Fly around the world (Experimental)

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Use keyboard shortcuts to explore the world in a flight simulator.

Flight simulator requirements

While the flight simulator is designed to provide an immersive flying experience, the following limitations apply:

• Web only: The flight simulator is only available on Google Earth on web.
• Simplified flight physics: The flight simulator is designed for casual exploration rather than high-fidelity aerodynamic training.
• Dynamic loading: As you fly, 3D buildings and high-resolution imagery stream in dynamically. Flying at extreme speeds or over low-bandwidth connections may result in temporary loading delays.

Start a flight

To launch the flight simulator, do the following:

1. On your computer, open Google Earth. 2. At the top of the home screen, click Explore Earth. 3. Open the Tools menu in the top menu bar. 4. Select flight Flight simulator from the menu.

Flight controls and navigation

Use the following keyboard shortcuts to control your aircraft.

| Action | Keyboard control | Description | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Increase thrust | Page up or click on-screen indicator | Accelerates the aircraft's engine speed | | Decrease thrust | Page down or click on-screen indicator | Decelerates the aircraft's engine speed | | Pitch down (dive) | Up arrow | Directs the nose of the plane downward to decrease altitude | | Pitch up (climb) | Up arrow | Directs the nose of the plane upward to gain altitude | | Roll left (bank) | Left arrow | Banks the aircraft to the left | | Roll right (bank) | Right arrow | Banks the aircraft to the right | | Toggle mouse controls | Click inside simulation | Alternates between mouse-guided flight controls and keyboard controls |

Crash recovery

If your aircraft makes direct impact with the ground terrain, the simulation will pause. Click You crashed! Restart to instantly restore your aircraft at a safe, playable altitude and coordinates.

Exit simulator

Click the arrow\_back back arrow in the upper-left corner of the flight simulator to safely exit the simulation and return to the standard Google Earth map view.

Known issues

• Terrain anomalies: When flying near ground level in regions below sea level (for example, Badwater Basin in California), you may experience occasional flashing or clipping.
• Overlapping controls: Standard map shortcut keys (such as historical imagery toggles) are deactivated during flight to avoid conflicting with flight controls.

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Last updated 2026-06-12 UTC.

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