cannot start a maneuver outside the map, but if you started one prior to exiting you can continue it. The game will continue to try and force you to turn towards the map, but this can result in some really strange behavior while executing a maneuver. However, as previously mentioned turning and maneuvering will burn a lot of stamina. This can let you escape easy prediction and potentially understand it enough to control where you re-enter the map at an impressive degree.

A rather minor influence on your flight is the presence of ground targets. Your plane will dive down to attack targets ahead of you. This will result in a minor loss of speed, so it should be kept in mind when disengaging.

The final way the environment can influence you is the controlling aspect of AAA. They can put out a lot of damage in a short amount of time and should be avoided. This limits where you can go without threat of damage in a dogfight. This can be exploited by pressing enemies against their range to limit options, or retreat into them to prevent pursuit. Again, this is an influence, but not a control.

The maneuver system is controlled entirely by a single button. When you press the button your plane pitches up and performs some portion of a loop depending on how long it is held. To maneuver you need enough stamina, be traveling fast than roughly 115 knots, and be low enough in altitude. Stamina drain seems to be based on how much your velocity vector is changing. This means tighter maneuvers and maneuvers done at higher speeds will drain stamina faster. Although, speed seems to have a greater effect than turn rate.

Turning controls act in reference to the plane itself. This means that pressing "Turn Left" will result in a different direction of travel upside down then it will if you are right-side up. The axis the turning controls acts on is always perpendicular to the plane (ie. the axis running top to bottom or zenith to nadir). A consequence of this is that turn input while heading more vertically than horizontally will result in a different plane of rotation than when heading more horizontally than vertically. Turning while maneuvering will also greatly increase stamina drain.

Your plane now ignores the automatic climbing near mountains while engaged in a maneuver. This means the general path of the maneuver is maintained and you won't face a massive loss of stamina during the maneuver. However, that loss can come quickly afterwards when maneuvering around mountains.

If you release the maneuver button at point in time where your plane is upside down, the game will automatically roll it right-side up. Turning is more difficult at this time due to the moving axis. Your plane will complete rolling over before ascending or descending to return to the normal altitude. That means releasing upside-down and heading up will result in significant altitude gain and that releasing upside-down and heading down will frequently result in a crash.

After rolling (if necessary), your plane will adjust its pitch in order to return to the normal altitude of the game. You cannot initiate another maneuver at this time and you travel at roughly 90% speed. This makes an excellent opportunity to cause an opponent to overshoot. Additionally, because you return to the normal altitude by travelling at an angle, it allows you to fire upon targets who cannot fire at you.

There's a lot of possibilities with the maneuver system, turning, throttle, and afterburner at your disposal. However, generally a few maneuvers stick out as being more practical. Here are a few specific examples that see frequent use.


These are already explained in the "Fighter School" section under "Training". However, they can be altered slightly for better performance. Releasing the maneuver button a little less than a quarter of a loop early will save on precious stamina and produce the same result. The half loop can be cut even closer as it doesn't run into the problem of potential crashes. Just be sure that the plane has gone upside down for the half loop or right-side up for the full loop. These do result in minor changes in where your plane is aiming, but are useful saving measures under most circumstances.


This maneuver is light on stamina and quick. It is a 180 degree turn that is more involved than a half loop, but worthwhile. Start turning in either direction and hold the turn input. Soon after starting the turn, press the maneuver button long enough to travel vertically, but release it before reaching entirely vertical (a little less than a quarter loop). If you held the turn input it should get you facing the other direction and a white condensation trail will appear from the inside wing. Using too much maneuver will drag it out and using too little will not result in the trail forming.


Your effective turn radius can be improved with the help of the maneuver button. In situations where you need to achieve a turn in less space rather than a quicker turn, this maneuver is ideal. Simply tap the maneuver button lightly while turning. It makes more of the turn happen in 3d space instead of 2d space. As such, it will produce tighter (but not faster) turns at the cost of stamina.


Altitude takes you out of reach of most weapons. As such, rapidly gaining it can be a useful defensive measure. Maneuver just beyond a quarter loop. This leaves you pointing almost straight up and you don't start descending until you finish rolling over. A good pilot can continue dealing some damage as you initiate this maneuver, but it will protect you afterwards. It can achieve truly impressive altitudes when combined with afterburner. However, this does take you out of the fight and you cannot speed up descent. The higher you go the longer you'll be safe and the longer you'll be unable to fight.


This variation of the previously mentioned vertical climb is riskier, but puts you in a better position to fight back against the attacker. As your plane starts to roll over, turn hard in whatever direction the wing is producing a trail. This can be hard to tell in the spur of the moment, but if you turned recently, it will be in the same direction. The key is to only start turning as your plane rolls over. Otherwise this will just result in a poor wingover. This maneuver can be combined with throttling down to increase the chance the attacker overshoots, but this makes the maneuver's completion slower.


While altitude generally translates to safety, you can aim your guns high by briefly holding the maneuver button. Beyond much more than an eighth loop, the chances of the shots continuing to hit drop. This can be enough time to finish someone off, but it should not be over-extended.

Many of the ideas covered in this guide are based on a few fundamental concepts. This section outlines and explains those concepts. More direct applications are covered in later sections.

Engagement is a useful term in describing situations. A plane is considered to be engaging another if it is actively trying to bring its weapons to bear on the target or evade the target doing the same. Just because one plane is engaging another, it doesn't mean that the target is necessarily engaging its pursuer if unaware or focused elsewhere. Below is a table showing the general situation describing different engagement states.
However, it gets far more complicated when expanded to the entire game. Each of the 8 planes have different engagement states to keep track of. Additionally, a single plane might engage or be engaged by multiple aircraft. Trying to figure out engagement states is important, it allows you to choose easier targets and avoid getting caught off guard.


This concept describes your position relative to a plane you are currently engaged with. The diagram above represents the target with the direction towards your plane radiating out from the center. If the line passes through a dark region, then you are in a more ideal situation than a light region. Additionally, the target's firing line is marked in black and its tail is marked in white. Basically, the further the situation angle is from their line of fire, the better. It means they must spend more time or resources like stamina and/or afterburner to get their guns on you. Because the enemy can reduce the angle over time, it matters less at a distance.


Mathematically, your turning circle has a radius equal to (your speed*360 degrees)/(your turn rate*2pi). Practically is means that your turning radius increases with increased speed, but decreases with increased turn rate. The turn curve of the aircraft means that your turning circle expands rapidly at high speeds. The smaller your turning circle, the better. Because you cannot get inside your turning circle without extending prior to turning, it means that enemies are generally safe within it.

The concept of a turning circle can be further expanded by taking into account the plane travelling straight. The picture above is a rough estimate of where a plane could be at various points of time. Each lighter shade of grey represents another increment of time. The area transitions from a triangular shape to a more circular one. This is useful when factoring time to intercept. It also serves as a demonstration how situation angle matters less when at a distance.

Anticipation is an important part of combat in this game. Intercepts are less successful if not oriented to where the target will be and lockless heatseekers, if fired at the right spot, can hit targets you wouldn't otherwise. It can also be used to evade SARH missiles without using Chaff, an invaluable skill for the start of a game. Imagine a point directly ahead of the target. The distance between it and the target shrinks as you get closer, but expands the further you get away. If the target does not change course, then heading for that point should make you and the target reach the same area at the same time. Missiles essentially do this when tracking you. Your goal while evading one is to get your theoretical point inside the "expanded" turning circle of the missile. The most dramatic way to change the position of the point is to turn while using afterburners. However, missile dodging will be covered more in-depth later in this guide.

There are five key resources to manage: speed, stamina, ammo, health, and fuel. Proper management of these keeps you effective and impactful. Both speed and stamina can be regained, but the other three are lost until you RTB after being expended. Because turn rate mostly increases with speed, low speed targets are very vulnerable. Speed can be regained rather quickly however, especially with afterburners. Stamina takes much longer once depleted. Now that missiles require turn input, as well as countermeasures to deploy, a low stamina plane puts itself at great risk. High speed once you run low on stamina can help put you out of the way of danger while it slowly regains. The key to managing stamina is only performing maneuvers that are strictly necessary and using as little of the button as possible. Also, an important note is that because being out of bounds can deal damage eventually, flying off the map with low stamina can result in unnecessary deaths. Ammo has a very direct influence on how much you can impact the game. In a single flight you can only deal so much damage. Waiting for the square indicator to appear on targets before firing is a good way to make the most out of a limited supply. Generally, you should only use your guns against ground targets when flying a CAS plane or when you have purchased the additional gun ammo upgrade. Of course, there will be times were the situation calls for it outside of these circumstances. How much health you have matters beyond determining if you are currently alive or not. The more health you have, the more aggressively you can play. It lets you take more head-ons, pursue targets through AAA, and potentially tank the damage of an incoming missile. Fuel is one of the most prominent resources for planes with afterburners. It allows for much greater control of the situation, rapid changes in speed, and is crucial in avoiding SARHs without chaff. If you are just travelling from point A to point B, tapping the afterburner key instead of holding it down will make more efficient use of the fuel. This is due to it increasing your speed less as you approach the maximum. Managing afterburner fuel is especially critical for light fighter-bombers because they have roughly half that of other afterburning planes.

Prior to entering close-quarters combat with enemy planes, there is much you can do to improve your situation. Planes with high top speeds and powerful afterburners are the best at this because they can rapidly change their position. The MiG-21 is especially capable at using its speed to get behind enemy planes and quickly shoot them down.

There is a lot to gain by carefully choosing your targets. You can eliminate the bigger threats first, leaving you to clean up the rest without pressure or you can attack the easier targets you can handle, leaving your team free to tackle the big threats. Beyond a more strategic sense, picking the right targets and when to engage them can put you in a better position to quickly dispatch them.

Enemies already engaged with one of your teammates or busy paying attention to an attack run on a base are the easiest targets. Their lack of awareness provides you an opportunity to get in the best situation you can before closing in. For example, if a teammate and an enemy are circling each other, try to engage afterburner to reach the engagement as the enemy is turning away from you in order to pursue your teammate. How best to go about doing this is going to depend on the exact circumstances. Generally speaking, you should not deviate much from a direct course and instead rely on throttle and afterburners to time your entrance correctly rather than trying change you position too much as this makes prediction more difficult.

Generally, there are three potential situations as you close to combat range: head-on, you intercepting, and you being intercepted. If you're attacking then there isn't much you need to do beyond keeping the enemy at your 12 o'clock. The main factor to control and manipulate is the difference in speed between you and the target. However, if you are closing at a high speed, consider dropping the throttle to average the speed out. This decreases your chances of overshooting, gives you more time to align your guns, and makes maneuvering targets easier to respond to. If the target has a speed advantage over you lockless heatseekers can be used to pressure the target into turning. Bear in mind that planes capable of speeds around 560 kts can outrun heatseekers.

If you are not intercepting at a nearly 180 degree situation angle, positioning becomes a lot more important. The more the target travels perpendicularly to your flight path, the less time you have to fire on them and the less likely you are to shoot them down. It also makes it more likely for you to overshoot, allowing the target time to respond. A good method of offsetting these risks is to turn before it is necessary. While this takes your guns off target, it improves the situation angle and puts you in a better position to continue pursuing the target. Additionally, the turn bleeds a little speed so that adds to reducing the risk of overshoot.


This is probably one of the most common scenarios that develops as two planes approach each other. Your three options are to disengage, to try to get into an attacking position, or to gain an advantage in the head-on pass. Certain planes are far better than others in the actual head-on pass. Take this into account when trying to determine what option to take.
Head-on capability is calculated by multiplying the plane's health by its gun damage. This represents how survivable it is in a head-on pass. Gun dependence is the ratio between gun damage and health. It represents how much of a plane's head-on capability relies on getting the gun on target. If the enemy plane is high in gun dependence, altitude difference or slight angles can provide a huge advantage.

A minor disengagement worsens your situation angle, but if you can outpace the enemy enough, it can provide enough distance to allow you to set up a better situation. If you are trying to improve your odds in the head-on pass, the two things to look for are altitude and a slight angle. A quick tap of the maneuver button can put you out of the reach of the enemy's guns and a slight angle, if left uncorrected by the enemy, can similarly keep you safe. The only way to change the situation from a head-on pass to more of an intercept requires a large speed and turning advantage. Essentially, you need to turn in a circle outside their gun range faster than they can turn their plane. This allows you to eventually outturn and get behind them, or the target will break off and you can pursue them.


It can be tricky dealing with an enemy closing behind you. If you can increase throttle of afterburn enough to outpace them, then you can disengage or get enough distance to turn it into a head-on. Otherwise, you only have a limited amount of time to improve your situation as much as possible. At this point, there's not much you can do to engineer the situation and you have to turn to exploiting it.

Even more so than with engineering, exploiting situations requires a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your plane. Below is a table containing most of the relevant information for each plane. All values are unupgraded and without modification from traits.
The circle ratio refers to the cruising speed divided by the turning power. It represents how small of a turning circle the plane has as well as how generally agile it is. The higher the number, the larger the turning circle and the less agile. The afterburner column displays the power of the afterburner and the amount of fuel it has. That power does not directly translate to change of speed in kts. Idle speed is the speed that is reached in a straight line at 0% throttle. Idle speed does not increase with increased engine power or cruise speed. An important landmark in idle speed values is 115 kts. Planes like the A-10 and Su-25 that are slower than that cannot perform maneuvers while at idle speed. This leaves them especially vulnerable when doing a low-speed pass over ground targets.

The faster your plane is and the higher your circle ratio, the more you need to rely on minor disengagements. If you're caught with an enemy at your tail, hitting the afterburners and extending outwards to put some distance can help improve the situation. As you're turning around to face them, be sure to drop a countermeasure or two in case they launched a missile as you disengaged. If the enemy is low on health, going straight on can be a good idea. Keep in mind that there's a high chance of you losing health, which reduces your ability to be aggressive. The current version of missile guidance means that firing heatseekers ahead of you while the enemy approaches is not very viable. SARHs work well as long as there's enough distance to get a lock. If you are attempting to fire off a SARH, throttle down as you set up the head-on. This gives you more time to get the lock and for the missile to reach the target. The most benefit from a SARH comes from it impacting the target before reaching gun range.

You can't always rely on SARHs though. In planes that have a speed advantage, fully disengaging and returning to base is a solid option. You have a good chance of escaping, especially if you have lots of afterburner fuel remaining. These planes excel at setting up good situations for kills, not holding themselves in sustained dogfights. Your ability to deny the enemy a kill is very important. Having a higher frequency of RTBs not only means you'll have the opportunity to expend your resources more liberally, but it means the enemy will have lower morale and less credits for upgrades. If you are in an unpleasant situation, bugging out will do more for your team in the long run than desperately trying to grab another kill.

The biggest skills to focus on when playing to exploit speed advantage, are gun aim and tilted turns. Closing at high speeds means that every one of your shots needs to land to be successful. This means you need to be capable at both 2d aiming with turn input and using anti-maneuver taps to hit dodging targets. Tilted turns are a great way to get yourself pointed in the right direction to outrun pursuers and potentially provide a chance to finish off an overshot target. Bear in mind that you cannot afford to chain these together and must rely on one being enough.

Turn rate has the clearest advantage in a dogfight. It gives you a smaller turn radius for enemies to hide in, allows you to quickly change the situation angle, and offers shooting opportunities in turn battles. However, these benefits only apply significantly once you have closed the distance. As such, afterburner should generally be used for closing in on targets or quickly regaining speed lost from a sharp turn. Battles involving large groups of planes also allow you to make your advantages more dramatic. You can quickly switch to different targets if a more opportune one appears. Additionally, your high turn rate can be used to keep an opponent's guns from lining up with your plane in a sustained turn. This leaves your pursuer doing nothing but wasting stamina and time, making them a better target for your allies.

Dealing with faster targets can be frustrating. They have the most control over the distance between you and can engage or disengage more or less at will. This leaves you with very limited options on how to defeat them. Because of their ability to disengage and RTB, it becomes important to keep them turning or dispatch them quickly. Air-to-air missiles are great tools to make a retreating plane have to turn, but getting in between them and their airfield can also force this. If a high-speed enemy is closing in on you, one of the best tricks is to use a tilted turn or vertical break to come in behind them as they pass. These keep you fairly safe from gunfire, but require good timing to get the chance to fire upon them. A more aggressive option is to simply turn 180 degrees. This needs to be initiated at the proper time for the best chances of survival and downing them. Ideally, they should get close enough to fire upon you when you are travelling at a 90 degree angle to them and as they pass by you complete your turn.


A much greater variety of maneuvers are important for exploiting turn advantage. Vertical breaks, wingovers, tilted turns, and others are all useful tricks to be able to employ. Perfect gun aim isn't as necessary as it is with other planes, because you generally have an easier time staying at an opponent's tail. Stamina management does grow in importance. Because you are reliant on turning to stay alive and effective, hitting low stamina is essentially lethal. As such, learning how to get the most effect out of the least use of the maneuver button is important. Chaining tilted turns might keep you away from an opponent's guns, but if you don't have enough time to land shots, all you are doing is burning precious stamina.

This does not really fit into any of the other sections, but nonetheless is an important skill to have relating to flying your plane. Now, buying the chaff upgrade allows you to break locks with countermeasures and a bit of turning. However, being able to avoid SARHs without spending the 300 credits or in the early game puts you at an advantage.

SARHs do not just track where you are, but rather where you will be. As was mentioned in the "Combat Theory Foundation" section, the missiles fly towards an imaginary point ahead of you. This point in your direction of travel and its distance away from you depends on two factors: your speed and time to intercept. Basically, that distance is how far you will travel in the time it takes for the missile to reach you at your current speed. Of course, the two ways of changing where this point is are turning and changing speed. Dropping speed happens slowly as it is only caused by drag whereas increasing speed can happen rapidly with the application of afterburners. Using the maneuver button to turn harshly may appear attractive as a solution to avoiding the missile, but SARHs tend to hit you as you attempt this. This is partially due to maneuvers slowing you down. The way to make this point quickly change the most is by turning with afterburners engaged. Performing this turn takes you off course and can give the enemy an easy opening at your six. Therefore, it is recommended to first turn away from the launching enemy and then turn towards them.


If you can get that predicted out within the missile's turn radius, it will miss. This provides an opportunity to dodge them at close range, but is generally too risky. Some other methods of avoiding SARHs include getting mountains in between you and the launching aircraft or forcing the enemy to turn away or otherwise lose lock. Retreating into area controlled by your team's AAA can force the opponent to break away. Flying towards the launching plane and then maneuvering is also a decent way of escaping the lock at close range, if a bit risky. These methods are more valuable when flying CAS planes due to their lack of an afterburner. However, bear in mind that under many circumstances a CAS plane can survive a hit from a SARH. As such, it is sometimes better to simply turn away and RTB than risk getting caught in a poor position from avoiding the missile. Just be wary if the opponent has the improved missile damage upgrade or if you are damaged.

Hopefully this guide has provided some useful advice or information that you can use to your advantage. However, the best way to improve is practice. Air superiority fighters and light fighter bombers are probably the ideal planes to train flight skills in. They don't have the massive and uneven advantages/disadvantages of light fighters and are more focused on air combat than CAS planes. This guide is based off of my experiences after nearly 200 hours in game and a few organized matches with very skilled players. If you find any errors in the guide or have any feedback, please comment or message me on the Sky Knights Discord.


If you're looking for more information and advice, here are some of the other guides I've written:
Beginner's Guide to Sky Knights
Tips and Tricks
Time Race Guide