How to get Started in FlightGear

Here's a tutorial I did mainly for a friend who's completely new to FlightGear on how to get started off the ground.

1. Press "H" to see the HUD. This gives you a virtual display of the plane's informations such as rudder and aileron position, throttle position, altitude, speed and heading. This would be very useful later on.

2. Assuming you're starting out on the default runway, and the engine has started (use Help > Autostart feature), the first thing you should do is to get power to the engines (we will leave all the preflight check etc for purposes of QuickStart guide). Do this by press PageUp key repeatedly until the throttle reaches about 80%. You can go up to 100%, but this is not necessary because 80% is enough to get you airborne, and most real planes don't go 100% to save on tear and wear and also prevent failures.

3. Once you have the throttle powered up, you will realize that you are now moving along the runway and gaining speed. You might need to correct a bit to the left or right due to wind conditions. The 0 and Enter key on the number pad of the keyboard is the planes rudder. Tap 0 once to correct left a little, and Enter to return the rudder to position. Enter to go right. Remember to return it to center position. Try to stay on the runway, as excursions will destroy the landing gear on some aircraft. Don't worry too much about this part, as the plane will more or less stay quite straight.

4. Usually the take off run is quite short, and you would have gained enough speed to take off. Tap the "Down" cursor key about 3-4 times. This will pull back on the yoke, and your jet will start to liftoff. At first, the front wheel will lift off the ground, but the rear wheels will still be on the ground. Eventually as the plane gains enough lift, the whole plane will be off the ground. Remember to center all ailerons and rudder!

5. Now you're airborne. To slow things down a little, throttle down (PageDown key) to about 60%. Tap the "Up" cursor key one or two times and watch how the plane is. At this point you might need to make a lot of corrections until the plane heads the right way. Now you're airborne! Press "G" to stow the landing gear, climb to a safe altitude (6000 feet would be nice) and get a feel of the aircraft in the air!


Things to remember:

PgUp = Throttle up
PgDwn = Throttle down
Up key = Nose down
Down key = Nose up
Left = aileron turn left
Right = aileron turn right
0 = Rudder turn left
Enter = Rudder turn right

To view your own plane, press the "V" key.

Tap the left/right keys to turn left or right sparingly. Tapping it once or twice to the left, watch the plane make a bank, and centering it, rather than turning it left all the way in a hurry and you don't have enough time to center it until you're tumbling out of control.

Watch the HUD for information regarding your aircraft. It gives you quick information on altitude, speed and various other information that you can't quickly grasp by looking at the instruments.

This tutorial also more or less the same for propeller planes, but be warned, the prop planes may be slower, but they have torque effect that really turns the aircraft into a bank (in midair) or yaw left on the runway! You will need to counter with some skillful rudder action (on ground) or aileron (in air).

Check out this page for more tutorials