Classic aviation scenario. The enemy is right behind you, on your tail, six o'clock and closing hard, with a lock-on, you in his sights and you just can't shake them.

So what do you do? There's no way you can return fire, not with them right behind you. Evasive action might delay the inevitable, but you need to do something to take them out for good. Some kind of ''really'' evasive action, some kind of '''[[HighSpeedMissileDodge suicidally]]''' [[HighSpeedMissileDodge evasive action...]]

Look there, a conveniently placed canyon! Of course! By flying through the narrow winding canyon at top speed, not only can you display your flying prowess, but your pursuers either won't be able to keep up or will smash themselves to pieces on the canyon walls in the attempt! You can win the day while looking cool!

What's this, though? One plucky pursuer somehow managed to keep up. There's only one thing for it: You'll have to dive into the ground as fast as possible in a crazy game of airborne chicken! Be sure to pull up at the very last second, so you can be properly framed against the giant explosion of [[TooFastToStop your opponent splatting himself against the landscape]] in the most dramatic manner. Don't worry, your victory is assured. As the hero, you're granted +5 turning ability while flying.

We're still being followed though. Damn, somehow that last one must have got a missile off before the end. No, don't be stupid, of course we won't use chaff or flares to lure it away, [[RuleOfCool those are for wimps!]] Never fear, we can put this to good use. As it happens, I forgot to pack the missiles this morning, but if you fly straight toward the target and then swerve away at the last second, [[MisguidedMissile we can destroy the enemy HQ with one of their own missiles!]] Mmmmmmm, I just love the taste of ironic destruction.

Named after the Quidditch technique where one team's Seeker will pretend to see the Snitch near the ground and go into a dive to attempt to lure the opposing Seeker into crashing into the ground. Don't worry if you've never heard of the Wronski Feint, it's only mentioned once in an obscure little book called ''[[HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]''; [[SarcasmMode probably not many people have read it]].

* And again in ''QuidditchThroughTheAges'' by [[JKRowling Kennilworthy Whisp]], whereupon it was revealed that it was named after famed Polish Seeker Josef Wronski.

Compare TopGunned, TryAndFollow.
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!!Examples of the Wronski Feint:

* Occurred in RealLife, as seen on History Channel's Dogfights show. In the episode, "Desert Aces", the to-be Israeli jet ace Geora Epstein is chasing a [=MiG=]-21, which tries to shake him off by doing a Split-S maneuver at dangerously low altitude - a SuicidalGotcha. At first Epstein thought he had crashed and died... but then, the [=MiG=] began rising out of the swirling storm of sand kicked up by his jet afterburners. The feat was AwesomeButImpractical, and Epstein used common sense, casually flying up to the struggling [=MiG=] and scragging it with his cannon.
* At least one RealLife instance of the Wronski Feint have been reported to be used by pilots of No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron during WWII.
* At least until the end of WW2, this also gave the Swiss the edge when flying substantially inferior aircraft against comabatants who had entered their (neutral) airspace - they knew the mountains like the back of their hand and the intruders did not.
* As mentioned above, it was demonstrated quite effectively in the Quidditch World Cup by Viktor Krum in the book ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''.
** And several HarryPotter [[FanFic Fan Fics]] have Harry ''himself'' performing it.
*This Troper has used this in ''StarFox 64''. Team Starwolf would tail you unmercifully. You COULD pull an Immelmann Turn and shoot whoever was following you that way - but it's waaay more fun to fly almost right into a pillar, ''then'' pull an Immelmann, and have Wolf die an instantaneous death. Cue Evil Laugh.
**However, due to technical limitations this would only work if you had the victim in your sight.
* In the first ''Film/FantasticFour'' movie, the Human Torch uses the Wronski Feint to dispose of a missile, when his attempt to lure it with flares proved ineffective.
* Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon do this in ''[[StarWars The Empire Strikes Back]]'' during the famous asteroid chase scene.
** Slightly different from the normal Wronski Feint in that the TIE Fighters were simply too big to fit through, while the Falcon could turn sideways and be skinny enough to fit through a tiny crack in the canyon wall.
* ''Gundam Evolve 7'', a computer-generated short based on ''GundamWing'', has Heero use the colony cannon he's attempting to destroy for a WronskiFeint.
* ''GalaxyQuest'' uses magnetic space mines in a WronskiFeint to destroy the BigBad alien's flagship.
* TruthInTelevision: RoaldDahl recounts in his autobiography, ''Going Solo'', that he flew his Hurricane very close to the ground to escape a group of pursuing German fighter planes. Not a full example, as he did not succeed in taking down any of those planes by doing this.
**Unfortunately anything RoaldDahl says is fairly suspect.
** This is actually fairly common in general in air combat although admittedly less often by design of one of the participants rather than the victim just losing track of where he is in the confusion of combat and flying into something.
** A real-life inversion occurred when WWII German ace Erich Hartmann (coincidentally the highest-scoring fighter pilot of all time, with 352 kills), attacked a flight of 4 Russian IL-2 Sturmovik attack planes. The Sturmoviks dived to get away, but were so heavily loaded with bombs they themselves smashed into the ground.
** At least four confirmed air-to-air combat kills in the first Gulf War came from this: an American plane would pull a tight half-loop which the less-maneuverable Iraqi plane couldn't match.
* At least one example of the missile version happens in ''StarWarsCloneWars'': Anakin, pursued by a large numbers of enemy fighters, orders his squadron of clone pilots to fire their missiles across the bow of a capital ship and then lures the enemy fighters into the path of the missiles.
* The Lightcycles in {{TRON}} use a unique variant, creating their own walls for their pursuers to crash into. They use the standard version when there's a wall already in place.
* Skandranon, the hero of the Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon novel ''The Black Gryphon'' does this in the first chapter of the book.
* Occurs unintentionally in ''RedVsBlue'' ''Reconstruction''. The reds are fleeing from a pair of freelancers in a car chase. Grif races towards a cliff, believing he can make the jump over the river, but changes his mind at the last second and brakes just in time. The freelancers are not so lucky and go flying off the edge. Simmons shoots them with the car's turret as they go down for good measure.
* The finale of ''JusticeLeague Unlimited'' had {{Batman}} do this with the Omega Effect (self-guided EyeBeams of RetGone); he throws down a {{Mook}} he passes trying to elude it so said Mook bounces into the Effect's path at just the right moment.
* The {{Gargoyles}} use this trick against the Steel Clan a couple of times.
** Late in the second season, one of them even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it: "It's amazing how many times that works"
* In the movie ''BlueThunder'', the hero (flying the titular helicopter) dodges two heat seeking missiles fired at him by military F-16s by luring them into the sun reflecting off a skyscraper and a Chinese barbecue.

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!!Examples of the canyon technique:

* This happened in RealLife, as shown in an episode of Dogfights on History Channel, "[=MiG=] Alley". USAF F-86 Sabre pilot Robbie Risner and his flight encountered a flight of 4 [=MiG=]-15s in [=MiG=] Alley and engaged them. Risner shot off the lead [=MiG=] honcho's canopy, prompting the Soviet pilot to take [[SuicidalGotcha dangerously evasive action]] with a Split-S maneuver at low altitude. The [=MiG=] pilot miraculously survives and the chase descends into a dry river bed. The honcho brakes and accelerates but can't shake off the Sabres, which inflict a bit more damage. After rolling over a small mountain, both the [=MiG=] pilot and Risner again race through the river bed side by side. The [=MiG=] breaks off and leads the chase to his base in China, hoping AA fire will shake the F-86s off his tail. It fails and Risner gets another shot, setting fire to the [=MiG=]'s wing. The [=MiG=] pilot tries to land in desperation, but the Sabres are still after him and shoot him down over the runway. The burning [=MiG=] crashes on to a row of parked [=MiG=]-15s, destroying them all, to end what was an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome incredibly awesome]] real-life chase.
* A RealLife subversion: Saburo Sakai, one of the most successful Japanese aces of WW II, mentioned in his memoirs, that several pilots of Allied P-39 Airacobras attempted to throw off pursuit (by him or his comrades) with this trick during air combats over the mountains of New Guinea, only to kill themselves in crashes.
* The movie ''Stealth'' inverts this trope by having the out-of-control robot plane use it to dispose of one of the hero's squadron.
* Will Smith uses this trope to escape the pursuing space invaders in ''IndependenceDay''.
* When a conveniently placed canyon is not available in ''{{X-Men}} 2'', Halle Berry's character, Storm, uses her weather manipulating powers to create one from tornadoes, giving the X-men jet a chance to escape.
** In ''{{X-Men Evolution}}'', a more unusual form of this is done to evade missiles and fighter pursuit. Instead of bothering to pull out of the dive, Kitty Pryde phases the entire jet through a mountainside. The missiles crash harmlessly into the rock and the pilots (not knowing about mutants) swear never to speak of it again.
* Subverted (of course) in the ''{{Firefly}}'' episode "The Message". When this trope is attempted by ''Serenity'', the pursuing ship simply flies above the canyon, keeping the ship in view. And when the heroes try to hide, the pursuers flush them out with saturation bombing.
* The film version of ''{{The Hunt for Red October}}'' has two Wronski Feints. The first time is the Red October using the canyon technique (remember, underwater), and the second time the October manages to lead an incoming torpedo right into the bow of the (more maneuverable "Alfa" class) sub that fired it in the first place.
** In the novel [[RammingAlwaysWorks Ramius just rams the submarine]]. AdaptationDecay.
* ''HotShots'' has Charlie Sheen's character luring enemies into a canyon and [[TopGunned Top Gunning]] them by ''stepping on the brakes''. Yes, he's piloting an ''airplane''. No, that's [[RuleOfFunny not because it's cool]].
**''[[BugsBunny airbrakes]]!''
** He later pulls off the "missile" variant, when he's being tailed by one (possibly more) heat-seeking missile. His own plane is out of ammunition save for bombs, so he lets the missile[s] follow him to Saddam's base to use as extra ordinance.
* ''Rescue on Fractalus'' was originally going to have this be the ''only way'' to defeat enemies; George Lucas said that was silly.
*The Millennium Falcon performs this version too, in the attack on the second Death Star in [[StarWars Return of the Jedi]]. Complete with OutrunTheFireball for extra Tropey Goodness!
** How can we forget the canyon chase in the asteroid field from ''The Empire Strikes Back''? Probably the most well known example of this.
** And then again in the prequels, several occasions.
** The StarWarsExpandedUniverse loves this in general. If a book has "[[XWingSeries X-Wing]]" in the title (and even occasionally if it doesn't), expect there to be at least one Wronski Feint of some sort.
*** X-Wings are actually somewhat slower and less maneuverable than TIE fighters, but there are a few reasons why the canyon trick can work. TIE fighters, with those wings, have greater air resistance, and those pilots who haven't trained in atmosphere often don't compensate for that. And an X-Wing can turn on its side and use its targeting computer to get through a gap only a handful of meters wide, while TIE fighters are almost as wide as they are tall.
*The {{Futurama}} episode ''A Clone of My Own'' features an extended parody of the above scene during the escape from the ''Near''-Death Star.
* The series ''TaleSpin'' did this all the time with Baloo being a master pilot. For instance, in the climax of the first story, Baloo leads a merry aerial chase into the bowels of the city, causing all his pursuers to eventually crash and him crowing "If you can't fly, don't mess with the eagles!"
** Another episode had Baloo pull up in front of a wall in a cave. Don Karnage hit it, with the statement "What a ''lousy'' place for a wall!"
*Because this troper can't find a land-based version of this trope, he'll put in the played-straight example from the original {{Terminator}}. Sarah and Reese are driving flat-out in a parking garage with Ah-nult just behind them. Sarah spots the wall but Reese is too distracted to listen to her (you know, what with the gunfire and all). Sarah slams her car into park, but Ah-nult doesn't react in time to avoid hitting the wall at top speed. Of course, with him being a cyborg and all, this is just a minor inconvenience.
** For a half-and-half, air-and-land version, one {{Garfield}} comic strip had the titular feline chasing a bird at ground-level, at full speed, only to have the bird pull up sharply (90° angle!) at the base of a tree. Garfield did not dodge.
*TruthInTelevision: An unarmed Israeli Fouga Magister trainer aircraft got an Egyptian [=MiG-21=] on its tail during the Six Day War in 1967. It flew through a bunch of canyons. The faster [=MiG=] couldn't pull out and crashed. The Israeli pilot got credit for the kill despite having no weapons whatsoever.
** Subverted slightly earlier with an Israeli Mirage III chasing a Jordanian Hawker Hunter. It was the Hunter in this case that ended up in the Mirage's gun sight- resulting in a kill. The pilot would have been happier had the ejecting Jordanian pilot not smashed into a wall as he ejected (pilots generally prefer their enemies to eject - chivalry, professional courtesy and all that).
* This troper remembers a WWI air combat wargame, complete with a set of tips for winning dogfights. One tip was for the case where your enemy is behind you, but you have an excellent understanding of your craft. You take your plane to the bare minimum altitude for a split-S (tilt over, then pull a 180 down). If this is done correctly, and your opponent isn't ''quite'' so good, the game promises that "the cumulogranite clouds will wipe him off your tail for you".
* [[{{Jonn}} This troper]] owns an obscure Techno-thriller called ''Storming Intrepid'' wherin a pilot does this. He flies down a canyon and through an arch with ''less than six feet to spare'' on each side. The opposing pilot pulls up, thinking the first guy crashed, and the first guy simply pulls up behind him and lights him up. Admittedly, it was a laser dogfight. The second pilot later realizes that if he had tried to follow the first guy, he would've crashed ''anyway'', and the first guy must be a sociopath to risk both their lives on an interservice competition. He's right.
* In the intro for ''WingCommander Privateer'', the player character lures a [[SpacePirate pirate's]] missiles around an asteroid, and then sends them back at the firing craft. How he did that in a ship that can't outrun or outturn the missiles is an exercise best left for those who forget the MST3KMantra.
* In an Episode of StormHawks, Aerrow tries this to defeat the Dark Ace. As demonstrated earlier in the episode, the very end of the canyon is so narrow, one must turn their fliers to motorcycle mode to get through, and then back again as to not plummet to the ground. The trick here is that earlier in the battle, Aerrow stuck a wrench into the Dark Ace's wing mechanism earlier in the fight, preventing him from retracting them.
** So, the good guys won by ''[[DesignatedHero cheating]]''?
*** More by being a [[TheCombatPragmatist Combat Pragmatist]]. Besides, in that same episode, Dark Ace and the Cyclonians had rigged a race to weaken a bunch of Sky Knights to leave them vulnerable to capture, so it's not as if Aerrow's bit of dirty fighting was the worst thing in the episode.
* In the original WingCommander game, one of your fellow pilots suggests that asteroid fields are great equalizers when you're outnumbered. Asteroids are great shields, and you only have to concentrate on not hitting them, while your pursuers have to divide their attention between shooting you and not crashing. Sooner or later, they're more likely to screw up than you are. While it actually didn't work out that way in that game, it sometimes does in the later games or the FreeSpace series.
** ThisTroper managed repeatedly, in ''Privateer'', to make the bad guys chase him through an asteroid field, and get scraped off by some floating bit of astrogeography. The trick is to take advantage of a quirk of the game engine, where if you repeatedly pitch or yaw (but not both) back and forth quickly while on afterburners, you can usually keep the game engine from drawing fatal rocks in front of you before it gets out of view with the next zig (no, not [[ZeroWing the ones you move]]). Particularly useful when in an underpowered ship and Gothri show up, or the "disgruntled pirate ambush" missions.
* ''DanDare'' actually went and subverted this in at least one of its iterations, during the 'All Treens Must Die' storyline. After being released from his imprisonment for genocide as Earth, now with its defences offline, came under a surprise assault from the Mekon's invasion force, in a last, desperate bid to do ''something'', Dan and his crew were bunged into the Anastasia and told to do whatever they could. When one enemy fighter launched a missile on their tail, Dan tried to use the WronskiFeint with a local canyon to escape it. Unfortunately, the missile was just as good, and his attempts to get back out of the canyon were thwarted by fighter wings at a higher altitude keeping them pinned down. With a mountain looming up ahead, Dan tried pulling straight up anyway, noted the missile was still unfazed, and just turned to his crew and apologised. Annie promptly took the missile up the tailpipe.
* A Variation in the ''{{Area 88}}'' OAV, where several pilots fly through a canyon to avoid SAM batteries. Many don't make it.
* Cheetor tries this with a canyon that has many close pillars in [[TransformersBeastWars Beast Wars]]. Even though he manages to shake off the {{Mooks}} with this technique, Megatron just plows head-first right through the pillars to no ill effect.
* Used in the last episode of ''{{Grendizer}}'', when General Gandal (Minos) tries to ram his ship into Grendizer in a suicide attack. Duke Freed manages to make him crash into a cliff, since the Spazer (Grendizer's UFO) was still controllable, while Gandal's flagship was a flaming mess.
* Not necessarily a chase scene, but pretty much every ''AceCombat'' game requires the player to do this for some reason. Sometimes there are enemy planes or helicopters skulking in the canyons or other narrow passageways or tunnels, just waiting to achieve missile lock.
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