It should be in Troubleshooting, but you were pretty close.
Anyway, it sounds like you just need a simple enter vehicle command. So, I would assume your scene before you fly the airship is something like
Man: Dood, I just found you this sweet flying boat.
You: Cool, can I has?
Man: Yeah.
You: Nice.
(Well, I would hope it's better than that...)
Make your scene as you would, then hide the screen. Go into 'set vehicle start position (Page 2),' make the vehicle your airship, and set its location to right where you're standing, or close to it. (If you want to go to another map, just say so, it's a slightly different process) (And if you want it to just appear over you wherever you're standing, it takes a little more work.)
Go back to page 2 and "enter vehicle." Show the screen, and you're flying!