The first-flight guide
A few small inputs.
A little more confidence.
You stand beside the runway and watch the aircraft from the ground. Start with calm weather and wide, gentle circuits. Keep the model close enough to see which way it is pointing.
1. Choose your first aircraft
Sky Surfer X8 is the foam pusher for hand launches and belly landings. Jackdaw is a high-wing trainer with wheels for runway take-offs. Both are good places to start.
Electric Glider adds a light, two-metre powered glider. Try Electric Neoslope and the low-wing AcroBat after you are comfortable turning back towards yourself and lining up an approach. Those two are progression aircraft, with more responsive handling.
2. Learn the keyboard
- S or ↓: pull the nose up. W or ↑: lower it.
- A / D or ← / →: roll left / right.
- Q / E: rudder left / right. Use these to steer on the runway.
- = / −: increase / decrease throttle. Shift / Ctrl also work; = / − avoid browser shortcut combinations.
- Space: hand-launch, or begin taxiing on a wheeled model. R: reset.
- Esc: open Controls or return to the flight. T: toggle tracking. Hold Z to zoom.
Use short taps for small corrections. The controls act on the aircraft: when it flies towards you, its right is your left.
3. Or connect your RC radio
Connect a compatible transmitter in USB joystick mode, then open Controls in the Hangar. Choose the device and follow the calibration wizard to identify the axes, directions, centres and travel. Check all four channel indicators before flying. Optional trim buttons can be assigned during setup or from Controls.
If the device is absent, check its USB mode and data cable, then move a stick or press a button to wake the browser’s controller connection. Disconnecting the radio pauses the game. Keyboard remains available.
4. Launch, then make a gentle circuit
For a hand-launched aircraft, set some power and press Space. Let it build speed before asking for a steep climb. For Jackdaw or AcroBat, press Space to begin taxiing, add power, keep straight with rudder, then gently pull up as speed builds. The runway runs left-to-right across your view.
Bank a little to start turning, use a little pitch to hold the turn, then roll the wings level again. A stall warning means ease back pressure and allow the wing to regain flying speed.
5. Settle the controls
Controls contains expo and trims. Expo softens small stick movements; it is most useful with a radio, while a fully held keyboard key still reaches full authority. Trims shift the neutral position. Values are saved separately for each aircraft and each physics model.
Pitch trim: 1 / 2. Roll: 3 / 4. Rudder: 5 / 6. Throttle: 7 / 8. The first key reduces the axis and the second increases it; the visible scale shows the result. The cruise preset supplies estimated steady-flight surface trims. It does not hold altitude automatically.
B switches between the two trial physics models. Both are still under comparison; aircraft tuning is not a measured guarantee of real-world behaviour.
6. Bring it home
The windsock streams downwind; line up into the wind along the grassy strip. Reduce power and make small corrections. Near the ground, gently raise the nose to slow the descent without climbing away or stalling. Keep the wings level.
The landing card explains whether the touchdown was gentle, rough or a crash, and the likely damage. These are provisional training estimates. After an undamaged wheeled landing, add power to taxi and take off from the same spot. Hand-launched models need a fresh launch.
Browser and offline play
Use a desktop browser with WebGL2 and WebAssembly, a keyboard or compatible controller. Touch flight controls are not available. If performance is low, choose a lighter graphics setting in the Hangar. After a complete online load, wait for Settings to show offline storage is ready. Keep the browser’s site data for offline play. Close old game tabs and reopen when an update is ready.