Think about it: in A New Hope, all he does is fly quickly out of Tatooine, get tractor beamed into the Death Star & when they "escape" (the Imps let them go 'cause they put a beacon on the ship) they fight a few TIEs.

This scene is what brought it into question for me. Han leaves the controls and jumps into the gunner's seat. WHAT? If he's such a good pilot wouldn't it be smarter to out fly the TIEs and have Chewie or Leia man the guns?

And at the end he just pot-shots Vader before things go kablooey.

In Empire he can't even maintain his ship properly. Then he avoids asteroids (mostly) and this is the best flying he does in the series.

In ROTJ he doesn't fly the Lambda shuttle, he makes Chewie do that, "I dunno, fly casual." Chewbacca flies the Falcon more than he does, am I wrong?

It's Lando & Nien Nunb who are doing all kinds of acrobatics in space and inside DS2. Sure, he loses the radar dish, but he helps destroy a filipping DEATH STAR! and people constantly gripe about that dish...

I love Han and Lando equally. I just think Han is a boastful, but tricky pirate with lot of luck, and based on the movies, Lando just might be the one with the skills at the controls.

Han is a boastful, but tricky smuggler with lot of luck.

You hit Han's character right on the head there (slight correction though). His claims of being a fantastic pilot may be based in both truths, boasts, and his own fantastic luck. But you don't get jobs to deliver spice for Jabba the Hutt or take an old man and a farmboy to Alderaan past an Imperial blockade by claiming to be an "okay" pilot.

Going through the asteroid field was no small feet. I'd consider that just as skillful (if not more-so) than flying through the second Death Star. And he managed to get through Starkiller Base's planetary shield with one incredible drop out of hyperspace.

And I think comparing the Millennium Falcon 's mechanical troubles to Han's skill as a pilot seems a bit unfair. The ship's old, has tons of modifications, and partially held together with a few wacks of the hydrospanner and space tape. Skillful flying isn't going to make her magically work at 100%

Much of Han's piloting skill probably comes from the Legends canon. I haven't read all the books, so I can't point out specific times of his grand piloting abilities. But it's there.

Though if I had to guess, we'll see plenty of Han's piloting skill when the Han Solo movie comes out in 2018.

Many excellent points! I was thinking of Han as a space pirate in the least cut-throat and murderous way, although he is a killer.

I still contend that it's a bit bone-headed to jump in the gunner's seat while you've got a moon sized space station in your rear view mirror. Jumping into hyperspace from inside another ship, and exiting hyperspace inside a planet's atmosphere isn't very smart either, but if given the option I'd rather be lucky than smart.

Dodging asteroids might just be on par (or better--it's not clear cut) with Lando's flying in ROTJ, but as you say, we should definitely see some of that skill in Solo's solo movie. Until then... it's a draw?

Han is a great pilot, and yeah, the old EU is where you saw it. He is consistently flying anything that can fly in the most insane manners, and he knows every trick the book. For example, he came up with the trick to hide ON the Star Destroyer in Empire Strikes Back. Also, in any EU book he is in, he usually tries something crazy. The X-Wing series has some good examples of that. Sadly, i can't remember any real specific ones, it's been a while since i've read them.

I still contend that it's a bit bone-headed to jump in the gunner's seat while you've got a moon sized space station in your rear view mirror. Jumping into hyperspace from inside another ship, and exiting hyperspace inside a planet's atmosphere isn't very smart either, but if given the option I'd rather be lucky than smart.

Well, it was just flat out racing with some minor dodging and weaving required, and I doubt Chewie could even fit in the turret. Gunners were what were needed at that point, not fancy flying.

Jumping into hyperspace from inside the ship wasn't that difficult, he had the doors open and it was just rapid acceleration straight onwards. The timing on exiting between the planet and the shield was tricky, I'll grant you that, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Han's at least a better Sabaac player

Han navigates asteroids like.... really well.

Lando is a great pilot though no doubt. Lando has wayyyy more swag.

Wait... Han is the better Sabaac player (hence winning the M. Falcon) and Lando the better pilot ( potentially )? We've had it backwards the whole time!

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut in the woods from time to time.

After watching TLJ I'm starting to think Chewbacca is a better pilot than Han. Han is a talented pilot who flies by the seat of his pants and relies on luck that he stretches like taffy. Hera, Lando, Luke, and Chewie all do more sophisticated maneuvers [not to be confused with damned fool stunts that skill won't cut the odds on]. And, god help the first order if Poe ever pilots the Falcon. But, overall, in terms of raw skill, I think I will now interpret all of Chewbacca's roaring when Han is piloting as terrified Shriiiwook for "Let me drive, dammit! I'm a better pilot than you! Let me drive!"

How soon we forget how Han expertly evaded Imperial forces in order to get the Falcon to Kashyyyk so Chewie could take part in Life Day...

Seriously though, Lando had a full crew on the Falcon to man the guns and put out the fires. The Death Star II run was mostly just twisting the ship around to fit through various gaps and was otherwise just forward movement. Compare that to the asteroid belt where you were not only being actively shot at, but had objects flying at you from multiple directions that could cripple or destroy the Falcon with a single hit. Han was taking a broken down flying hamburger through that obstacle course while smaller and more agile TIE Fighters were crashing left and right. Not to mention maneuvering 3 ISDs into a collision course with each other. You'd think they'd have seen that they were about to combine to form Voltron and veered off, but Han was just leading them on too merry a chase.

Han is undoubtedly a skilled pilot, but his luck carries him farther than most.

I'd venture to say that Chewie's flying is a combination of his inherent talent and skills he's developed in the 30 years since ROTJ. He's witnessed a lot of Han's shenanigans (shen-Han-igans?) behind the stick that I'm sure came into play for the encounter on Crait.

His pilot skill should probably be an 8 or 9 at this point.

On 12/13/2016 at 11:14 AM, Force Majeure said:

In Empire he can't even maintain his ship properly. Then he avoids asteroids (mostly) and this is the best flying he does in the series.

In Empire he manages to evade the guns of a trio ISD's and their complement of starfighters, while flying rings around them to the point of causing them to collide .

Thanks for the link to the scene; one of my favorites.

He literally didn't fly rings around the ISDs, but he did make them look like incompetents. I'll grant you that he manages to evade the guns (what little good they did to such a relatively small target) but when they failed to jump to lightspeed, BOTH he and Chewbacca leave the cockpit to try and sort out the Falcon's problems--during a battle against 4 or so TIES!!? I know I wouldn't have left the controls. He only comes back to the controls after correctly guessing that the ship was being hit by something other that laser blasts.

What does that say about the Imperials, Leia or the Falcon itself?

Either Imperial pilot training is crap, Leia is a pretty dang good pilot herself, the Falcon has awesome auto-pilot, or is both extremely durable and exceedingly easy to fly.

I'd guess that the last two point are most likely as evidenced by how much damage the Falcon is subjected to in ROTJ, TFA and TLJ as well as how Lando, Rey and Chewbacca are able to make that ship just dance !

8 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

Han is undoubtedly a skilled pilot, but his luck carries him farther than most.

I'd venture to say that Chewie's flying is a combination of his inherent talent and skills he's developed in the 30 years since ROTJ. He's witnessed a lot of Han's shenanigans (shen-Han-igans?) behind the stick that I'm sure came into play for the encounter on Crait.

His pilot skill should probably be an 8 or 9 at this point.

I wish they came out with a PS9 Chewie

In the asteroid field Han doesn't actually do all that many maneuvers though. lost of gentle curves and straight lines. his ability to fly through it seems to have been more about having good timing to stay clear of the asteroids.

looking at that, and the fact that prior to joining the rebellion han's main claim to fame was the 14 parsec Kessel run, i'd say that Han is a mediocre pilot.. but he is a brilliant navigator.

The kessel run was a feat of navigation.. finding a shorter route. the asteroid belt was one of navigation as well.. being able to find a clear path through those rocks requiring a minimum of course changes.

and i'm not sure i'd call his ESB flying against the ISD's brilliant.. since it pretty much involved him flying a straight line. his 'anti-ISD' maneuver wasn't all that spectacular either, since just about any pilot could have pulled it off. Han only looks good there because imperial gunnery sucks, and the commander of the ISD botched a straightforward pincer movement through lack of coordination and communication.

frankly the only semi-impressive flying the Falcon pulls off in ESB is going from a high speed tower pass to a landing on said tower fast enough to not be noticed.

3 hours ago, mithril2098 said:

the fact that prior to joining the rebellion han's main claim to fame was the 14 parsec Kessel run

Is it ever said on screen (I.e. in the post-reset canon) that that was with Han at the helm? Or might that be before he won it?

6 hours ago, mithril2098 said:

looking at that, and the fact that prior to joining the rebellion han's main claim to fame was the 14 parsec Kessel run, i'd say that Han is a mediocre pilot.. but he is a brilliant navigator.

On 12/15/2016 at 1:41 PM, Crabbok said:

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut in the woods from time to time.

I would imagine a blind squirrel would quickly get eaten by a hawk. But assuming it was not killed by a predator or missed a jump and fell to its death, a blind squirrel would find lots of nuts using its acute sense of smell.

No. Han is a nine.

14 hours ago, BlodVargarna said:

I wish they came out with a PS9 Chewie

Well, since the Falcon lost another radar dish in TLJ, FFG is bound to release another model with the new dish (octagon? hexagon? oval? bow tie?) and maybe PS9 Chewbacca.

This time, the extra ship should be Tallie's A-wing.

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 5:47 AM, flyboymb said:

The Death Star II run was mostly just twisting the ship around to fit through various gaps and was otherwise just forward movement.

Clearly someone hasn't made it all the way through X-Wing Alliance ...

1 hour ago, JJ48 said:

Clearly someone hasn't made it all the way through X-Wing Alliance ...

Pssssh, I beat Return of the Jedi on the SNES. Just playing that on Normal difficulty requires you to play with the Sarlacc's tentacles around your legs trying to drag you in. I could never beat Hard as that requires you to complete your entire run while being subjected to Palp's Force Lightning. I will say that the Death Star Run was one of the easier levels in the game though. (Mode 7 graphics was about all the SNES could muster at the time).

I want a new Lando pilot & crew!

On 1/5/2018 at 10:44 AM, JJ48 said:

Clearly someone hasn't made it all the way through X-Wing Alliance ...

I was so excited when I learned that X-Wing Alliance would feature the assault on the second Death Star.

And INCREDIBLY disappointed when I saw what we actually got.