Why does the plane drop suddenly when I pull up?

That is a stall. Lift depends on airspeed and angle of attack, and past a certain angle the wing stops working regardless of how hard you pull. Lower the nose and let the speed build.

Why will the plane not land?

Ground effect. Within about a wingspan of the surface the aeroplane sits on its own cushion of air and floats. Cross the threshold slower, and be patient.

Do I need a joystick?

No. Keyboard and mouse work, and on a touchscreen you drag the stick directly.

Play Airfoil: free flight game

warming up Airfoil…

💡 click the game once so it hears your keyboard

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Bush flying. Put it down on a strip you can barely see.

A flight model rather than a flight animation: a real lift curve with a stall break, ground effect that makes the aeroplane refuse to stop flying just when you want it to, adverse yaw that punishes a roll without rudder, and three-point gear with contact forces. Four aeroplanes and four strips cut into a six-kilometre valley - a long meadow, a gravel bench on a hillside, a shingle bar between two walls, and a saddle high enough that the thin air lengthens your ground roll.

Free to play, no download, no sign-up. Hosted with ❤ by GamerX.

How to play Airfoil

Four aeroplanes and four landing strips cut into a six-kilometre valley. Drag, or W and S, for pitch; A and D roll; Q and E are the rudder; Shift and Ctrl are the throttle; Space is the brakes. This is a flight model rather than a flight animation, so the aeroplane behaves like one: lift comes from airspeed and angle of attack, and asking for too much of the second at too little of the first stalls the wing and drops the nose. Rolling without rudder yaws the nose the wrong way, which is adverse yaw and is why the pedals exist. Near the ground the aeroplane sits on its own cushion of air and refuses to stop flying, which is exactly when you want it to. Getting down on a gravel bench or a shingle bar is the whole game.

Tips

Fly the approach slow and stable rather than fast and corrected. Energy you arrive with has to go somewhere, and on a short strip there is nowhere for it to go.
Add rudder with every roll. Without it the nose swings away from the turn and you arrive at the strip pointing somewhere else.
Expect ground effect to float you. Come over the threshold slightly slower than feels right, or you will use the whole strip before touching down.
Watch the airspeed, not the horizon. The stall is a function of speed and angle of attack, and the horizon tells you about neither.
Three-point it. Getting all three wheels down together is what stops a bush strip from throwing you back into the air.

About Airfoil

Airfoil is a bush-flying game, which is to say it is about landing rather than about going anywhere. The model underneath is the reason: a real lift curve with a genuine stall break rather than a speed limit, ground effect that makes the last three metres the hardest part of any approach, adverse yaw that makes the rudder a control rather than a decoration, and three-point gear with real contact forces so a bad touchdown bounces. Four aeroplanes with different weights and wings, and four strips of increasing unkindness - a long meadow to learn on, a gravel bench on a hillside, a shingle bar between two channels. The valley is six kilometres of terrain, which is enough that a circuit takes real time and a go-around is a decision.

What you need

Graphics: WebGL, which every browser from the last decade has switched on already
Controls: Keyboard or touchscreen
On a phone: Yes
Install: Nothing. It runs in this tab.

Questions

Why does the plane drop suddenly when I pull up?: That is a stall. Lift depends on airspeed and angle of attack, and past a certain angle the wing stops working regardless of how hard you pull. Lower the nose and let the speed build.
Why will the plane not land?: Ground effect. Within about a wingspan of the surface the aeroplane sits on its own cushion of air and floats. Cross the threshold slower, and be patient.
Do I need a joystick?: No. Keyboard and mouse work, and on a touchscreen you drag the stick directly.