Google Flight Simulator
It seems as though Marco has unearthed an easter egg in Google’s new release of Google Earth, its popular free mapping software. While the new release stunned the world with its addition of mapping the universe, it has also secretly included a flight simulator!
To check it yourself, simply download and load up the most recent version of Google Earth and press CTRL+ALT+A or for a MAC, Command+Option+A. Upon doing so the flight simulator should load right away with a dialog that grants you the options of plane and airport (as see to the right).
You have the option of piloting two planes: the F16 or the SR22. Both are very different and enjoyable rides. Check it out for yourself, but be sure to familiarize yourself with the flight controls! If using the arrow keys is not your thing, you can also use your mouse to steer the aircraft (just click the screen with your mouse to activate).
Note: After you have entered into the flight simulator using the keyboard combination, simply access it again from the Tool drop down menu.
Check out some of the in-game screen shots:
Let me know how you fare at flying! The controls are touchy… 
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September 1st, 2007 at 1:27 am
Wow! This is awesome! The F16 is fast!
September 1st, 2007 at 1:29 am
sounds awesome. i am dling it now.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:11 am
doesn’t work on a mac
September 1st, 2007 at 2:37 am
well this looks interesting
good post
September 1st, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hey thanks for the information! This flight simulator is fun, but it takes some getting used to the controls. Thanks for the video too
September 1st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Nice work, thanks to you and marco. F16 is my favorite flight! Reminds me of Battlefield 1942…
September 1st, 2007 at 3:32 pm
@seo ranter: In the OS X version it’s Command + A
September 1st, 2007 at 4:12 pm
cool easter egg. But it is not easter now… more then 6 months left.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:34 am
This is not an easter egg, use Tools|Enter Flight Simulator. Please check your story before you publish it.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:43 am
first thing i do is turn of atmosphere so you can see the stars. climb till you see the curve of the earth and you are an astronaut. other fun stuff, fly under the golden gate bridge, fly trough yosemite vally or grand canyon. try to land at edwards afb!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:11 am
@tnekkba , You can only see it when you used it once, before it isn’t visible at tools =P, so it is an easteregg
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 am
This is the first time I see a well documentated easter-egg.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:24 am
I have found that hitting the c key does the trick to keep going in the direction that you want. This is really useful when using the keyboard to control the flying.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
If you click in the screen you can also use your mouse to control the airplane. Much better then the keyboard!!!!!!
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:38 pm
i have the latest version of google earth, but CTRL + ALT + A does nothing
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:45 pm
@haz: Be sure to click into the main viewing area before pressing the key combination.
If you are using a MAC, try Command+Option+A
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
great easter egg
good job man, i’m gonna try now
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Nice article!!!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:51 pm
too bad you can’t use the page-up and page-down keys if you’re on a macbook. I see the airfield, but I’m not going anywhere…
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
@Eric-Paul: try fn+up and fn+down to accelerate and decelerate
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
This is very nice.Thanks for pointing out this hidden utility of google earth.Just a silly question now:Is it supposed to have any kind of sound?(you know the airplane…)Thanks again!!
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
@Cosmos: at this point, there is no sound. Maybe they will add it in at future updates!
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Nice, i’ve landed both airplanes several times and its some good stuff!
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Dude,
I’m embarrassed, where’s the Linux version?
Google is my friend, Google is my friend.
JJMacey aka Adler
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:31 pm
@JJMacey: For Linux, try CTRL + A
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:24 am
Dude its not an easter egg if its in the tools drop-down menu.
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:29 am
@McGee: If you read the actual article I wrote, you would have read: “After you have entered into the flight simulator using the keyboard combination, simply access it again from the Tool drop down menu.”
September 3rd, 2007 at 1:21 am
I liked the flight sim, as you said the controls were really touchy, but over all, I liked it
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:36 am
Realy nice!
Thanks alot!
Now I will try to fly home…
September 3rd, 2007 at 4:27 am
Would be nice if Google teamed up with Microsoft on this. Google Earth could be the provider of scenery, and MSFS the provider of aircraft models/panels/flight dynamics. Textures of high-res areas in Google Earth at higher altitude are better than default textures of MSFS in my opinion. Low altitude and 3d modeling of airports etc. should also not be a big problem. Looking forward to whatever Google wants to do with this.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 am
thank you for the news!
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Reduce sensitivity of controls by turning off the [Num Lock] key. Flying is very much easier.
Cheers
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Eric,
I found out what works with Linux, at least with Linux Mint.
But, then again we Linxers usually do figure it out. LOL!
Great Post from your side!
September 4th, 2007 at 1:24 am
HEY, i have the new googler and it DOESNT WORK!!!
i have a PC NOT A MAC!!
is this a pay feature
September 4th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Wow! Thank you that’s fantastic!
September 4th, 2007 at 9:49 am
I have used my sidewinder-pro stick ,works perfect….easy to fly.Problems knowing if gear is up or down.But lands anyway……Best a/c for sightseeing is sr22……f-16 is to fast its just to have fun with.
Have i nice flight
September 4th, 2007 at 11:06 am
is this a pay feature cause i have the free google earth and it dont work???
September 4th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Thanks for the youtube video. Is this really a game? Or just a sim?
September 4th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
No problem on Mac.
It’s fine.
September 4th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Try using the Mouse… It’s a LOT easier to control. Just do a single click and it turns on Mouse controls.
September 4th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Thanks for the easter egg!!
It´s fun but hard to fly, i read the instructions for the controls and i´ll try to do my best!
Thanks again!
September 4th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
good job, any one know how to use the after burners on the F-16?
September 5th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Eric,
The controls - at least for Linux - can be found here -
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/flightsim/index.html
I run a version of Linux called Linux Mint, it is the next generation of Ubuntu. Call it the way to go.
Again - great post.
I’ve added your video to my site @ www.jjmacey.net
September 6th, 2007 at 7:52 am
For all folks not being able to get it started. Try zooming in for a while, then hit the key combination. Then it’ll start. After that it’ll start from every zoom setting with the command/menu option. So, it defenitely is an easter egg since you will have to do several things to start off flying: 1 zoom in a lot 2 hit the key command 3 go play. After that there’s not so much left of the hidden config, but who cares.
September 16th, 2007 at 3:08 am
On Windows PC I downloaded the latest version of Google Earth but I couldn’t start the Flight Simulator using CTRL + ALT + A. However, I tried just CTRL + A and that did work.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Aha… Good job
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hi…
Thanks for the info. I found this an amazing present from Google. Combining the Sat Imagery with Altitude information to create a 3D model was easy… but creating a simple flight sim into it is sheer genius.
Its a bit rough now, but hopefully it’ll get better in later versions. I’d like to see more airports included, as well as landing information and assistance. In addition, an option of adjusting the sensitivity of controls would also be great.
I use a joystick to fly this thing, and I suggest that you do the same if you have one… it makes things much much simpler (Dont forget to enable controller on the main google Earth display Tools >> Options >> Navigation). Once you enable, the google earth image may start to go crazy, but if you change it to Earth-based controller setting (Tools >> Options >> Navigation again), it clears up.
You can also land at pretty much anywhere flat (as long as you keep a low speed and drop slowly).Its fun to do that. I find the flap settings pretty useful for landing. Helps drop the speed fast, without stalling the aircraft.
Have fun!!
Happy Flying.
October 6th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
I wonder how this was discovered
October 9th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I tried this today October 10th, 2007 and doesn’t works.
The bug was fixed.
October 13th, 2007 at 9:23 am
this is so cool…thanks for sharing….really appreciate it….hope to hear more….
October 18th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Do you know why it doesnt work on my dell? email me back please! i really think it would be great if could get the dang thing to work i have a plane myself
help please?
October 20th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I use the $20 google earth plus. My version is 3.0.0762.
I cannot get ^alt A or ^A or alt A to do anything even when I am zoomed into Lambert St. Louis 12L.
My google earth plus says ther is no newer version when I check for updates under help. Any Ideas?
Mark
November 4th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Hi,
i ave downloaded it and everything, but Ctrl + Alt + a does nothing, plz help
November 6th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
You Can Use..
Jus Alt + A But it jus takes you straight to flying not the screen where you can choose an airport.
Any help on this ?
November 16th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I cannot find clear instructions on how to control the aircraft with a mouse
November 16th, 2007 at 10:08 am
I cannot find clear instructions on how to control the aircraft using my mouse
November 24th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Just downloaded goole earth. Build Date 9/12/07. It doesn’t work. What am I doing wrong?
November 24th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Never mind..it worked just fine.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Hey I found while doing this that one thing to help the flyingness is to use the 5 key to stop “Turning” the steering wheel, it’s an easier way to get going straight
the only trouble i have is getting to a different airport
January 15th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
also sort of funny, it is possible to land on water, yet very hard. something ive found fun is going underneath the eiffel tower when 3d buildings are on! !
v
January 28th, 2008 at 11:02 am
What key(s) do you hit to have the plane you’re flying appear on the screen? Anyone?
Thanks…
Jack M.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:04 am
As a student pilot I can tell you this is a very good flight simulator. The ability to see real landmarks while flying actually helps me learn the practice area where I fly. I’ll bet the CEO of Google had some input here, I know he is a pilot. Google really does make amazing software. I’d love to work there.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:43 am
to let you know on the Google earth Flight Sim, you don’t have to use the keys to fly the plane. You only need to use the Page Up/Down keys to adjust the throttle; you fly the actual plane, in other words the pitch, yaw and roll (for those of you wh don’t know what these words are, pitch is the up and down, yaw is the side to side, and the roll is the bank) the “g” key if you are in the F16 to deploy/retract the landing gear;
the f key to activate the flaps and hold Shift and press f retracts the flaps.
if you don’t want to see the flight instruments press the “h” key
March 30th, 2008 at 12:05 am
there is no page down or up on macs
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:38 am
Hi,
I’m glad to try a flightsimulator for the 1. time in my life. I enjoy flying over my own hometaown, but i have 2 problems:
In someway i managed to “delete” my instruments, so I can’t see in what degrees I go up og down, and if I fly horizontal or are turning. Do anyone know the comnations of buttins to get it back??
How do I get the sound of the airplane??
With regards
Per
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
@per: Hmm, not sure. I checked the controls page, but it does not mention either the instruments or sound. Have you tried looking through the help doc? Ctrl+H I would have a look for you, but I am currently unavailable to.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hello Eric,
I found out about the instruments: Hit H - and all is good.
Still haven’t got the sound yet
Per
April 21st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
instead of using the arrow keys to fly i found if you left click on the screen your pointer turns into cross hairs and you can steer with the mouse,MUCH EASIER!!!1
May 20th, 2008 at 9:51 am
hope you now realise that i am going to have to take google earth off my computer because i am never going to get any work done … like now!!
Great fun.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Hmmm. I have seen many videos where the actual planes are shown, like this one
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tLeJC9m4WZE&feature=related
Also I have seen some really cool expansion packs, anyone know how to change the camera view and some cool expansion packs?
July 12th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Nevermind, I know understand that it was footage from Flight Simulaotr X. A flight simulator game.
And regarding the expansion packs, i would still be interested in possibly downloading some if there are ome for Google Earth Flight Sim.
July 18th, 2008 at 5:28 am
i cant speed upp my plane i have tryed all the buttons but nothing is happening
July 18th, 2008 at 6:50 am
@man: “Page Up” increases thrust, while “Page Down” decreases thrust.