212 points rkotcher 2 days ago 117 comments

Buckle your seatbelt, secure your tray table, and open your window shade. Now you can simulate flying anywhere in the world as a commercial passenger, from takeoff to touchdown. Terrain, weather, and realtime sun position included. Don't worry, the latest release now features legs, so you can get up and go to the bathroom on longer flights. Enjoy!

d--b 2 days ago | parent

Nice.

Waiting eagerly for the "crying baby" extension pack. The "get to your seat" MMO. And the "I want to pee, but the guy next to me is sleeping" campaign.

Also, inflightsimulator: 1980, with ashtrays and lethal weapon playing on dropdown TV sets

rkotcher 2 days ago | parent

Thanks for playing! I'll be sure to consider so of those for the next release!

fortran77 6 hours ago | parent

What a great idea! How about, a kid behind kicking your chair, the person in front of you abruptly putting his seat back all the way, and a person of size next to you spilling into your seat.

EagnaIonat 6 hours ago | parent

Or the passenger who is friendly and wants your window seat, but doesn't want to straight out say it. Then turns deranged when they find out they are in the middle seat for the whole flight.

nullify88 5 hours ago | parent

The Boeing extension pack and watch how the plane deteriorates in the air in real time! Door plugs, MCAS, the works!

lejeanvaljean 1 day ago | parent

You know what? I had fear of flying. I did a training with a pilot in a simulator, but it was in the cockpit. I don't have fear of flying in a simulator or in the cockpit. I have fear of flying as a passenger, I'm sit in a chair. That's what I would have liked during my training. I told that to Air France and they did not understand but this might seriously be useful.

rkotcher 1 day ago | parent

Interesting, thanks for the idea. Would be pretty cool if this app did have some real-world applications, beyond being a bit of a meme app. Thanks for the comment!

sublinear 5 hours ago | parent

This is going to sound insane, but something like this for the backseats of various common, and maybe even exotic, cars would be cool too.

I have similar problems being a passenger in an uber for more than 15 mins. I lose my mind on roadtrips when it's not my turn to drive.

password54321 1 day ago | parent

I don't think you can completely eliminate this as people naturally don't like giving up their agency which is usually going to produce at least a low level of anxiety.

recursivecaveat 5 hours ago | parent

Agency and information in a way. I actually feel safer in a tiny 4 seater plane than a jet, even though objectively that's probably backwards. Being able to look at all the parts of the plane, how the movements derive from the pilot's actions, actually see out the front, it is more reassuring. More similar to being a passenger in someone's car. It probably doesn't hurt that it is easier for my mind to imagine a Cessna gliding gently to earth than a passenger jet.

amelius 2 hours ago | parent

I like the idea of someone losing hundreds of millions of dollars if my plane goes down.

pjerem 1 hour ago | parent

I’m not at ease in an airplane. I rarely fly but i actually like it, but I’m really anxious.

What helps me is always taking a seat near the wings. First that’s where the plane moves the less. And moreover, it’s pretty reassuring watching them supporting the plane in their great stability, they always move way slower than the cabin.

gatio 1 hour ago | parent

Plus you can alert the crew if something's off before take off (eg. loose/missing screws/panels). A forner colleague of mine did that, and got to see the entire maintenance crew come out for an impromptu RCA and incident response.

aaronbrethorst 6 hours ago | parent

UAL used to let you listen into the cockpit to ATC chatter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17656352 — I understand this was really helpful for calming some passengers' nerves during flying.

ryukoposting 5 hours ago | parent

I really appreciate it when I get a pilot that actually tells us wtf is going on.

radiator 1 hour ago | parent

lubujackson 5 hours ago | parent

Also useful for people who want to ride along with someone currently on a plane. "Honey, you are over Kansas right now!"

Useless things tend to be deeply useful to a select few.

I am loving this "re-weirding" of the internet. For the younglings, this is very much the sort of pet project that would bubble up in early internet days. No startup raising money, no pain point necessarily being solved, just one person's idea lovingly rendered to life.

CamperBob2 5 hours ago | parent

Don't try to build something for everyone, build something that's everything to someone. - paraphrasing Ferry Porsche

ocd 1 hour ago | parent

I should have known he had views like this. I've heard similar things expressed and I believe this sentiment personally, but I'm happy to know I can add his name and the original quotation to my archives.

zikduruqe 24 minutes ago | parent

Or; don't be everyone's cup of tea, be someone's shot of whiskey.

tosti 2 hours ago | parent

I'm not afraid of the flight, for me its customs and surrendering all my data. They even want my balls ffs.

cjrp 1 hour ago | parent

BA (and presumably other airlines) run fear-of-flying courses where you have some ground sessions with flight crew explaining what happens during takeoff/landing, what noises you might hear, etc. Then you go up for a short flight as a passenger to sort of re-enforce what you learned earlier.

https://flyingwithconfidence.com/

arccy 1 hour ago | parent

first fly to the UK to take the course...

lateatdesk 1 day ago | parent

I like how much work you've put into just being a passenger :) I'm building a little world in the browser myself, so I like finding projects like this.

tony-ay 1 day ago | parent

Pretty cool! I could see leaving it up on another screen to enjoy while I go about my workday.

rkotcher 20 hours ago | parent

Thank you!

Ballas 4 hours ago | parent

Finally, a use for a second screen!

seemaze 6 hours ago | parent

no

bartvk 5 hours ago | parent

What if they add snakes?

khazhoux 6 hours ago | parent

Genius doesn’t always look like you expect it will. Well done!

(Kill the login panel though —- it wouldn’t go away for me)

fortran77 6 hours ago | parent

I'd pay $1 to upgrade to first class. $2 if I get a hot towel, a pre-departure beverage, and warm nuts.

ivolimmen 5 hours ago | parent

I always have warm nuts on a plane...

thoughtsimple 6 hours ago | parent

Seems to hate not having location access on iOS. Keeps refreshing until eventually Safari just gives up.

orliesaurus 6 hours ago | parent

Flying to NYC, sitting next to nobody, never happened to me before :) - see you in 4h

flawed_crater 5 hours ago | parent

Please remove the login screen. Is love to try this.

jameson 5 hours ago | parent

Hrm. I can play it without logging in

freak42 5 hours ago | parent

I can't it covers half of my mobile screen and it doesn't seem dismissible.

ryukoposting 5 hours ago | parent

Likewise.

SparkyMcUnicorn 4 hours ago | parent

It's almost comical how annoying it is. I just want to try it.

DrSiemer 3 hours ago | parent

Yeah, not a great experience, but it will let you play if you just register with something random.

darknavi 5 hours ago | parent

Missing FCA (Glacier international airport in Kalispell, Montana, USA).

It's small but a beautiful flight!

rkotcher 18 minutes ago | parent

I will look into adding it.. I'm all for beautiful takeoffs and landings!

modinfo 5 hours ago | parent

I love that this is in real time and this jokes :D Even we have chess game :3

etatester 5 hours ago | parent

Crashed within 10 seconds on iPhone 17 Pro. Love the vibes

sdcfgy 5 hours ago | parent

Yeah same here.

djmips 4 hours ago | parent

ahhh your phone crashed! I was a bit confused for a moment... Could you imagine if the airplane crashed like 1 in every million plays?! :O

gizajob 4 hours ago | parent

Looks amazing for the 2 seconds before it implodes on iPhone though.

minikomi 4 hours ago | parent

You have to turn on airplane mode

PUSH_AX 3 hours ago | parent

It uses too much RAM, it’s vibe coded so makes sense

rkotcher 12 minutes ago | parent

well, actually I had tested in iphone and did some things to but back on mesh size & also streaming terrain so that I'm not overrendering textures. I have not tested on all devices as I only have one mobile device. The tradeoff is render quality - maybe I'll make a lower triangle or 2K texture mode?

tosti 3 hours ago | parent

It's slow in FF, too. Cool for a flight simulator to crash, but it should simulate a plane crash. Not crash the simulator itself :)

vlabakje90 2 hours ago | parent

Immediately crashes my FF on Windows 11.

groestl 5 hours ago | parent

Next up: Airport Simulator! Enjoy security, customs, and the inevitable panic of missing your gate across more than 50 international airports around the world!

zergrush 5 hours ago | parent

really wish i could sit by the window

rkotcher 20 minutes ago | parent

You can! just have to get out of your seat to then choose the next seat to sit in. can probably improve on that

mikeshi42 5 hours ago | parent

3 overhead reading lights for a 2-2 configuration? On a trans pacific flight? Literally unplayable.

Would love to see this open source and extended!

rkotcher 14 minutes ago | parent

lol!

wafflemaker 5 hours ago | parent

Had to use uBlockOrigin to remove the login prompt. Think there could be a way to dismiss it without tricks like that.

ffsm8 4 hours ago | parent

I just closed the window instead, it wasn't that interesting

nader 5 hours ago | parent

haha this is fun!

noufalibrahim 5 hours ago | parent

It's very nicely done. I snapped the seatbelt on and that dread of a long boring flight automatically hit me. :)

ironhaven 5 hours ago | parent

I was hoping for a very detailed menu with more flight avionics in the in flight entertainment screen but I guess the speed and altitude in the HUD is all I get. I want to know the exact plane T am flying in

GreyMolecules 4 hours ago | parent

Hahaha this is awesome. I can teach what it's like to be on an airplane to my friend who has never flown before.

Currently playing on my usual route, ICN -> HKG. The flight path is too ideal. Due to airspace restrictions in china, almost every flight has to divert over taiwan in real life, but this one cuts thru mainland china.

tnolet 4 hours ago | parent

Is this visual style Fable or Astra. I see it everywhere now. It’s the new black and purple

zhaoziyuan2000 4 hours ago | parent

This is really cool! Also, my girlfriend suggested it would be nice if she can login and be on the same flight so we can fly home together.

kinduff 4 hours ago | parent

I asked for beef, they only had chicken. 10/10, average flight experience.

Walf 2 hours ago | parent

Beef or cow?

dotancohen 1 hour ago | parent

I had the fish.

mitxela 1 hour ago | parent

Steak or fish.

d--b 1 hour ago | parent

I had lasagna

drayfield 4 hours ago | parent

Or you could check out the non-vibe coded Airplane Mode from 2020:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/931310/Airplane_Mode/

apexalpha 4 hours ago | parent

That's... why?

I can understand slow games like EuroTruck or Farming Sim. But what's the point of this?

rogual 3 hours ago | parent

These days it's pretty unusual to think of an idea that hasn't been done yet, so when you do, I guess you just don't think too much and go make it.

fc417fc802 2 hours ago | parent

Is there a mosquito simulator yet?

fmbb 2 hours ago | parent

actionfromafar 1 hour ago | parent

Time for the more biologically correct Mrs Mosquito?

mitxela 1 hour ago | parent

Is there a mosquitto simulator, where you roleplay as an IoT pub/sub server?

djeastm 39 minutes ago | parent

Well, now I'm intrigued. I can envision some interesting mechanics...

matheusmoreira 17 minutes ago | parent

Does everything have to be original and novel? I think reinventing a better wheel is a perfectly good use of AI tokens.

piltdownman 4 minutes ago | parent

latexr 1 minute ago | parent

To be fair, that game doesn’t really simulate being a goat, it’s a meta joke on the simulator genre.

lIl-IIIl 3 hours ago | parent

Might be helpful for people who have never flown.

wj 1 hour ago | parent

Every once in a while I would put Flight Simulator 2020 on my desktop and work on my laptop. I found that watching the digital world pass by while working put me in a slightly different headspace. Not sure it increased productivity but working while sitting in an actual plane does provide me a bit of focus.

Train ride videos on YouTube scratch some of the same itch.

piltdownman 5 minutes ago | parent

Nonwithstanding the human fascination with simulation and simulacra, Airplanes and Air Travel represent a fascinating cultural touchpoint with much insight and depth to plumb depending on what aspects you simulate.

For example, think of a history class charting flight from the Wright Brothers, through the Golden Age of Aviation, right to the present day. Even showing the drastic differences pre and post 9/11 by reference to the processes and experiences of commercial airline travel would represent a worthy pedagogical endeavour. We do a lot more to achieve a lot less in terms of making 'history come alive' currently.

latexr 3 minutes ago | parent

Slow? There’s a Faming Simulator competitive esports league (because of course there is). You can find videos on YouTube.

NietTim 2 hours ago | parent

> Mixed - 67% of the 355 user reviews for this game are positive.

And 10 euro, lol. I'll just go with the free one, thank you.

anonreplier 2 hours ago | parent

enjoy the browser based jank

KellyCriterion 49 minutes ago | parent

Interesting! But it seems there are quite some people who will pay for such content:-)

vavooom 4 hours ago | parent

Selfie mode was too funny these characters are ridiculous. Also a whole plane to myself? What a steal!

10729287 1 hour ago | parent

>Also a whole plane to myself? What a steal!

Except if you're the main character of a plot !

smallstepforman 4 hours ago | parent

Now if we can watch fresh movies, that would be ideal …

WithinReason 4 hours ago | parent

A pirate website disguised as flight simulator? What a madman!

mitxela 1 hour ago | parent

Pirate websites evading detection by using disguises is real. There's one out there in a totalitarian country that pretends to be a parked domain.

rkotcher 19 minutes ago | parent

HAHHAHAHAHA

zubspace 4 hours ago | parent

Can't press the Continue button, because the footer overlaps it. Firefox on mobile.

rkotcher 21 minutes ago | parent

Thanks for the feedback, I'll fix!

quietfox 3 hours ago | parent

That’s a nice idea. Taking off from Frankfurt am Main felt like that ultra long runway in Fast & Furious 6 though.

wazoox 2 hours ago | parent

Ah, it's flying Paris to Bogota in a 1 aisle, 4 seats per rank regional plane, pretty unusual if you ask me :)

jolmg 2 hours ago | parent

Stuck on 0h 01m elapsed after 12 minutes.

actionfromafar 46 minutes ago | parent

Can be fairly accurate perception of time on a plane.

rkotcher 15 minutes ago | parent

Interesting. were you sitting on the tarmac for some time before takeoff?

gabriel666smith 2 hours ago | parent

This is fun. I would love if it used real flights, and filled the cabin with the avatars of anyone else "on" that flight.

Slight bug report - might just be HN hug-of-death related - on Arc browser, mostly without it as the active tab, I seem to have been stuck over Slough for some time (an ignoble fate).

I believe Arc reduces resources allocated to background tabs, and I don't think it likes being a background tab.

khantsithu 2 hours ago | parent

cool

amelius 2 hours ago | parent

Wow, that's quite some leg space!

ehliu 2 hours ago | parent

Geez how strong is the chess engine? No chance on hard... even on medium this is a struggle.

EDIT: which is true to form on some airlines lol (but on others, even hard is trivial)

naich 2 hours ago | parent

I like the way it smashes the CPU so that the fans sound like jet engines.

DylanMerigaud 1 hour ago | parent

Congrats on shipping this.

razzbee 1 hour ago | parent

kind of unique idea, but who becomes the pilot? an ai ??

LukaD 1 hour ago | parent

Wow, this is so unbelievably unoptimized. The sound of my computer fans makes it so immersive. The shadow map is being rendered twice with 300+ draw calls and 1M+ triangles. Full resolution GTAO is probably even more expensive with a lot of fetches per texel. I'm sure there are a ton of low hanging optimization fruits and I'm confident claude et. al can fix all those issues, but if you don't know where to look and never profile the app then you get a vibe coded unoptimized mess.

rkotcher 4 minutes ago | parent

It's a work in progress. I have cut down on the original mesh size by quite a bit but continue to do that. I also fade out the resolution of the map tiles as you approach the horizon so you aren't loading ihgher res satellite images than you need. I've run entire flights on my 2022 mac pro with no issue, but as this is a side project it remains not as optimal as it could be. Any suggestions for order of operations / what should be fixed next are welcome :-)

inopinatus 1 hour ago | parent

Kindly simulate two hours of queuing at the Schengen border, a coin toss minigame over whether security is “laptops in” or “laptops out”, bonus if your belt pings, lounge access roulette, wailing infant(s), guy two rows back with the worst most productive cough you ever heard (still got that old N95?), retaining status planning spreadsheets, baggage systems failure at Denver, people using the loos in their socks, unstaffed rentals counter, tired neighbour using your shoulder as a pillow, Franz Kafka’s “The SSSS Boarding Pass”, guy who won’t close the damn window shade, creepily accurate PRC face recognition systems, shuttle bus orienteering challenge, Emerald ass-kissing, lost at Doha, cabin uncomfortably warm mid-flight, world’s most disappointing beef, go-around three times at Queenstown and diverted to Christchurch again, passport reader unresponsive, 7.1kg carryon rule nazi, 30 minutes of taxiing, US domestic “lounge” with no facilities at all and nowhere to sit, drunk British lady, gigantic American guy, bassinet accident, Tight Connection Sprint, can’t quite name the minor TV celeb in 1A, Hong Kong Monsoon Warning, crew yelling “sit down sir the seatbelt sign is still on”, toilet scrum during long final after breakfast on the redeye, and (my favourite) the consequences of sitting in an exit row and when they give you the briefing and ask if you’re willing to follow these instructions in an emergency, saying brightly “Looking forward to it!”

I love air travel.

bitwize 1 hour ago | parent

It's lovely, but its flight physics model could use some updates. For example, there's no SkyMall, no Biscoff cookies, and no flight attendant (or on-screen video) giving a humorous, memeable explanation of the plane's rules and safety features.

rkotcher 16 minutes ago | parent

Thank you! I will definitely be adding things like this! Just wanted to get something out there, and then add to it! Thanks for playing!

ferflowhq 52 minutes ago | parent

Nice idea. But would be better if there are other passengers as well. Also somehow has slow frame rate.

ramigb 43 minutes ago | parent

Nice concept but It would've been better if you don't force people to sign in with the auth box always shown I had to delete it from the node tree using chrome devtools. also why not enable WASD keys or even arrow keys to move?

rkotcher 13 minutes ago | parent

yes, a few people have mentioned this. I am making it toggleable in the view menu and will push shortly. Thanks for suggesting

kh_hk 32 minutes ago | parent

Unfortunately the flight plan is incorrect.