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August 11, 2009
Planes For Google Earth Flight Simulator
Google Earth Community Member 'Amir B' has posted some excellent plane add-ons for the Google Earth Flight Simulator! His clever concept allows you to place animating planes into the 3D view while flying the flight simulator. Turning propellors, smoke from jets, awesome realism. It's really cool! It definitely makes it fun again to fly around in Google Earth. Below I mention tips on how to load and use the planes. But first, here's a video demonstration of what several of his planes look like in action:
Amir's post includes a Zip file with 5 different planes. He gives instructions in his post on how to download, install, and use the planes. Or, you can download and try just one of the planes right here: BF 109 
. Once you load a plane you should see it appear in the middle of your screen in Google Earth:
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Animation - Turn on the animation by selecting the "Play" button on the time slider. Adjust the animation speed by clicking on the wrench icon in the upper right of the time slider pane and then adjusting the slider.
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Enter Flight Simulator - In GE, select "Tools->Enter Flight Simulator" and choose either the F-16 or the SR22 (slower) plane for simulation mode. Then select "Start Flight".
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Flight Simulator Tips - Read the GEB flight simulator tips post if you're new to flying in Google Earth. Here is a link to the keyboard shortcuts.
Amir has done a great job implementing this cool add-on to Google Earth's Flight Simulator! Footnote: Amir is also the leader of a an Iranian Alternative Rock band called Mirage Town.
Related:
- F-16 Cockpit add-on
- How to get 3D Buildings in Flight Simulator
- Flight Simulator Tips
- SR22 Cockpit add-on
- Run Flight Simulator on Mars or Under Sea
Posted by FrankTaylor at August 11, 2009 11:39 AM
Comments
Posted by: enrique at August 16, 2009 9:13 AM
I had the same problem, but the post of Amir B has been edited as I've checked it now and the KML files have been changed to KMZ, so you can easily open each KMZ anywhere with just 1 click.
Posted by: Nicole at August 17, 2009 2:14 PM
pls say how to install planes for google !!!
Posted by: S.W.A.T. at August 20, 2009 5:48 AM
tested in ubuntu linux, google earth 5, it worked :)
Posted by: supreme at September 27, 2009 8:30 PM
speed and mobility for each type of plane would be nice. specially for the jet. like to be able to cut corners at top speed with ease. this is awesome. so, is this like a real flight simulator as if you were to fly a plane?
Posted by: Richard Carrillo at November 10, 2009 9:56 PM
Also, for some reason the planes would not load up on the mac computer, but the flight simulator would with just arrows and all that stuff..
Posted by: Richard Carrillo at November 10, 2009 9:57 PM
Anyone know how to playback a canned flight path without having to fly the flight simulator "live"? In other words can the airplane model be driven to follow a specific flight path, with changing bank angle, pitch angle, etc?
Posted by: Scott at November 18, 2009 7:39 PM
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I cant download the planes correctly! A big x comes up on googlearth after dpwnloading the zip help!