To switch into flight simulator mode the first time, launch the latest version 4.2 of Google Earth (free download) and hit Ctrl+Alt+A (Mac users: Cmd+Opt+A.) Choose your plane, airport and runway. Here's how to activate Google Earth's hidden Flight Simulator feature. Note: I have only done this on windows, so I'm not sure if it works on Macs. When the insallation finishes, launch Google Earth from it's shortcut.
Google earth has a lesser known but an awesome flight simulator feature using which you can fly the planes and virtually experience the difficulty levels and technical aspects that’s involved in flying an aircraft. Here are the basic steps to operate flight simulator. Obviously, you would need the latest version of installed on your computer to begin with.
Go to Tools- Enter Flight Simulator to start it. You can also use keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+A). Flight Simulator window will open. Select the aircraft (F16 or SR22). For the first flight, I prefer to choose SR22 because of its low speed in comparison to other one. Google adds some nice airports of the world in the list.
Select the airport from the drop down and click the “Start flight” button. You can also use joystick to fly the aircraft (If it is available, check the option given below). You can take off your flight with the help of keyboard keys. You could also activate mouse control by clicking the left mouse button. You can see there are random numbers appearing on the screen. These are some basic terms a pilot needs to know when he is flying an airplane.
The terms used are Aileron, Altitude (feet above sea level), Bank angle, Elevator, Exit flight simulator feature, Flap and gear indicators, Heading, Pitch angle (degrees), Rudder, Speed (knots), Throttle, Vertical speed (feet per minute). For novice users, it may take some time to learn the operation (I crashed my flight several times).
Here’s a quick tip for you: Increase the thrust by pressing “Page up” button of your keyboard. After sometime, when the aircraft accelerates, use down arrow key to take off your flight. After attaining certain height release the button. Now you can turn your plane to left and right by using the corresponding arrow keys.
Note that the keys are very sensitive, it means make use of keys slowly otherwise your plane will crash. After attaining a decent level of flying the aircraft you can use various keyboard controls. Here’s the Flight simulator keyboard controls taken from. Overall, it’s a fun tool to play with and a must-try if you’ve got Google Earth installed. Last updated on 8 Feb, 2018.
Thank you to GEB reader Paul Moskowitz for bringing to our attention the fact that opening the flight simulator in Google Earth Pro automatically turns off the 3D buildings layer. The reason for this is that back in 2008 Google was concerned that showing 3D buildings in Flight Simulator mode would be a performance problem for some computers, so, with the release of Google Earth 4.3 they set the 3D buildings layer to be automatically disabled.
At some point they reversed that decision, probably due to user complaints or the fact that computer performance has significantly increased since then, and they removed the setting from the standard version of Google Earth. However, it would appear that they forgot to do the same in Google Earth Pro. At the time, Google Earth Pro was a paid for product and thus was used only by people wanting specific features found only in Google Earth Pro. However, in January 2015, Google decided to and since then more and more people are using Google Earth Pro and ditching the standard version altogether. You can, however, have them both installed at the same time if you wish.
The result is that more people will be trying out the Google Earth Flight Simulator in Google Earth Pro, so we thought it would be a good time to relook at a workaround for getting the 3D buildings back in Flight Simulator mode. These steps must be repeated each time you enter Flight Simulator mode:. Enter Flight Simulator mode – Select Tools-Enter Flight Simulator (Windows/Linux) or Options-Enter Flight Simulator (Mac) or Ctrl + Alt + A(Windows/Linux) or + Option + A (Mac) Optional: fly to a city which has 3D buildings (grab our to find out where). Hit SPACE to pause the flight simulator.
Open the Sidebar – Sidebar shortcut – Press Ctrl + Alt + B (Windows/Linux) or + Option + B (Mac) to bring up the sidebar. Turn on 3D Buildings – Turn these on in the Layers pane in the lower left after the sidebar opens. Turn Off Sidebar – IMPORTANT – before resuming the flight simulator, turn off the sidebar by hitting the sidebar shortcut from step 2. Resume flight – Now you can resume flying the flight simulator by hitting the SPACE key and the 3D buildings should stay on for your current flight.
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