Hands-on with Laminar Research's X-Plane Android flight sim [#io2010]

By Phil Nickinson
published

I'm pretty sure I could probably fly myself home after spending a few minutes with Laminar Research's X-Plane Android flight simulator (this is no mere "app"), which we toyed around with at Google IO. You have seven airplanes -- Piper Malibu, Beach King-Air, Eclipse Jet-500, Piaggio Avanti, Cirrus Vision, Cessna 172 and Columbia 400 -- from which you can choose, and it features custom terrain (no Google Earth here) and even shows where lift is affecting the aircraft. It's not available yet in the Android Market because they're waiting for a few technical issues (with the Market, not their app) to be resolved. But hopefully we'll see this soon. Check it out after the break. Anybody want to navigate for me?

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
10 Comments
  • Wow. I want this!
  • Have this on the Pre, it was cool for 2 days and then never touched again. And it is going to set you back $9.99 NOT WORTH IT!!!
  • Wow. I want this!
  • As a professional pilot for a period of time better measured in decades than years, I'm all for X-Plane. Hell, I even remember the days when it was free. By the way - the "Columbia 400" was made by Lancair until Cessna bought the type design some years back and renamed it the "Corvalis." They make a 350 and 400 bhp version (hence, the 400 name). The picture you have is of the Corvalis. If you don't believe it, go to Cessna's website. P.S.: I work out of the airport where Piper aircraft are made - Cessna will forever be a superior product.
  • My battery died just thinking about using this app.
  • Looks cool, too bad my droid eris would not be able to handle it. It would be like trying to run crysis on a computer from 2001.
  • so laminar research has all of these flight sim/ lunar lander apps for the palm pre. Any idea how well this runs compared to the pre. Also why has it taken android so long to get 3d games?
  • I want this soooooooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!! I'm a flight sim geek, so this app would be awesome!
  • now what would make this even cooler, is if something like a multiplayer version over bluetooth or wifi could be included, for stuff like virtual flight instruction etc--- let's say a flight instructor and a student were doing briefing before a flight lesson session-- the instructor and student could launch each's X Plane on their DROID phones-- I know this could also be done on a PC, but hey, sorta reminds me of the old saying about why climb a mountain in the first place: "because it's THERE"-- but one practicality is that you're not restricted to sitting in front of a PC to have the same instructional tool.......
  • Did you even watch the video? He very clearly states that it has multiplayer over wifi. How could you miss that?