Google Just Brought Its Beloved Flight Simulator to the Web. Here’s How to Try It

Google has brought its classic flight simulator to the web version of Google Earth, making it available to anyone with a browser without needing to download anything.

To try it out, open Google Earth in your browser, head to the tools menu, and launch the simulator from there. You can fly over photorealistic satellite imagery and 3D terrain using just a keyboard and mouse, which is pretty fun for exploring landmarks or just buzzing around your neighbourhood from above. And be warned–it’s not easy to fly if you’re a newbie.

Google also recently added a few other desktop features to the web version, including elevation profiles and new file import options.

The flight simulator has actually been around since 2007, when it quietly showed up in Google Earth 4.2 as a hidden Easter egg. You had to know the right keyboard shortcut to find it — Ctrl + Alt + A on Windows or Command + Option + A on Mac. It let you fly either an F-16 Fighting Falcon or a Cirrus SR22 propeller plane over real-world satellite imagery.

It got popular enough that by 2008, Google made it an official feature with its own menu option in Google Earth 4.3. From there it stuck around as a favourite for casual aviation fans who used it to explore airports and geography around the world.

For the past decade-plus it was only available in the downloadable desktop version of Google Earth. The web release marks the first time it’s been fully accessible in a browser, which is a nice upgrade for anyone who didn’t want to install the full desktop app just to go for a virtual flight. Plus you don’t need to pay for it unlike Microsoft’s flight simulator.