How to fly a plane in your browser: a beginner's guide
Your first flight in a browser flight simulator, step by step: choosing the aircraft and the airport, the takeoff, turning, levelling off and the keys you need, with the Cessna 172.
TurbopropUnlock or All Access
Fly the Pilatus PC-12 in your browser
A Swiss single turboprop that takes ten people into short, rough strips.
The simulator opens in its hangar, the first step: pick the Pilatus PC-12 there with the arrows or its silhouette. There is no link straight to one aircraft.
The Pilatus PC-12 in figures
The figures the simulator's hangar shows for the Pilatus PC-12, the numbers it keeps for the aircraft: speeds in knots, heights in feet.
| Top speed | 240 kt |
|---|---|
| Cruise | 270 kt |
| Cruise altitude | 25,000 ft |
| Approach | 90 kt |
| Rotation (the coach calls it) | 85 kt |
| Agility (roll rate) | 45°/s |
| Wingspan | 16.3 m |
| Length | 14.4 m |
| Weight | 4,200 kg |
| Engines | 1 × turboprop · 895 kW |
The cockpit
Two glass screens in its panel, and a yoke. The instruments are drawn live as you fly, and what you move moves in the cockpit too, from the yoke to the pedals.
How it flies
The Pilatus PC-12 flies with Open Flight World's own flight model, built from the numbers of its handbook: its mass, wing, engines and speeds become the wing panels, tail surfaces and gear the model flies, trimmed to fly hands-off at its cruise. On top, the controls answer like a game: each stick asks for a rate of turn, and when you let go the aircraft stays where you left it, nose, bank and heading.
In the simple scheme a coach tells you each step, from the takeoff flaps to the flare, and calls the rotation at 85 kt.
Where to fly it
Once the Pilatus PC-12 is yours, fly it from Hong Kong International, which is free, or from any airport you have unlocked. With All Access every aircraft and every airport are open.
Some airports with a page of their own:
- Hong Kong VHHH
- New York JFK KJFK
- Los Angeles KLAX
- San Francisco KSFO
- London Heathrow EGLL
- Paris Charles de Gaulle LFPG
- Madrid Barajas LEMD
- Barcelona El Prat LEBL
- All airports
What it costs
Unlock the Pilatus PC-12 once for $4.49 and it is yours to keep, or take three unlocks for $10.99 to spend on any aircraft or airport. All Access opens every aircraft and every airport from $7.50 a month, billed yearly. + VAT
Questions about the Pilatus PC-12
Is the Pilatus PC-12 free to fly?
No: it is one of the paid aircraft. Unlock it once for $4.49 and it is yours to keep, or fly it with All Access. The Cessna 172 at Hong Kong is free, to try the simulator first.
What speeds does the simulator use for the Pilatus PC-12?
The hangar gives it a cruise of 270 kt at 25,000 ft and an approach speed of 90 kt, and the coach calls the rotation at 85 kt.
Does the Pilatus PC-12 fly with real flight dynamics?
It flies with Open Flight World's own flight model, built from its handbook numbers. JSBSim, the flight dynamics of FlightGear, flies the Cessna 172, the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 787-9, the Airbus A380, the F-16 and the 18 m sailplane.
The whole fleet
Every aircraft has its own page, cockpit and figures.
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Cirrus SR22
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A modern piston single with a glass cockpit, quick on the controls.
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Airbus A380
Wide-body
The largest airliner ever built: four engines and a lot of momentum.
Demanding
Pick a runway and take off.
The Cessna 172 at Hong Kong is free, with no download and no account.
Fly free