The main protagonist of the manga Dragon Ball, Son Goku, is popularly known all over the world for his brutal strength, capabilities, speed, and endurance.
Putting Saitama aside, he is also known as the strongest character in the entire anime verse. He has various kinds of fighting strategies against different opponents and has been successful in defeating them.
Flight is a major component used by the most prominent characters in the series while clashing. So, being the main protagonist of the series, SonGoku doesn’t miss the inability to fly as other characters do.
So, if he is capable of flying, when and how did he learn to fly?
When did Goku learn to fly?
A lot of characters in the Dragon ball series use aerial attacks to fight against an opponent, including the main protagonist, Son Goku.
As the flight technique is very advantageous with the help of which one can perform various kinds of surprising skills, it is usually seen character flying most of the time in the battle.
Ki energy is used by the characters in the series.
In Crane school, Sky Dance is a unique skill of performing in the sky. On earth, it was first originated by master Shen. In the Dragan Ball, the flight was the first scene when Pura made his appearance in the series for the first time.
When Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu used flight during the 22nd Martial Arts Tournament, Master Roshi was amazed and stated it was an overrated technique.
There are numerous powers and abilities in the Ragon Bsal series, and flight is one of them. Most of the prominent characters had already learned this skill but Yajirode and Master Roshi were the only remaining characters left to learn the technique at that time when the tournament was held.
Goku didn’t have the ability to fly at the beginning, but he trained subsequently on it. He was able to use a flight technique soon after Master Roshi gave him a famous cloud named Flying Nimbus.
As it is shown, Roshi never possessed the ability to fly. He made that cloud which ultimately became his flying tool. With the same cloud, Goku adopted the ability to fly.
However, Goku seems to become capable enough to fly without the help of the cloud at some point in manga and anime.
When Goku was just a child, he shocked everyone by exhibiting the style of flying without clouds. It was shown that he used his tail as a rotor to fly.
Sadly, this technique was not quite favorable for him because he couldn’t use this technique for an extended period of time.
However, Goku eventually managed to show how capable he actually was. He succeeded in using this technique without relying on a tail or any cloud by mastering it.
As it is not yet revealed when actually did Goku learned to use the flight technique, there are a lot of theories that hold water.
We got evidence that Goku used the flight technique for the first time in the finals against Piccolo. It might be possible that he mastered this technique before the 3rd World Tournament.
How did Goku learn to fly?
Theory 1: Goku learned flight during the battle against Tien
Goku is a proficient martial artist, and he has the capability to perform ki in an advanced manner. His powers and abilities grew much more as he battled against many formidable opponents.
He evolves this technique surprisingly as he heats up on the battlefield. Thus, we assume that Goku advanced his flight technique during the battle against Tien, who is remarkably a good flight technique user.
As he evidenced the students of Crane School using Sky Dancing technique, it is unarguable that Goku also got the urge to learn the technique. He might have possibly decided to learn flight techniques since then.
Theory 2: Goku learned to use flight with Kami
Eventually, we get to witness him fighting against the son of Piccolo, with whom he previously fought at the World’s Martial Arts Tournament.
Guess what? Goku was using flight against the son of Piccolo. This all happened soon after he became a young man with incredible powers by training under the direction of Kami.
This theory states that, By the time Dragon Ball released its new series Z, Goku became terribly powerful and mastered this technique before his wife gave both to Gohan.
Even Krillin, Goku’s best friend, also successfully managed to use this power along with Yamcha, an average human, and Kami by the time of Z.
By training with the style of Kami, one could upgrade their flying ability and control ki with fewer efforts enabling them to battle against the opponent more easily than previously.
Thanks to the subsequent harsh training with Kami, the primary protagonist of the series became successful in using the flight technique skillfully.
Theory 3: Goku was able to fly because of Inheritance
We all know that Goku is a terrestrial being, an alien in simple words. It is believed that Saiyans are capable of flying around the earth due to the physiology of an alien.
Thus, this theory assumes that he got the ability to fly because of his alien properties. However, this theory is not valid yet. There are no hints granted by the creators of Dragon Ball.
Saiyans are much more different than any normal human beings and have power, skill, and amusing abilities. So, Goku also had the ability to fly from the beginning.
He just took the time to unleash power as he needed to get along with the atmosphere of earth. After he got adapted to it, he used his flight ability fully.
Son Goku is known to be inspired by Super Man and his story. Thus this theory explains that he also landed on earth as a child and started to protect the planet with his amusing power and abilities.
Super Man also learned the flying ability on the earth. So, it hints at some point here that even Saiyans can fly on the earth because of their different properties.
In which episode did Goku learn to fly with his tail?
In the earlier paragraphs, we’ve already mentioned that the exact moment that Goku learned the flight technique has not been revealed yet. However, we’ve got to evidence him using that technique for the first time.
Before jumping to the conclusion, let’s get to know about flying with the help of his tail. It is revealed in the manga that he successfully passed with his tail while fighting with Jackie Chun: at the same time.
Master Roshi is the master of Goku who faked his appearance as Jackie Chun, and when he encountered Goku while using the flight technique, he was surprised.
We can assume that he became astonished because he never saw Goku using that technique previously. This hints to us that Goku was not able to use that technique before.
Sadly, his flight technique was not entirely sustainable, and he couldn’t use it for a long period of time. Thus, he had the disability of traveling long distances with this technique.
This event took place during ” The Grand Finals” in episode 26. At this time, Goku and Jackie Chun were battling against each other.
The moment of the clash against Jackie Chun is the precise moment when Goku unleashes his flight technique with the help of his tail for the first time.
In which episode did Goku learn to fly without his tail?
Goku has the capability of performing flight techniques with his tail and even without his tail. He has amazed many other characters in the series with his flying style and used this technique in combat too.
Goku flying without his tail is filled with numerous complexities as we can’t judge what it actually is. We cannot come to a certain conclusion because we don’t know if it is levitation, flight, or something else.
We’ve got some faint scenes in the early episodes where Goku was flying in the air. However, we are not sure if it was an actual flight or not performed by Goku.
In chapter 193 of the manga, Tien realized and made a statement that Goku became capable enough to fly without his tail. We can suppose that he learned to pass since then.
As for the anime, In episode 148 of the Dragon Ball series, we got to witness Goku flying without his tail.
