GTA3: Dodo
Comments(5) 
With access to the airport comes access to aircraft. Not many, though. There’s a herd of jumbo jets just kind of sitting around, and a pile of helicopters off in one corner, but the only craft you can actually fly is the Dodo, a small prop plane with an absurdly small wingspan.
And when I say you can fly it, I mean this in the loosest possible sense. It isn’t really an airplane designed for flying. (Maybe it would be more aerodynamic if they put the rest of the wings on.) The way it works is: you position yourself on a runway, you push the “go forward” button, you wait until you’ve got a good head of speed, you pull the joystick back, you rise off the ground briefly, you fall back to the ground. Usually you spend two seconds airborne, but with repeated attempts, I find I can spend up to four or even five seconds before touching down. I’ve had longer flights than that in a car.
Perhaps I’m doing something wrong. There are no in-game instructions for flying the dodo (or if there are, they flashed by while I wasn’t paying attention), so it’s possible that there’s some button I should be pushing that I’m not. The thing is, I’m eager to get this contraption aloft if possible, because if it is, there are probably some hidden packages in places that are only accessible that way. There are some promising spots I’d like to look at, such as inside the stadium on Staunton Island. Since I’ve found 96 out of 100 hidden packages so far, this may well be all that stands in the way of a complete collection and, with it, free rocket launchers.
j v cet jeux
ACTUALY YOU CAN FLY THE DODO FOR MORE THAN 5 SECONDS. just keep on taping down when the dodo rises
actually it is possible to fly the dodo for quite a time.
My personal record is only 62 seconds though, right across Staunton & I hit a cross-girder of the Callahan Bridge.
Has anyone modified the handling.cfg file to make the dodo more stable?
I have already doctored the file to make the Rumpo handle like a Stinger.
There is a line entitled DEADODO. I assume this relates to the plane you have to shoot down in the S.A.M mission.
I have copied the handling.cfg files and i’m going to have a play right now
I know this is rather delayed, but for years I’ve known how to fly the dodo. Alex Knight was right, you keep tapping the down button. But its more complicated than that, you have to keep the plane level, tapping down makes it bouncy, so when the pitch keeps bouncing, let off the down taps a bit and let it rise, this is how you gain altitude. There’s a balance to be had, it shouldn’t take long to figure out how to balance it so you don’t even have to touch the controls other than to turn. My record was 1,200 seconds, I could go for much longer but flying gets boring after that amount of time lol.
I’ve made it interesting though, I can take off and land on both the North and South part of Portland, the North and South part of Staunton, the broken bridge (on the Staunton side), the road just outside of your Staunton hideout; you exit left, then right towards the freeways, in the direction of Portland. On Shoreside Vale, besides the airport, you can land/takeoff from both sides of the “tunnel” that is closed, and the rooftop of the airport terminal.
The key is, balance. To land, normally you’d press down to go down, but this is not so. If you press UP, it will slow the plane down. Tapping UP just the right number of times will slow your speed and you will start to descend. This is the reason you cant takeoff when pressing up, the only time you should press UP is when you want to come DOWN.
I’ve had many interesting encounters whilst flying, I’ve flow into the stadium, fell through the false bottom and flew all over underneath the city.
I’ve landed on a building in downtown Stanton, just a cut out corner, dropped a set of grenades on the peds down below, and as the helicopter arrives, I hopped in the plane, ran it right over the edge, and “caught wind” as I dropped, giving me lift to fly.
The helicopter may fly through buildings coming after you, but in a plane chase, if you pull a 180 and attempt to fly through it, you’ll be put on your ass. The helicopter will stop the plane in its tracks, and you will spin out, hopefully over the airport or somewhere you can recover.
The highest I’ve flown the Dodo was over the Callahan bridge (where the jets fly over). It was in a “dip/rise” pattern, and I wasnt touching the controls unless I was going to hit. Youtube dodo flights and you’ll see you can fly behind shoreside vale and off the map.
Really enjoyed your writing about GTA3 – my favorite game. I’ve played this game off and on for about 18 years now. I’ve only completed it once and am about to again on my iPad with Xbox one controller. (iPad is a surprisingly good experience for playing this game). Regardless, yesterday was the first time I successfully figured out how to fly the dodo. I read a few tutorials and it clicked. Definitely a joy to be “king of the map” and fly around. Also neat to visit the ghost town. Keep writing. Enjoy your stuff!