Thank you to GEB reader Ralf Vandebergh for letting us know about a website he has created demonstrating the realism of the Google Earth flight simulator. He first explains a bit about how an aircraft landing is executed, raising the nose of the aircraft to gain lift whilst slowing down for the landing. He then compares landing the F-16 with the Google Earth flight simulator and shows that it behaves remarkably accurately when compared to some footage from a real life F-16. He also describes a number of advanced landing techniques. Check out his site for full details.
A comparison of a Google Earth screen shot and real life F-16 footage. Image credit: Ralf Vandebergh
We are impressed by the analysis as well as by how accurately Google Earth flight simulator emulates the F-16 landings. Of course we would love to see Google do some more work on the flight simulator functionality, as it has some great potential. A few more aircraft and instruments would go a long way.
If you want to learn how to use the Google Earth flight simulator, see this post, which has a number of tips as well as a short video tutorial to get you started.
About Timothy Whitehead
Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Also posted here on the Google Earth Community. http://googleearthcommunity.proboards.com/thread/2851/website-ge-flight-simulator