How does R2 loose his flying ability?

In the OT u never see him fly, but in PT he flies in AOTC, I think a little in ROTS too (jumping out the ship).

Who said he does?

Yeah he hovers in ROTS, he spills oil over the droids and them turns them on fire with his turbines. Umm I don't think he required the ability to fly in the 0T or maybe it's too limited.

Maybe R2 want's to hold back his abilities later in life.

I don't think there were really any situations in the OT where he would need to use this ability. Possibly to get out of the swamp on Dagobah, but then again we never actually see how he gets out, it's only loosely implied that he rolls out.

not to mention that he's serving on the Tantive 4 for the next 20 yrs. I would assume that they were removed for more useful parts he'd need now that he is back to his actual purpose of "astromech" droid and not assistant to a Jedi in a war.

Lucas shoves that idea back up his ass for Episodes IV to VI.

Flying R2D2. I still can't accept such stupidity.

It was rumoured to be that the canisters for his jet packs are no longer available by the time the OT comes around.

R2 D2 never lost that ability. Remenber that Senator Bail Organa orders both droids to have their memory wipe. Therefore R2 cannot use those abilities due to his wipe. Or it could be that during the memory wipe the technician removed those fighting mechanisms.

Originally posted by WindDancer
R2 D2 never lost that ability. Remenber that Senator Bail Organa orders both droids to have their memory wipe. Therefore R2 cannot use those abilities due to his wipe. Or it could be that during the memory wipe the technician removed those fighting mechanisms.

No, only C-3PO had a memory wipe.

only c-3po received a memory wipe. He says "Wipe the protocol droid's memory". And even if R2 had, his systems would still know all of its base programing and abilities. He just wouldn't remember people or events. Its like on a computer, you can wipe all of your documents and internet history, but its still gonna know if you have a mouse/keyboard/scanner/printer attached and how to make it work.

"Oh, and have the protocol droid's memory erased."

Exactly. I'm also betting that most of his parts were removed for use on the ship. He is, after all, only a droid.

uhhhh....the protocol droid is Threepio, Artoo is an astromech. And neither of them are ships, so I doubt there parts work in a ship. Do you install pistons into your computer? exactly...

It was said after AOTC that R2's jet packs only have a 20 year lifespan, so without being replaced they would have simply run out of gas by the time of the OT.. also Anakin modified R2 ALOT when he took him as his droid..

exactly, i'm sure the Tantive 4 crew would require him to be a bit more "stock" since they ONLY need him for astromech jobs...which don't require flying.

Well if he didn't require flying - how could R2 run out of gas if he never uses them?

It doesn't make any sense. No amount of rationalising can justify those stupid jetboots.

run out of gas....? that's not even canon...

I'm confused as to where the run out of gas idea comes from 😕

apparently some EU source so it doesn't really matter does it? certainly never read it in any of the books...

I know. I wouldn't even consider those damn rocket packs canon if I hadn't seen them in the movies with my own eyes. I would have dismissed them as some stupid fanboy wet dream, but then again, Episode II was one big fanboy wet dream in general.