Aircraft and Regions
Every flight is one aircraft plus one region. Two planes and four regions sounds small until you multiply in route direction, eight weather settings, three times of day, and four realism levels. The same short hop can be a dozen different flights.
Aircraft
SL-9 Skylark
The piston trainer, and the right first choice. It is forgiving, slow, and stable. It cruises at 110 kt, it telegraphs everything it is about to do, and it is easy to land. When a landing goes wrong in the Skylark, it goes wrong slowly enough for you to fix it.
SwiftJet 100
The regional twin-jet. Fast (250 kt in cruise) and slippery, meaning it does not
want to slow down. Pull the throttle back and it keeps carrying speed, so plan your
descents well before the airport, not on top of it. Your rewards are pace and
reverse thrust on the runway (hold S at idle after touchdown) to haul it all back
down again.
| Aircraft | Type | Cruise | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| SL-9 Skylark | Piston trainer | 110 kt | Forgiving, slow, stable, easy to land |
| SwiftJet 100 | Regional twin-jet | 250 kt | Fast and slippery. Plan your descents; reverse thrust on the runway |
Regions
Each region is a pair of airports; you pick the direction on the setup screen.
| Region | Airport pair | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Verdant Coast | MER (Meridian Intl) ⇄ SKY (Skyhaven Regional) | Green shoreline and hills. The gentle one |
| Amber Mesa | DST (Dustline Field) ⇄ MVM (Mesa Verde Muni) | High desert, "density altitude country" |
| Granite Range | ALP (Alpine Base) ⇄ SUM (Summit Ridge) | Serious mountains, thin air |
| Azure Atoll | CKY (Coral Key) ⇄ LGI (Lagoon Isle) | Island strips, short runways |
Verdant Coast
Green shoreline, rolling hills, and no tricks. MER to SKY, or back, is the classic first route: scenery to follow, room to breathe, runways that forgive.
Amber Mesa
High desert between Dustline Field and Mesa Verde Muni. This is density altitude country. Hot, high air is thin air, so the plane performs as if the airport sat even higher than it does. Expect a lazy acceleration and a shallow climb; give yourself more runway than you think you need.
Granite Range
Serious mountains between Alpine Base and Summit Ridge, and the air is thin. The terrain here is not hypothetical: watch your climb rate and decide early whether you will out-climb a ridge or route around it, before you are staring at one.
Azure Atoll
Coral Key to Lagoon Isle, island strip to island strip. The runways are short and the water around them is patient. Flaps, speed control, and touching down on the numbers stop being style points here. They are how you stop before the beach.
Skylark, Verdant Coast, Clear, Day, Arcade: the intended first flight. SwiftJet into Azure Atoll in a Crosswind: the graduation exam.
Next up: memorize the Controls, then let the Autopilot carry the cruise while you plan the landing.