How do you fly in Skyrim?

As a passionate Skyrim fan with over 800 hours logged flying around Tamriel, I‘m here to definitively answer a question posed since time immortal: how can you take to the skies of Skyrim?? Read on fellow dovahkiins, for everything you need to know to grow those beautiful wings and soar above it all!

Quick 1 Minute Guide to Basic Flight

Just looking for a quick and easy way to get airborne right now? I feel you! Simply tap the ~ key to open the console, then type tcl to toggle noclip mode. This basically lets you fly around like a ethereal spirit and phase through objects – great for getting epic screenshots from insane angles.

To make yourself invincible while noclipping around the stratosphere, also hit up tgm to enable god mode. This prevents you from dying to fall damage when you inevitably lose concentration and plunge back to Nirn.

And there you have it! All it takes is literally two console commands to be up and away. But stick around, because I‘ve got much more in depth flight knowledge dropping from the heavens!

Winged Flight Mods: Soaring in Style

So console commands are great and all, but spamming noclip everywhere can make you feel like a spectator without substance. For truly immersive flight, only a glorious set of wings will do!

There are a ton of amazing flying mods that use animated wings and custom control schemes to capture the exhilaration of open world flight. Through extensive in-flight testing, I‘ve identified the top flight mods for long-term adventures among the clouds:

Based on community feedback and personal enjoyment, I highly recommend Animated Wings Ultimate as your first flight mod. With support for 62 wing types and styles, you‘ll spend hours giddily tweaking the perfect wing shape and particle effects for your character. The intuitive flight mechanics make soaring through the air a breeze!

Now let‘s get more technical and talk mod installation best practices…

Installing Flight Mods Safely

I won‘t lie to you, sometimes flight mods can get wonky if you don‘t set them up properly. But follow these tips and you‘ll minimize crashes and maximize air time!

Use a mod manager: Manual mod installation is flaky. Invest some time learning a popular mod manager like Vortex or Mod Organizer 2 – trust me, it‘s worth it! Most flight mods now support automated installation.

Light plugin load: Too many script-heavy mods bog down load times and stability. For smoother flying, try to limit your total plugins to 80 or under. Merge mods when possible.

Test for compatibility: Not all flight mods play nice together. Install one at a time and test for a few hours before piling on more mods. Check mod pages for known issues.

And voila, follow that advice and winging your way into the wild blue yonder will be smooth as a cliffracer‘s backside! Let‘s keep this aeronautics lesson going…

Other Crazy Methods of Flight

Part of the fun of Skyrim modding is pushing boundaries and finding unconventional ways to inject new life into this amazing game. And you better believe crafty modders have uncovered some tantalizing ways to bounce through the stratosphere!

While not as polished as dedicated flight mods, these neat tricks and exploits are 100% worth checking out:

Flying Bucket Trick: By carrying certain buckets or plates, it‘s possible to fling yourself thousands of feet into the clouds! Useful for when you feel like going…Sky…high drum hit

Horse Tornado: Mount a horse, enter 3rd person, look straight down and spin rapidly.Suddenly you and your trusty steed are unpredictably spiraling 50 ft high like Dorothy caught in a vagrant blizzard. Yeehaw!

Giant Catapult: Lure an angry giant into punt kicking you with their insane strength. Say goodbye to physics as you pinball across the tundra at escape velocity! Just pray you don‘t hit a building on descent…

I‘d feel negligent not covering these hilarious pastimes – they just encapsulate that classic Skyrim absurdity to a tee!

Alright folks get those flight plans locked in and prepare for departure – we‘ve nearly covered all things aerial! But first, one quick PSA…

Important Health Warning

As thrilling as flight can be, soaring great heights at high velocity can lead to some, erm, unintended consequences…namely horrible agonizing death!

But don‘t be discouraged, just heed Uncle Sheo‘s sage advice:

• Know your limits – start low & slow until you get the hang of it
• Enable god mode or use featherfall rings unless you enjoy dying
• Never fly impaired under the effects of Skooma (long story)
• Quicksave often! Nothing worse than losing 20 mins of progress to a crash

Do that and you‘ll be frolicking through the clouds faster than spriggans at a mead fest! Which reminds me…

In Summary: How to Fly in Skyrim

Let‘s do one last fly-by (heh) and recap all the amazing methods for flight:

• tcl console command – Toggle noclip mode for simple point & zoom flight
• Flight mods – Gorgeous wings + intuitive flying controls for immersive soaring
• Creative exploits – Fling yourself skyward with plates, horses, giants and more zany tricks
• DLC transformations – Become a vampire lord or ride dragons as the ultimate power fantasy

So strap on those wings my dovahbros, the big blue Skyrim yonder awaits – woohoo! Whether you just want to dabble or live out aerial adventures, you now have all the tricks, tools and knowledge needed to take to the heavens!

Now then, last one to The Throat of the World has to chug a whole flagon of awkward potion! Race ya there!