I'm not sure if OP is still following this thread but my advice would be to think of a game or movie that was meaningful to you as a child and replicate the way that they begin/continue flying.

For me, I begin flying by jumping and taking bigger and bigger jumps. Eventually I become airborne and once I am I continue flying by 'swooping' to gain momentum. I didn't really ever question this method but once I began to read this thread I realized that this is exactly the way that one flies in Super Mario 64, pretty much my favourite game as a child.

Give it some thought and see what you come up with!