T-16 skyhopper/Legends

"You may be the hottest bush pilot this side of Mos Eisley, Luke, but those little skyhoppers can be dangerous. They move awfully fast for tropospheric craft&mdash;faster than they need to. Keep playing engine jockey with one and someday, whammo! You're going to be nothing more than a dark spot on the damp side of a canyon wall."

- Biggs Darklighter to Luke Skywalker

The T-16 skyhopper was a high-performance airspeeder.

Characteristics


It was equipped with an ion drive and a fully pressurized cockpit, allowing it to operate at trans-orbital altitudes.

Civilian versions of the skyhopper were armed with pneumatic cannons, though many law-enforcement agencies and planetary militaries throughout the galaxy utilized modified T-16s due to their overall good performance; however, because it was armed with only a single mounted repeating blaster, it was often overlooked by the military.

Even so, these airspeeders were often used as training vehicles by the Rebel Alliance, due to the fact that their flight controls were similar to those of X-wings.

The skyhopper was a common sight across the galaxy, with versions of the craft found on nearly every settled world. The T-16 was identified by its tri-wing design and triangular cabin. The three wings, which were reproduced in countless Imperial transports, provided excellent stability. The central airfoil segmented the canopy and blocked much of the pilot's view, but computer displays and a holographic mapping system compensated for this decreased field of view.

The speeder had a top speed of approximately 1,200 kilometers per hour. Many young pilots preferred skyhoppers over landspeeders because of the increased maneuverability.

History
Luke Skywalker owned a T-16 on his home planet of Tatooine, where he would use womp rats as target practice and race through Beggar's Canyon with his friend, Biggs Darklighter.

Behind the scenes
In A New Hope, Luke is seen playing with a model of a T-16, which in reality was the prop miniature built by Colin Cantwell. The actual prop could not be completed, and an incomplete hull can be seen as a matte painting in the background. His T-16 was ruined by Luke in-universe so he used his landspeeder to search for R2-D2.

A flying T-16 can be seen above Mos Eisley during the Return of the Jedi Special Edition's celebration ending sequence.

In Attack of the Clones, a T-16 can be seen in the background of the homestead garage scene.

Some of the speeder points (flight paths, in MMO terms) in Star Wars: The Old Republic use a vehicle of similar design - also referred to as a skyhopper - to travel to various points. The skyhopper is most often used on Balmorra and Voss, due to their largely mountainous terrains that inhibit the use of regular speeders.

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * The Epic Continues