Design an aeroplane, check the numbers, then fly it from the cockpit and land on the target runway. Watch out for closed decoy strips.
Real dimensions, weights and engine thrust. Fuel is cut down so a mission lasts a few minutes. The home runway is lengthened to suit each aircraft.
Keys: ↑↓ or WS pitch · ←→ or AD turn · E throttle up · Q throttle down · 123 flaps down / flat / up · M map zoom · B airbrake · Z reverse thrust · X afterburner · 4 landing prep autopilot · V switch view · R restart. The angle chart shows the angle you are flying (white) and the angle you want (green). Keep the white line on the green one to climb out, cruise, and glide down onto the target. Hold left or right to bank and turn; let go and the wings level out. Follow the green route on the map and the green marker on the compass to line up with the runway before you land. Touch down with the wings level. The Extra 330SC stunt plane (free fly only) can fly upside down: hold Nose up for a loop (flip), hold Left or Right for rolls, and roll while climbing for a corkscrew. Upside down, nose up and nose down feel reversed, just like in a real plane. Press V to switch between the cockpit, the chase camera behind the plane and the side view. Situation mode: 5 situations with their own maps and planes; in the ocean one press P to bail out. Fight mode: Space fires the gun, F fires a missile once the red box says LOCK, T picks the next target, G drops flares when a missile is coming. Stunt team: stay in the green ring for group stunts and fly the solo ones on your own. Game modes: Mission (find the real runway among decoys), Challenge (land on a plateau high in the mountains; touching a mountainside is a crash, so watch the TERRAIN warning, the Above ground reading and the brown ground line on the height map) and Free fly (land anywhere, then take off again). Each plane has a max height (shown in the hangar and as a red line on the height map); near it the engine fades and the nose will not go any higher. The height map at the top shows your height against the distance still to fly. The real target has green lights. Closed strips have a yellow X and no lights. Flaps have three settings. 1 Down gives the most lift for take-off and landing, but more drag. 2 Flat is automatic cruise: after take-off the flaps go to 2 by themselves and the autopilot climbs to cruising height, holds it level and sets the throttle. Press nose up or down to take back the steering, or move the throttle to take back the speed. Press 2 again to turn it all back on. It hands control back to you at the descent point. 3 Up tips the flaps up, so the wing makes less lift: handy for descending or flying fast, but you stall at a higher speed. Big jets are hard to slow down, so start descending early and use the airbrake. Cut the throttle or use the airbrake on the ground to brake. Reverse thrust (Z) is the emergency stop: on the runway the engines push backwards and the brakes go on hard; press it in the air to arm it and it starts the moment the wheels touch. Afterburner (X, supersonic planes only) adds a big burst of thrust to go faster past Mach 1, but burns fuel three times faster. Landing prep (4) slows you to landing speed and brings you down to the green path height while you steer; it hands control back for the landing itself.