REDSTONEPEDIA › Circuits › Flying machines
Tall flying machine
carries up to 18 extra blocks · 8 blocks
Flip its lever and it flies sideways by itself, one block every 10 ticks (2 blocks a second), until something stops it. It carries extra blocks stuck to it: 1 as built, up to 18.
flies sideways · starts in 2 ticks (0.1 s) · fits in 3×5×1
start lever
Try it
Flip its lever (the IN button under the view): the machine sets off and flies until something stops it; reset to see it again. In the game, flip the lever the same way.
How this design does it: Flying machine with a start lever that carries blocks, 7 + n blocks: the 6-block start-lever slime flying machine (a piston, a sticky piston, two slime blocks, two observers) carrying n blocks, 1 to 18, on slime columns topped with gold, parked next to a lever on a stone.
Build it
Download .litematic Download the design as text
The .litematic opens in Litematica (Minecraft 26.3): every block of the design in one region. The text file is the same build written as plain text, block by block.
Blocks used: gold block observer piston slime block sticky piston stone
Without the start lever, 1 block smaller: Tall flying machine: carries up to 18 extra blocks · 7 blocks.
Details: how it works, measurements and properties
In depth
A flying machine: pistons, slime or honey and observers that push each other along. Once started (the start block is placed), it moves itself one block at a time and keeps going until something stops it.
It moves one block every 0.5 s (2.0 blocks per second).
How to try it
The machine starts by itself (its start block is placed when the view begins): press play and watch it shuttle between its docking stations. Flip its lever with the IN button under the view: off, it docks at the lever's station and stays; on, it leaves again. Drag to look around, pinch or scroll to zoom.
Inputs and output over time
The input follows this schedule (the 3D view's demo plays the same). Lime: an input is on; orange: the output is on (taller = a stronger signal, 1 to 15). Blue: how far the machine has moved along its path, in blocks. Time runs left to right in game ticks (20 ticks = 1 s).
Swipe the diagram sideways: the whole sequence lasts 420 ticks (21 s).
MOVED: 1 block every 0.5 s.
Step by step (10 lines)
reached the corridor end at frame 420 parked until the first flip (frame 60), first move at frame 62, farthest intact 30 cells along [-1, 0, 0] steady from frame 114: period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s) per period along [-1, 0, 0] (29 periods seen) flips 0.25 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 0.3 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 0.4 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 0.5 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 0.6 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 0.8 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever) flips 1 s apart: flies intact (speed 0.5 s/block, period 0.5 s, 1 cell(s), latency 0.1 s, start flip the lever)
Measurements
| metric | value | what it means |
|---|---|---|
| speed | 0.5 s/block | the time it takes to travel one block |
| period | 0.5 s, 1 cell(s) | game ticks per cycle of the engine (one push of each piston) |
| latency | 0.1 s | game ticks from the start until the machine first moves |
| start | flip the lever | |
| ground | flies along the ground |
Notes from its designer
Flying machine with a start lever that carries blocks, 7 + n blocks: the 6-block start-lever slime flying machine (a piston, a sticky piston, two slime blocks, two observers) carrying n blocks, 1 to 18, on slime columns topped with gold, parked next to a lever on a stone. Start: flip the lever, and it flies away with its load at 10 ticks per block; flipping the lever again does nothing to it. The start family on fly-horizontal-start-7b-10gt: up to 9 blocks in a column up from the rear slime (box 3 x (4 + n) x 1); past 9 the blocks split evenly between that column and a second one on the front part (one block south of its slime, then up), box 3 x (4 + ceil(n/2)) x 2. Each part pushes at most 12 blocks, 3 of its own plus 9 carried.
Properties
| Study | Flying machines |
|---|---|
| Kind | Flying machine |
| Blocks placed | 8 |
| Box | 3×5×1 (15 blocks of space) |
| Made of (the blocks that change state) | gold block, observer, piston, slime block, sticky piston |
| Inputs / outputs | IN (lever) (no output: it moves blocks) |
| Flags | its own lever as the input, carries extra blocks along (a flying machine with cargo) |
| Design file | fly-payload-start-n1 |
The design file
Design file (30 lines)
# Tall flying machine: carries up to 18 extra blocks · 8 blocks # https://vjeux.github.io/redstonepedia/circuits/fly/fly-payload-start-n1.html name: fly-payload-start-n1 circuit: flying-machine distance: 24 travel: -1 0 0 port input: 1 -2 0 lever port payload: 2 2 0 port station.0: 2 -2 0 port station.1: 1 -2 0 origin: 1 0 0 palette: A minecraft:stone G minecraft:gold_block L minecraft:lever[face=wall,facing=west,powered=false] O minecraft:observer[facing=down,powered=false] P minecraft:piston[extended=false,facing=west] S minecraft:slime_block o minecraft:observer[facing=east,powered=false] s minecraft:sticky_piston[extended=false,facing=east] layer -2: LA layer -1: O layer 0: SP layer 1: sSo layer 2: .G