subject: Inside Google Earth - A Hidden Flight Simulator [print this page] Google Earth is a free application from Google that lets you view all locations around the planet. Google Earth comes with all that you need to view the entire world - maps, terrain, satellite imagery and 3D building models all seamlessly put together. What some people do not know though, is it includes a flight simulator function. This was a surprise to me, and it is to many people to find that by pressing a few keys, Google Earth transforms into a basic flight simulator.
One of the very first questions you may have is what planes can I fly? Out of the box, Google earth includes 2 aircraft, the SR22 and the F16. The SR22 is not so well known, but it is a 4 seater, propeller driven aircraft that has a 185 knot cruising speed. The SR22 is the best alternative to begin with, as it is relatively easy to control. The F16 is obviously much harder to learn to fly well. The F16 is also called the 'Viper' and is a high performance jet fighter. It has so much thrust, it can climb vertically and still accelerate. It is possible to add additional aircraft after you have gotten used to the two inbuilt planes.
You may want to know how the aircraft can be controlled. As with all other flight simulators, it can be controlled with the keyboard and mouse. We all know that controlling an aircraft with a keyboard and mouse is not very realistic or much fun to look for the right key when you are about to land, so Google earth flight simulator also has support for joysticks. If you have a well known brand such as Saitek, Logitech or Microsoft you are in luck as it will support those brands.
Google earth flight simulator includes controls for the ailerons, ruder, elevators, thrust, flaps, gear and brakes. The instruments are displayed on a HUD - which stands for heads up display. This means that the all of the instruments are displayed straight onto the cockpit windows, so you can keep your head up, all the time and you eyes do not need to stray from the front to find the control you are looking for.
Using Google earth, you can fly all around the world, and take off and land. The scenery and terrain is displayed smoothly and in high resolution. Some of the locations to fly to admire the scenery are the Swiss alps, the Rocky mountains or down in the Southern hemisphere to Australia and New Zealand.
