August 31, 2007

Holy Easter Egg Batman - Fly Google Earth

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There are lots of you, like me, out there who love aviation and are frequent users of software like Microsoft Flight Simulator. I've been flying the MSFS products since FS95 and count myself as a loyal user.

So, when Google Earth came out I had to wonder, why can't I have ground scenery and terrain like this in Microsoft Flight Sim? Well, right now there's no way to combine the two.

However, and this is a BIG however, what if you could turn Google Earth into a flight simulator of its own? What if you could fly a Cirrus SR22 or an General Dynamics F-16 over any point on the earth? Would this be something that might interest you?

I know you answered yes.

Google Earth version 4.2 is a flight simulator now. Yes, you read that right. All the visual eye candy is now available to be flown over in a crude (but flyable) rendering of an SR22 or an F-16. It even has the option for a joystick.

You'll need the latest version which you can get here. FREE

Once you get your hands on it enter CTRL + ALT + A (Capital A - make sure caps lock is on). This will bring up the flight simulator window.

Happy open source flying.

The complete instructions from Google can be found here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check out this YouTube video on the Google Earth Flight Sim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7z6Yxs69rQ

Anonymous said...

GD does not make the F16, LM does, and what can this possibly have to do with the 787?

Geno Z Heinlein said...

You know, this sort of feature is why I believe it when Google announces things like Google Romance. :-)

Anonymous said...

GD made the F-16 and passed it on to L-M. Didn't make it any better, I prefer the F/A18...
Jon, thanks for the lead!

Anonymous said...

This blog is not solely dedicated to the 787, but many topics Jon is interested in...