Find out how to use Google Earth Flight Simulator , the Google Earth flight simulator to fly around the world virtually.
Over time, more and more people have started to use Google Maps to view maps and routes to follow on their smartphone or PC. Although Maps is now a point of reference, even before this software Google Earth was used daily , an excellent program for showing the Earth in three or two dimensions and a large part of city or suburban roads and routes.
Maybe you don’t know that there is a flight simulator with air routes that takes advantage of the Google Earth database and software and allows you to play video games with exceptional immersion. This program is Google Earth Flight Simulator and will be the protagonist of our guide in the next few lines. Let’s see what this simulator can offer you and how to best install and use it on your PC.
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Index
- How Google Earth Flight Simulator works
- How to install Google Earth Pro
- How to start Flight Simulator
- How to fly Flight Simulator
- How to Exit Google Earth Flight Simulator
How Google Earth Flight Simulator works
The operation of this flight simulator is certainly different from the traditional ones. As you will notice from the first screens, you will have to interface with the Google Earth software rather than with a new three-dimensional program.
In fact, the flight emulation will take place within Earth and its standard screen, with a graphical representation of the Earth and the possibility of choosing to approach the different points of interest. Specifically, you can select two types of aircraft, the F16 and the SR22 , as well as the airport to reach. The most famous airports in the world have been entered and it will be very easy to become familiar with the functions once they have been memorised.
In case you have a joystick for PC , you will be able to connect it to the PC and use it, but you will have to select the option Joystick enabled . As with Google Earth, you’ll have to take into account the fact that your PC must have a good amount of RAM memory in order not to experience slowdowns during the simulation. While 8GB of RAM might be enough for smooth cruising through the skies, a 16GB configuration is recommended if you’re running other software in the background.
How to install Google Earth Pro
To be able to start Flight Simulator you will need Google Earth , but not the basic version or the online one, but the Pro one . As you can imagine, this flight simulator needs significant server resources and you will necessarily have to invest in the most advanced version.
First of all you need to know that this program is free and that you can download it directly to your PC in the stand-alone version. Connect to this page and press the Download Google Earth Pro button on your desktop .
Accept the Google Earth privacy policy and press the Accept and download button. Save the GoogleEarthProSetup.exe file and double-click on it to start the installation. Follow the entire installation process and at the end start the Google Earth program to start Flight Simulator.
How to start Flight Simulator
Once you have started the program, obviously after installing it on the desktop version, you just have to press the key combination CTRL+ALT+A on your keyboard . The alternative way is to press on the Tools menu and immediately after the item Enter the flight simulator . The settings window will then appear on the screen in which you can select the plane and the airport with which to simulate the flight .
Once you have selected the airport and the plane, you just have to click the Start flight button at the bottom right. For about 10 seconds, do not touch the mouse or keyboard, the program is loading the database in the background. If you have an older PC, it could take even longer.
We recommend launching and exiting the program the first time to allow the software to load data into the cache and minimize latencies and common issues.
How to fly Flight Simulator
Once you have clicked on Start flight, agreen HUD will appear on the screen containing a sidebar , which you will have to close, and a bar with which to interact. We advise you to select the Internal screen item .
The HUD has several elements, specifically: altimeter , airspeed indicator , compass , artificial horizon , engine thrust and aileron/equilibrator and tail rudder ; respectively: top right, top left, top center, center, bottom left and the remaining 3 green triangles.
The hardest part of flying a plane in Earth Flight Simulator is memorizing all the keys.
Among the many commands, the ones to consider are:
- PAGUP keyto increase engine thrust and taxi to the runway.
- Move the mouse backwardsto make the plane take off once it picks up speed.
- Place the mouse in the center of the screenwhen the aircraft reaches cruising altitude and stabilizes.
- Left or right arrow keysto change direction, make course corrections, steer left or right,
- Arrow keys + ALTto rotate slowly or + CTRL to rotate quickly.
By clicking on the Flying Around the World guide in Google Earth you will be able to view all the information necessary to fly the aircraft including the list of keyboard commands and much more.
How to Exit Google Earth Flight Simulator
When you set the full screen you will seem to be completely immersed in the flight, but you will doubt that you can not exit the program. The indications are almost nil and you may not find the dedicated function. To exit the simulator you will need to click on Exit flight simulator at the top right .
Of course, you can also opt for a more drastic solution, such as closing Google Earth completely or accessing Task Manager and Ending Flight Simulator tasks . In order not to encounter problems related to the cache, we advise you to exit the flight simulation with the dedicated function, you will not have any problems using Earth in the future.