About Open Flight World
A flight simulator that anyone can open from a link and fly over the real world a few seconds later.
Why I build it
I build Open Flight World on my own. The idea is simple: flying over the real planet should not need a big download, a launcher or a gaming PC. You open a page and, seconds later, you are lined up on a real runway, with the real air traffic around you and the weather that is actually outside.
What it is made of
The globe is drawn with CesiumJS and the aircraft and their cockpits with three.js, every one of them modelled piece by piece. Several aircraft fly with JSBSim, the open-source flight dynamics behind FlightGear, compiled to WebAssembly to run in your browser. In HD, the big cities are Google's photorealistic 3D tiles; the map data comes from OpenStreetMap, the airports from OurAirports and the weather from Open-Meteo. The full list of sources and licences is in the legal notice and in the simulator's options.
How it is paid for
The Cessna 172 at Hong Kong is free, with no account and no time limit. The simulator is paid for by the people who unlock more aircraft and airports, one by one, or subscribe to All Access. That is the whole business model: there is nothing else to sell.
Who runs it
Open Flight World is operated by a duly incorporated company. Its identification details are provided on legitimate request through the contact form.