How To Fly

Before You Start

Pixel Pilot runs in a desktop browser with nothing to install. The controls are built for a keyboard, and a gamepad works too. The radio starts with your first click or key press, because browsers do not let a page play sound before then. Press G when you want the flight to fill the whole screen.

Every key below is the default. You can change any of them under Controls, and the Guide shows the keys you actually have.

The Keys

• Up and Down arrows (or W and S): pitch. Up raises the nose, Down lowers it.
• Left and Right arrows (or A and D): roll. The aircraft banks left or right.
• Q and E: rudder. They turn the nose left or right without banking, and they steer the aircraft on the ground.
• Shift and Ctrl: throttle up and down.
• F and V: flaps. V adds flaps (lowers them) and F takes them back up.
• Space: brake, held while you press it. It only does something on the ground.
• C: the next camera view. Escape: pause.
• G: full screen. H: the Cockpit Panel with the gauges and the throttle and flaps levers. N: Minimize. M: the minimap.
• L: the Landing Guide. T: Auto Land.

Your First Flight, Step By Step

1. Start with the Light Trainer. It is the first aircraft and the most forgiving, and the others unlock as you fly.
2. Open the Free Flight tab, type an airport code in the search box and press Fly From Here. Malaga (LEMG) is a good first airport: the sea and the beach are ahead of runway 13, so you can see the coast as you climb. You can also pick a mission in Mission Control and press Accept And Fly.
3. On the runway, hold Space so the brake stays on, hold Shift to add power, then release Space and let the aircraft roll.
4. Keep the nose on the centreline with small taps of Q and E. Big inputs at low speed only make the aircraft wander.
5. When the speed reaches the rotate speed in the Key Numbers of the aircraft guide, ease the nose up with the Up arrow. Let the aircraft leave the ground by itself.
6. Climb with the nose a little above the horizon. Once you are clear of the ground and climbing, press F to raise the flaps.
7. Level off at 3,000 feet and let go of the controls. The trainer wants to fly straight and level, so it should hold height by itself.

Reading The Cockpit

The flight view has cards around its edge: the flight plan, the weather, nearby traffic and the gauges. Three things matter most on a first flight.

• Airspeed. Too slow and the wing stops flying, and a stall warning appears on screen. To recover, lower the nose, add power and level the wings. Then climb back up slowly.
• Vertical speed. It shows how fast you climb or sink. In level flight it should sit close to zero.
• Banners. A stall or ceiling banner comes first. Deal with it before anything else on the screen.

Press H for the Cockpit Panel when you want the full set of gauges, with the throttle and flaps levers and the switches.

Landing With Help

Landing is the hardest part of flying, so the game has two helps. You can switch on either one at any time.

• The Landing Guide (L) is a card that shows the runway, how high you are and how far off the centreline, the speed and flaps to use, and when to flare and brake. It can also appear by itself when you come close to a runway.
• Auto Land (T) is the autopilot. It joins the final approach, flies it, flares, touches down, brakes and switches itself off. It needs you in the air with an airport ahead. If it cannot start, it says why. Press any flight key to take the aircraft back, and the levers stay where they are.

Keep Flying While You Do Something Else

Press N to Minimize. The game shrinks to a small window, the aircraft keeps flying on autopilot (circling, or heading to your mission destination), the radio keeps playing, and the window alerts you when something needs you. Click the window to bring the game back.

Common First-Flight Mistakes

• Chasing the height with big pitch changes. Make one small change, then wait and watch the vertical speed before you touch the controls again.
• Forgetting the power on the approach. Pull the throttle back early enough that the speed comes down on its own, not in a rush at the end.
• Adding all the flaps at once. Add them in steps and check the speed after each one, because the nose drops as the flaps come down.
• Holding the brake too long. Space is held, not toggled. Hold it only while you need to slow down on the ground.
• Landing with the nose high and the speed low. The aircraft drops onto the runway instead of settling onto it. Keep a steady speed and a steady descent until the flare.

Next Steps

Work through the tutorials, which take the trainer through a takeoff and climb, a full circuit, a crosswind landing and Auto Land. Then read the aircraft guides before you unlock the next type, and check the FAQ for the questions people ask most.