Flight Earth — Free Flight Simulator Over the Real Earth

What is it?

Flight Earth is a flight simulator over the real Earth’s terrain. The First Flight lesson takes a Cessna 172 at Jeju from start-up through taxi, take-off, turns and landing.

On-screen prompts get first-timers flying, and passing the check ride earns your pilot wings. Gamepads supported.

Flight Earth streams real elevation and satellite imagery: take off from 33 airports, from Gimpo and Jeju to Heathrow and JFK, and fly under the Golden Gate. Its five-stage plane landing game runs from a short final to crosswinds and an A320, and F-16, A-10 and P-51 missions add the feel of fighter jet games.

Flight Earth streams real elevation tiles and satellite imagery for the whole planet, so Hallasan on Jeju rises to its true height. You can depart from 33 airports, from Gimpo and Jeju to Heathrow, JFK and Queenstown, and 40 landmarks pop up an info card as you pass. Fly low and OpenStreetMap buildings stand at their real heights and are solid; five landmark bridges, including the Golden Gate and Gwangan Bridge, can be flown under.

The Cessna 172 flies on a six-degree-of-freedom model with stalls, ground effect, engine torque and propeller wash; the A320, F-16 and A-10 add a fly-by-wire law that holds attitude when you let go. Wind is fed into the air the aircraft moves through, so crosswind drift and gusts come from the physics, not from scripts. Time of day and weather can be changed mid-flight.

After the first lesson the game is a ladder: the lesson doubles as a check ride that awards wings, ring courses and a five-stage Landing Challenge follow, and combat missions stay hidden until you switch them on.

How to play

1. On the title screen pick First Flight Lesson (Jeju, Cessna 172). Press Enter to dismiss the controls overview and the info cards.
2. Follow the 'key to press now' prompt at the top. Check the parking brake is set (red P), then press I to start the engine.
3. Release the brake with P, add a little power with W and taxi along the green arrows. Steer with Q/E, stop with B, and set 10° of flaps with F.
4. Line up on the runway, go full power with Shift+W, raise the nose with ↓ (pull) at 55 kt and climb at 74 kt.
5. Level off at 1,500 ft and trim (T, [ ]), then bank with ← / → to turn onto the landing pattern.
6. Descend on a 3° path using the PAPI lights, cut power over the threshold and flare gently to touch down.

Modes

First Flight Lesson

Jeju, Cessna 172, a windless clear midday, about 15 minutes. Its 19 steps are graded as six courses of 20 one-point items: 14 passes, 16 earns silver wings and 19 gold, and a pass leads into Flight skills training.

Start flight · Start in the air

Free flight in any hangar aircraft from the airport you pick: at the end of the longest runway with the engine running, or above the airport with guidance to a nearby landmark.

Landing challenge

Five stages that begin on a 3° final: Short final (Cessna, 2 km out), Long final (4 km), Crosswind landing, Crosswind long final and Airliner landing (A320, 4 km). Each touchdown scores out of 100 with up to three stars; one star opens the next stage. Custom practice sets aircraft, wind and approach length.

Flight skills training

Three ring courses in still air north of Jeju: two in the Cessna, then an F-16 run at 490–590 ft over the sea. Fly past all eight rings within the time limit (240, 270, 210 s), through at least six, to open the next course.

Combat missions

Hidden until you turn them on. Five missions unlock in order, flown in the A-10 and F-16 against trucks, tanks and target drones that never shoot back. Stars come from success, 35% accuracy and finishing inside half the time limit.

P-51 Mustang dogfight

Listed with the combat missions but open from the start. Guns only against two Mustangs that pursue, evade and shoot back; you lose at 0% airframe integrity or after 10 minutes.

Fly with friends

A room gets a 4-character code and invite link for up to 8 signed-in pilots, with name tags and chat. Launch together starts everyone at one airport, time and weather, in formation. Aircraft pass through each other.

Good to know

• The check ride has 6 courses and 20 items. After a mishap you continue from the next course; if stuck for long, press Enter to skip.
• In free flight press N for the map and destinations, and A for the autopilot (arrows and W/S then change its targets).
• Combat missions: Space gun, X missile/rocket. G toggles gear, / the speedbrake.
• Flight sticks and HOTAS are mapped in 🎮 Controllers on the title or pause screen. Standard gamepads work as soon as you plug them in.

At a glance

Genre

Explore & simulate

Players

1–8

Price

Free

Available languages

Korean · English · Japanese · Chinese · Spanish

Platform

Web browser (no install)

Further reading

• Flight Earth Check Ride: How All 20 Points Are Scored