I came to Shadowrun in 4th edition, where there were very few aircraft options for starting players. 5th edition has a number of interesting options available to a starting character, but they are at the edge of possible. I felt like seeing if I could make one I'd be willing to play, despite the lack of Autosofts at the moment.
Meet Laughing Vulture, a low-class cascade ork t-bird pilot and smuggler. He's built using standard rules (you could make a much better t-birder with prime runner character generation rules.) He's essentially a mediocre rigger with an awesome ride. I've spent the max karma to cash conversion for this build. The big issue here is that heavy weapon mounts are beyond starting characters... so I can have a jet, but I can't have a missile launcher or cannon on it. The best I could figure out is an Ares Alpha with Grenade Launcher. A missile/rocket launcher would be a desired upgrade ASAP.
Vulture's primary function is to fly. A Vulture has speed 7 by default (just over Moch 1), and the control rig adding 1 (I prefer the house rule that this is for dicepool chases, not actual speed), and Gearhead add 20% for 1d6 minutes.
VTOL Dice Pool: 15* = Reaction 5 + Skill 6 + Specialization 2 + 1 Control Rig + 1 Hot Sim (+2* Gearhead on stuns and maneuvers)
Limit: 8 = 5 Vehicle + 1 Control Rig +2 VR
Plus, target number is reduced by 1 via Rig.
For upgrades:
The VTOL needs a more powerful weapon. A Heavy Weapon Mounted Onotari Interceptor is $19,000 with a smartgun built in (mounted rocket ammo capacity is Body). The missiles, however, are very expensive. Rockets aren't so bad, but an assault cannon might be the best option. Attaching a Krime Cannon via heavy weapon mount is only $26,200 with an external smartgun attached, and only costs $400 a shot.
Plus, there are plenty of augmentations and basic gear options. Better Control Rig, RCC, Drones, and Autosofts (once we get prices.)
Please forgive my poor formatting.
Laughing Vulture
T-Bird Pilot, Cascade Ork Rigger
Priorities:
A - Cash
B - Skills
C - Race (Ork)
D - Attributes
E - Magic/Resonance (Mundane)
Attributes
Body 4
Agility 3
Reaction 5
Strength 3
Willpower 3
Logic 4
Intuition 3
Charisma 2
Edge 3 (2 from Karma)
Limits
Physical: 5
Mental: 5
Social: 4
Qualities:
SINner (Salish-Sidhe national, Cascade Ork tribe): +5
Gearhead: -11
Juryrigger: -10
Allergy (Seafood, Sever): +20
Contacts:
Fixer: 3c / 1L
Aircraft Mechanic: 3c / 3L
Knowledge Skills:
Professional (Aircraft Control, Specialization: Seattle) 4
Street (Smuggling Routes, Specialization: Air routes) 4
Language (Or'zet) 2
Interest (Urban Brawl) 1
Academic (Salish Law) 1
Skill Groups
Engineering 3
Acting 1
Influence 1
Active Skills
Pilot: Aircraft (Specialization: VTOL) 6
Pilot: Groundcraft 1
Pilot: Anthroform 3
Gunnery 6
Automatics 2
Perception 1
Navigation 1
Electronic Warfare (Specialization: Sensor Operations) 2
Hardware 1
Gymnastics 3
Survival 1
Sneaking (Specialization: Sky) 6
Lifestyle:
Squatter (lives in the vehicle, camping in the cascades)
Augmentations:
Control Rig 1 (used)
Smartlink (used)
Vehicles:
Cascade Skraacha (Ares Venture Similar Model) VTOL Aircraft
+Rigger Interface
+Standard Weapons Mount (Forward Facing): Ares Alpha Assault Rifle, RC 18, 100 regular ammo, 6 high explosive grenades
+Standard Weapons Mount with Manual Control (Door Gun): Ares Alpha Assault Rifle, RC 18, 100 regular ammo, 6 thermal smoke grenades
+Thermographic, Flarecomp
Drones
MCT Fly Spy mini insect drone
Ares Duelist medium humanoid drone
+Standard Weapons Mount: Ingram Smartgun X SMG, RC 6, 100 regular ammo
Weapons & Armor:
Ares Crusader II Machine Pistol
+80 Ammo
+Spare Clip
Armor Jacket
Hardware/Software:
Easy Motors DroneMaster (Rating 3 RCC)
Cyberprogram Software (Toolbox, Signal Scrub, Encryption, Biofeedback Filter, Shell, Sneak, Wrapper)
Gear:
Survival Kit
Toolkit (Aircraft Mechanic)