Quite some time ago, I had an add-on that would scan the Auction House and show me items that were being sold for a much lower price than what it usually went for. While playing the Auction House thusly, I came across three [Flying Machine Controls] for very cheap. I don’t remember exactly how much, since it was a long time ago. I snatched them up and put two back on the Auction House. I ended up selling them for something like a 500% profit. The third one I kept for my Gnome Mage, who just happened to be an engineer. At that time, however, you needed to be level 70 to fly, so I just tucked it away in the bank for that day.

A few weeks ago, when my friend (who is also a Death Knight) told me he wanted to take up tailoring so he could have a [Flying Carpet], I remembered that I had a Flying Machine sitting in my Gnome’s bank. So, I took up Engineering and found a guide to help me get to 300 as quickly as possible. I ended up spending several hundred gold – it might have even been over a thousand; I tried not too closely as my funds vanished. But finally I made it to 300, and took my new helicopter for a quick spin around Honor Hold (I was in Hellfire to learn Master Engineering.)

You can watch the video in a slightly higher resolution here.

I love the way the Flying Machine works. As you can see in the video, when you’re grounded the main rotor is pulled down into the body of the copter and the thrusters on the side tilt vertically. It still hovers so that when you’re “running” along the ground, the rotors remain hidden and the thrusters vertical. When you lift off, the rotors pop out and the thrusters swing down to horizontal. The copter even touches down when fully at rest.

So this is going to be my flying mount for the foreseeable future, either until I get Artisan Riding or a more interesting mount.

The schematic for making the [Flying Machine] (which can be learned at several Engineering trainers) requires the following:

Tools:
• Arclight Spanner
• Blacksmith Hammer

Reagents:
• 2 x Fel Iron Casing
  • 6 x Fel Iron Bar
• 20 x Elemental Blasting Powder
  • 5 x Mote of Fire
  • 10 x Mote of Earth
  • Yields 4
• 20 x Handful of Fel Iron Bolts
  • 20 x Fel Iron Bar
• 8 x Star Wood