T-16 skyhopper

This article is about the vehicle. You may be looking for the beverage.

"I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home."

―Luke Skywalker^[7]

T-16 skyhoppers, also known as the T-16 airspeeders, were skyhoppers, that were personal repulsorlift airspeeders manufactured by Incom Corporation, recognizable by its distinctive tri-wing design. It was a popular, high-performance airspeeder due to its stable and reliable transportation on almost any world, and thus provided many youths with their first flight training.^[1] The T-16's trihedral design greatly resembled that of the Imperial Lambda-class T-4a shuttle.^[8]^[9]

History

Luke Skywalker owned a T-16 skyhopper on Tatooine prior to the Battle of Yavin, as well as a small model that could be held in one's hands.^[1] He would use the airspeeder's pneumatic cannon to kill womp rats. The controls were similar to Incom's T-65B X-wing starfighter, which greatly benefited Skywalker during the Battle of Yavin.^[7]

This article is a stub about a vehicle. You can help Wookieepedia by expanding it.

Behind the scenes

"Here we actually have the broken T-16 skyhopper that Obi-Wan pulled out to repair for Luke."
"Oh and there's little guys in the cockpit."
"The actual T-16 skyhopper was researched and referenced to recreate this prop itself."

―A member of the Lucasfilm Archives and Kristin Baver discussing the T-16 skyhopper toy prop used in Obi-Wan Kenobi^[10]

The T-16 skyhopper first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars original trilogy.^[7] It was first identified in the 2015 reference book Ultimate Star Wars.^[1]

During production of the Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi television series, the prop making team made a broken T-16 skyhopper toy prop that was used in the series. The originial prop was researched and referenced to recreate the prop.^[10]

BT-16 reference

"I'll check out that T-16."

―A stormtrooper^[11]

The T-16 is mentioned by stormtroopers in "Part III," the third episode of the series Obi-Wan Kenobi, as a reference to a conversation in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope between two stormtroopers who are discussing the BT-16 while Obi-Wan Kenobi disables the tractor beam. References to that scene started by voice actor Sam Witwer who added similar lines in the sequel trilogy, which mention the T-17 and T-18, and in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story, which mention the T-15. The mention depended on the era.^[12] "Chapter 8: Redemption" of the series Star Wars: The Mandalorian mentions the T-16 in a similar fashion too.^[13]

Non-canon appearances

The LEGO minifigure of the Skyhopper pilot

LEGO released three LEGO Star Wars sets of the T-16 skyhopper—one in 2003,^[14] one in 2015^[15] and one in 2020.^[16] The newer sets both feature a human pilot in a red jumpsuit and a grey safety harness with a grey helmet with two red insignias and a blaster pistol.^[15]^[16] While only identified as "Skyhopper Pilot", the 2015 LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary: Updated and Expanded implies that the "Mystery pilot" is Luke Skywalker.^[17]