Runway

Description in Brief
The Runway is the spawn zone. You start the game here, as well as respawn here (after a waiting period) if no Buddyspawn is available. Runways are only one-way, but there are two runways which run opposite each other at each air base, so landings from either the north or the south are facilitated. The Coldsnap map features intersecting runways, with one at a non-cardinal direction. Landings can be made from the north as well as the southwest for NATO and southeast for PACT. Landing at a runway will allow you to re-arm all weapons and to refuel your afterburner if your plane has one, completely free of charge. You may also change planes or purchase perks and loadouts here, although you cannot change the three planes for one you did not select. (eg, changing your deck to replace the Su-25 with a MiG-21).

There are two hangars and a control tower near the runways of each base. However, they do not have collision models, and it is impossible to crash into them: a plane will instead fly through them as if they did not exist. Likewise, planes cannot collide with other planes on the runway.



Taking Off
Taking off is simple: you hold "throttle-up" until speed is satisfactory. A throttle setting of at least 40% is required to start moving on the ground. It is not recommended to use afterburner on takeoff, as it will not impact you very much and you will want to save the fuel for combat, where afterburner is much more effective. However, afterburner fuel consumption during takeoff is only 33% of consumption during flight. This makes afterburner use on takeoff more viable when speed is required, but is generally not recommended. Your plane will automatically rise up when enough speed is achieved, and you can turn normally as soon as you are off the runway. If you do not have enough room to take off from a previous landing, you must press "throttle down" to roll your plane backwards until you have enough room to take off.

Landing
Each runway has a series of lights which help you align your plane with the center stripe before the runway even appears on your screen. There are no lights on the "wrong" side of the runway; if you are approaching from a certain direction, there will only be lights to guide you to the runway that matches your heading.

To land, approach the runway along the lights at low speed. You must have a throttle setting below 50% in order to land. It is recommended to have your throttle set to minimum, and if you have excess speed you may need to turn or pull a maneuver to bleed it off. Hold "throttle-down" while near the runway to attempt a touchdown. Touch-and-goes are possible; at any time, you can abort your landing by throttling up and increasing speed to become airborne so you may attempt another try. It is recommended that your lowest speed on landing approach is no greater than 150 knots; a speed of 170 or 180 can cause an overshoot, or can delay your takeoff by not leaving you sufficient room after stopping.

Landing in Sky Knights is objectively easy, but it is not without its risks:
 * If you touch the ground in any way, you will crash. This will happen if you overshoot by coming in too fast or too late, or if you do not properly align your approach.
 * Even though the sky above the air bases is a no-fly zone, you are not invulnerable to attack. This will be further explained below.

Perfect Landing Bonus
It is possible to score a Perfect Landing, which awards a bonus of 25 credits. To achieve such a landing, you must land near enough to the center stripe as well as be parallel to the center stripe. An Achievement is available for going 100 Perfect Landings called "Smooth Glide". There is no limit to how quickly or how often Perfect Landings can be executed.

No-Fly Zone
The airspace above a base and its runways is a no-fly zone for the opposing team; if they cross into that zone, they will be forced to turn back. However, it does not guarantee invulnerability for aircraft on approach. Aircraft which are not in the no-fly zone - no matter how close they are to it - are still weapons free, and they can fire upon aircraft which are airborne in the no-fly zone, even those on landing approach or taking off.

Due to the nature of semi-active missiles and heatseeking missiles, these weapons can still acquire a lock on targets in the no-fly zone. Heatseekers can be dumb-fired into the no-fly zone and acquire a lock on an aircraft there, and SARH can pick up and follow any airborne targets in the zone as well. In fact, if a player is still near the border of the no-fly zone, an enemy plane can still gun them down. This is made tricky by the fact that only an enemy can see the boundary of the no-fly zone; for them, their map border is the no-fly zone. It is ill-advised to begin landing approach if being followed closely by a hostile aircraft.

However, as long as you are actually touching the runway, you are invincible from most forms of attack. Missiles cannot target you as you disappear from the radar. However, weapons with splash damage that detonate on contact with the ground, such as bombs, can damage aircraft on the runway. This only applies to actually being on the runway; you will remain vulnerable until you have finally touched down, even if you are above the runway.

Appearance in Races
Players still spawn at a runway in Races; however, there is only one runway. This Runway forms the starting and finishing line; there is always a checkpoint positioned so that as soon as you are airborne, you will begin the race. You will automatically finish the race when you land; thus, landing technique can be crucial to a good time in a race.