A manual to the new Google Earth flight simulator.
What if you want to buy Microsoft Flight Simulator X, but don’t have the money?
No problem, since the newest version of Google Earth (4.2) has a built-in flight simulator. This is a great feature! Some parts of the world are made in 3D so that makes it even more fun.
Having problems with the simulator? This guide is a complete manual of the flight simulator and will show you how to fly your plane.
Please enjoy yourself!
How to open the flight simulator?
- You will first need Google Earth version 4.2 or higher. You can download it for free here.
- Now start up Google Earth.
- Next, press Ctrl + Alt + A.
- A window will pop up (See image below).
1. Aircraft selection
In the 4.2 version, there are only two planes available: the F16 jet fighter and the SR22 propeller airplane.
F16
This plane is for advanced pilots. The max speed is enormous, but flying it requires concentration and isn’t so easy.
- Take-off speed: 210
- Maximum speed when flying straight: 1000
SR22
This is a nice plane for starters. It reacts quite well and is not too difficult to master.
- Take-off speed: 80
- Maximum speed when flying straight: 210
2. Start position
You can move to any place in Google Earth and then click “Current view” in the simulator window. Your plane will then start from the spot you selected.
You can also choose one of the 27 airport from the drop-down list. You will than start on the runway of that airport.
A third option is to start from the last position in the simulator.
3. Joystick support
Here you can turn your joystick on and off.
How to fly your airplane
I suggest you take the SR22 since this is the best plane for new players. This is a list of the controls:
- Increase thrust: PgUp
- Decrease thrust: PgDn
- Aileron left: Left arrow
- Aileron right: Right arrow
- Elevator push: Up arrow
- Elevator pull: Down arrow
- Rudder left: Shift + left arrow
- Rudder right: Shift + right arrow
- Increase flaps: F
- Decrease flaps: Shift + F
- Left wheel brake: , (Comma)
- Right wheel brake: . (Period)
- Gear: G
- Pause: Space
- Toggle HUD on/off: H
- Thrust: Generates speed
- Aileron: Makes your plane roll to the left/right
- Elevator: Makes your plane go up/down
- Rudder: Makes your plane turn left/right. This is especially useful for turning on the ground.
- Flaps: Flaps reduce your speed. Put your flaps to 100% when you’re going to land.
- Brakes: These stop your airplane. Use both brakes at the same time.
- Gear: This opens your landing gear. (Only works on F16)
HUD
1 – Speed meter
The arrow shows your speed.
2 – Height meter
The arrow shows you height
3 – Artificial horizon
The artificial horizon consists of two parts:
First you have the lines with numbers on their sides. They display the ascent/descent rate your plane has.
The other part is the half moon above the lines. This displays your rotation.
Since my plane is on the ground standing still, my speed is 0, my altitude is around 100 and the artificial horizon also looks fine.
Crashing
If your plane crashes, a window will pop up.
You can choose to resume the flight from where you crashed, then you will respawn above the crash site.
Or, you can choose to exit the flight simulator.
Extra
Here’s an in-flight picture.
I’m flying in a SR22. My speed is 150, my altitude is 600 – 700 and I’m flying a little upwards. I’m also a little bit rotated to the right.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Great tutorial!!!!
January 18th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Flying with GE-FS F-16 looks nice but that HUD looks like something out of a comic book. So I went and changed a little here and there. Looks a lot more like an F16 now! I cant get the compass to show heading every 10 degrees. Can anyone help??
Copy this into generic.ini (C:Program FilesGoogleGoogle Earthresflightsimhud):
% Generic Head Up Display Config
AirSpeedX = -0.4
AirSpeedFactor = 0.194384 % 1/kt
AirSpeedY0 = -0.2
AirSpeedY1 = 0.1
AirSpeedRange = 16
AirSpeedDV = 1
AirSpeedSmallInLarge = 5
AirSpeedLargeX0 = -0.05
AirSpeedLargeX1 = 0
AirSpeedSmallX0 = -0.03
AirSpeedSmallX1 = 0
AirSpeedValueX = -0.06
AirSpeedValueTextFlags = [left middle]
AirSpeedPointerX = 0.005
AirSpeedPointerAngle = 3.14159265
AirSpeedPointerLength = 0.015
AltitudeX = 0.4
AltitudeFactor = 0.0328084 % 1/ft
AltitudeY0 = -0.2
AltitudeY1 = 0.1
AltitudeRange = 16
AltitudeDV = 1
AltitudeSmallInLarge = 5
AltitudeLargeX0 = 0
AltitudeLargeX1 = 0.05
AltitudeSmallX0 = 0
AltitudeSmallX1 = 0.03
AltitudeValueX = 0.06
AltitudeValueTextFlags = [right middle]
AltitudePointerX = -0.005
AltitudePointerAngle = 0
AltitudePointerLength = 0.015
VerticalSpeedFactor = 196.85 % min/ft
VerticalSpeedRound = 10.0
VerticalSpeedX = 0.4
VerticalSpeedY = -0.25
VerticalSpeedTextParams = [center middle]
VelocityMark =
[
-.01 .00 .00 .01
.01 .00 .00 .01
-.01 .00 .00 -.01
.01 .00 .00 -.01
-.03 .00 -.01 .00
.01 .00 .03 .00
.00 .02 .00 .01
]
VelocityMinSpeed = 0
CompassSmallInLarge = 2
CompassLargeInHuge = 3
CompassTextParams = [center bottom]
CompassSmallY0 = -0.310
CompassSmallY1 = -0.295
CompassLargeY0 = -0.325
CompassLargeY1 = -0.295
CompassHugeY0 = -0.330
CompassHugeY1 = -0.295
CompassTextY = -0.331
CompassRange = 20
CompassX0 = -0.15
CompassX1 = 0.15
RollScaleHalfAngle = 60
RollScaleR = 0.2
RollScaleCenterX = 0
RollScaleCenterY = 0
RollScaleLarge = [30 60]
RollScaleSmall = [10 20 45]
RollScaleLargeR0 = 0
RollScaleLargeR1 = 0.025
RollScaleSmallR0 = 0
RollScaleSmallR1 = 0.0125
RollScaleTextR = 0.07
RollScaleTextParams = [center bottom]
RollScaleSegments = 10
RollScalePointerR = 0.005
RollScalePointerL = 0.02
SkidIndicatorMark =
[
-.01 .005 .01 .005
.01 .005 .01 -.005
.01 -.005 -.01 -.005
-.01 -.005 -.01 .005
]
SkidIndicatorY = 0.17
SkidIndicatorX0 = -0.1
SkidIndicatorX1 = 0.1
SkidIndicatorMin = -2.5
SkidIndicatorMax = 2.5
PlaneMark =
[
-.01 .04 .01 .04
.00 .05 -.00 .03
]
PitchLadderDV = 5
PitchLadderSmallInLarge = 2
PitchLadderSmallMark =
[
-0.08 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.08 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderLargeMark =
[
-0.13 0.0 -0.04 0.0
0.13 0.0 0.04 0.0
]
PitchLadderY0 = -0.35
PitchLadderY1 = 0.35
PitchLadderXOffset = 0
PitchLadderLetterOffset = 7000
HUDColor = 65280
StallColor = 255
StallX = 0.7
StallY = -0.65
StallText = STALL
StallMinSpeed = 6
StallTextParams = [center bottom]
GearX = -0.85
GearY = -0.65
GearText = GEAR
GearTextParams = [center bottom]
FlapsX = -0.7
FlapsY = -0.65
FlapsText = FLAPS
FlapsTextParams = [center bottom]
HUDLineWidth = 1.3
HUDLineSmooth = true
ThrottleIndicatorX = -0.95
ThrottleIndicatorY0 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorY1 = -0.8
ThrottleIndicatorWidth = 0.00
ElevatorIndicatorX = -0.7
ElevatorIndicatorY0 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorY1 = -0.5
ElevatorIndicatorWidth = -0.0
AileronIndicatorY = -0.5
AileronIndicatorX0 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorX1 = -0.8
AileronIndicatorWidth = 0.0
RudderIndicatorY = -0.6
RudderIndicatorX0 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorX1 = -0.8
RudderIndicatorWidth = 0.0
January 19th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Now that’s what I call a comment!
I did exactly what you said, and it is indeed much much better.
Thank you very much for this comment!
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Hi i tried the tutorial and Ctrl+Alt+A dosnt work
whats wrong?
February 25th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Maybe you don’t have the newest version of Google Earth (4.2).
You can downlaod it at earth.google.com
March 8th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
On some computers, instead of pressing CTRL+ALT+A, you have to press CTRL+Windows key+A. It’s a known fault – I had to do it.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
awsome
April 6th, 2008 at 8:31 am
I created a forum that may be useful for people who want to know more about flying and navigating using GE flight simulator. To be more specific, I show how you can use Google Earth’s placemarks to show runway locations while flying. I also show how you can create your own starting locations and more.
http://wkevin.com/gefsboard
Enjoy your flight!
Kevin
August 15th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Excelent work Dwarf, and also excelent comments that help people that do not have the same characteristics in their computers, I will rate this one too, seems to me that Google earth has lots of fans.
Thank you for doing it, and specially for sharing it.
God bless you young man