Google Earth Flight Simulator

Pick a spot anywhere on the planet, take off, and fly over real mountains, coastlines and river valleys — right in your browser. This is a free, web-based flight simulator built on a photoreal 3D globe, in the same spirit as the hidden flight simulator many people first discovered inside Google Earth.

Fly the real world, straight from the web

Everything you see is the actual Earth: streamed satellite imagery draped over real elevation data, so the terrain rises and falls the way it does in life. There is nothing to download and no account to create — it runs as a web version in any modern browser, on a laptop or a phone. If you have ever wanted to explore Earth from a cockpit without setting up desktop software, this is the shortest path to it.

Controls

The controls for this Google Earth flight simulator are made to feel like a light aircraft yoke rather than a free-floating camera:

• Mouse — move left/right to bank into a turn, up/down to raise or lower the nose.
• W / S — increase or decrease throttle.
• A / D — add extra roll when you want a sharper bank.
• Esc — leave the cockpit and return to the globe to choose a new place.

Controls on a Mac

On a Mac the same scheme works with a trackpad: glide one finger to steer like the mouse yoke, and use the W and S keys for throttle. If you fly often, an external mouse gives finer control than the trackpad, but it is not required — the simulator is fully playable on a MacBook with no extra hardware.

How to start a flight

Getting airborne takes only a few seconds:

1. Spin the globe and click anywhere, or choose a suggested place such as Everest or the Grand Canyon.
2. The camera drops into a cockpit view above that location.
3. Steer with the mouse, manage throttle with W and S, and fly.

People often look for how to do the flight simulator on Google Earth and find the desktop steps fiddly. Here the whole flow lives on one page, so you can go from a world map to a low pass over a mountain ridge without leaving the browser tab.

How it compares to other flight simulators

This project sits between a sightseeing tool and a full simulator, and it borrows ideas from a few well-known ones.

Versus the flight simulator in Google Earth

Google Earth's flight simulator is a desktop feature you reach after a Google Earth install. It is excellent, but it lives inside a large application. This version trades some depth for instant access — open a link and fly. For Google's own product, the official Google Earth website and the Google Earth web version are the place to go.

Versus GeoFS

GeoFS is a popular browser flight simulator with detailed aircraft models and multiplayer. If you want airliners, working instruments and online traffic, GeoFS goes further. The focus here is simpler: smooth, low-altitude exploration of real terrain.

Versus FlightGear

FlightGear is a serious open-source simulator with deep flight dynamics, but it is a desktop program you install and configure. This site aims at the opposite end — zero setup, casual flying, and a quick way to explore Earth.

Available wherever you fly

Interest in flying over the real world is global. German speakers look for a Flugsimulator, Turkish speakers for a uçuş simülatörü, and the experience is identical in every language because the map is the planet itself. The interface stays out of the way so the terrain can do the talking.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to install anything?

No. Unlike a desktop Google Earth install or a program like FlightGear, this runs entirely in the browser. The first visit loads the 3D engine; after that it starts almost instantly.

What are the controls, and do they work on a Mac?

Mouse to steer, W and S for throttle, A and D for extra roll, Esc to return to the globe. The same controls work on a Mac trackpad, and an external mouse is optional.

Is this the same as the flight simulator in Google Earth?

It is inspired by it, not the same software. For Google's own product you can use the official Google Earth website or the Google Earth web version; this is an independent, lighter take you can open instantly.

Where can I follow updates?

Improvements show up here on the site. For wider stories about aviation and Earth observation, following the topic on Google News is an easy way to keep up.