Google Earth Flight Simulator

insidedesign writes "Blogger Marco has recently discovered that the newest version of Google Earth includes a flight simulator. Though simple in comparison to full-blown simulators, Google Earth's is fun and addictive. To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+A for the initial dialog (on OS X, Command+Option+A). Then choose your plane (F16 or SR22) and initial airport. Joysticks are supported; it has even been reported that force feedback works. The game's controls are sensitive so it takes some getting used to. Here are all the available controls. For a quick overview, check out this YouTube video."

Comments

Re:Doom in Microsoft Office

[brteag00]

> If I remember right, one version of Excel also had a flight simulator.

Yep, Excel '97 had a flight sim.
  - Hit 'F5'
  - Jump to cell X97:L97
  - Press 'TAB'
  - Hold down and
  - Press the "Chart Wizard" button on the toolbar.

I bet the graphics in this one are a little better, though.

Sweet

[John Frink]

Just tried a flight, shows hills and everything. Way more than I expected from an easter egg. Kudos to the guy who dreamed this up.

Re:This would be a great post for April 1

[Goaway]

Quoting the very page you linked to:

Once you have entered flight simulator mode for the first time, you can re-enter the mode by choosing Tools > Enter Flight Simulator.

So no, it's not in the Tools menu by default, and yes, it's an easter egg.

Re:Wise Guys!

[hottoh]

We can all thank Mayor Daily for the airport distruction (I think I spelled the Mayor's name wrong, but correcting it is not worth the effort).

Paraphrasing the reason for the destruction, "the people of Chicago live in fear of terrorist attacks, and I need to do what I can to keep Chicago safe."

Secretly planning to destroy the airport in the early morning hours acheives that end?

Re:Doesn't work for me

[Bob Gelumph]

Zoom to San Francisco airport and try it from there.
It is weird, but it works.
Also, use fn-up and fn-down in place of page up and page down on a powerbook.

Re:Now maybe I should wait until tomorrow to try i

[iluvcapra]

There isn't a lot of air at FL500, so your IAS is gonna be pretty low.

Quickie: IAS or Indicated Airspeed is a flight dynamic that measures the unidirectional force of air along an aircraft's angle of attack and presents this data as a speed; it is measured with a "pitot tube," a metal tube on the wing or nose of a plane that collects air and measures the amount of force being applied down the tube. At standard temp and pressure, with no wind, and with the aircraft's angle of attack parallel to the surface, this number will theoretically give you the speed at which you are traveling along the ground. As ambient pressure goes down (say with altitude), IAS for a given ground speed goes down; as wind picks up, depending on the wind's bearing to the aircraft's orientation, IAS can go up or down (A plane flying a 100 kts headwind and 100 kts IAS will, all other things being equal, in fact have a ground speed of zero). As angle of attack increases, ground speed goes down. You might be flying at Mach 2, but if you're pointed straight up, your ground speed will be zero.

Re:Look out, Flight Simulator!

[mikeboone]

Apparently, someone else did it for them with an addon called TileProxy...I have not tried it, but there's a video here.

Re:This would be a great post for April 1

[Purity Of Essence]

You might try tinkering with one of these files, I'd start with this first:

%PROGRAMFILES%\Google\Google Earth\res\flightsim\controller\generic.ini

These others in the same directory seem to be for specific brands of controller:

genius_maxfighter_f16u.ini
speed_link_black_hawk.ini
speed_link_cougar_flightstick.ini

From generic.ini

axes = [
    A1 set(DE, 1.0, 0.0)
    A0 set(DA, 1.0, 0.0)
    A3 set(DP_0, -0.5, 0.5)
    A2 set(DR, 1.0, 0.0)
]

povs = [
    P0 set(HAngle, 1.0, 0.0)
]

It looks like:
A0..3 = the four axes
P0 = hat switch
DE = elevators
DA = ailerons
DP_0 = power
DR = rudder
HAngle = head angle

I swapped A2 and A3 and everything was hunky-dory!

Check out the other *.ini files and see the there are also button press and release events that can be programmed:
B0..n = buttons

Proceed at your own peril. And don't be a dummy like me, backup your files first!

If you want to get really adventurous here are the flight characteristics of the available aircraft (these are also plain text files):
%PROGRAMFILES%\Google\Google Earth\res\flightsim\aircraft\*.acf

It's like Christmas!

Re:This would be a great post for April 1

[Purity Of Essence]

I guess I was a little too excited and posted before checking everything out. There are more files in the controller director for various sticks. And the files are pretty well documented. You can also create a custom HUD and keyboard setups. Damn! You can even change the gravity and atmosphere. And apparently you don't have to modify existing configs, you can add new ones and reference them in the flightsim.ini file (where you can also setup addition airports). Haven't tested that part yet. Fun-fun-fun!