some of the players in my game are about to have access to flight in various ways (spell, mount etc), and while i have some basic concept of how it works, i have realized in all my time of playing pathfinder, and DnD 3.5 before that i have never actually found and read any rules on how specifically flight and maneuverability works. either i have somehow missed them in my readings of the books or they are stashed somewhere i haven't looked. can anyone tell me where specifically (book and pages) i can find these rules?
Flight changed considerably from 3.5 to Pathfinder. You will want to check out the section on the fly skill (p. 96-97).
Or go here -> PRD - Fly Skill