It’s funny how fast technology moves. Less than four years ago, everybody was losing their minds over the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator, which performed the miracle of giving players the entire world to explore via their PC monitors. 

Aerofly FS Global looks like pretty much the same thing, but squeezed into your smartphone. 

Developed by flight simulator specialist IPACS, Aerofly FS Global is an ambitious technical feat, letting you explore a world made up of high resolution aerial images, elevation data, and hand-crafted airports. 

And you can do all that from the painstakingly recreated cockpits of up to 30 different aircraft, complete with interactive controls, realistic internal lighting, and much more. 

The (warning: huge) base app for Aerofly FS Global gives you eight aircraft to fly, including the Airbus A320, the Jungmeister, and the F15E Strike Eagle. 

There’s plenty of variety on offer in that selection, but you can increase your fleet with up to 22 other aircraft. Among them are commercial liners like the Boeing 737-500 Classic, helicopters like the UH-60 Black Hawk, and glamorous anachronisms like Concorde. 

Come Fly Away

Just as you can buy new aircraft, you can fork out for extra regions of earth to explore. 

At the outset, you’re limited to a stretch of the US west coast from Sacramento to Monterey, but you can take out a subscription to go, well, everywhere else. 

If your device is powerful enough, you’ll even see 3D buildings everywhere you go. That’s on top of more than 2000 hand-made airports, 6000 global airports, 10,000 missions based on real flights, and over a hundred bespoke missions. 

Simulation-wise, Aerofly FS Global chucks in everything a seasoned flight sim fan could ask for, including pushback, global air traffic control, an optional co-pilot, a day/night cycle, and much, much more. 

IPACS also promises realistic flight physics, right down to the shifting center of gravity on gear retraction, the thermodynamics of particular engines, accurately modeled actuators, and fully simulated wing flex. 

It costs $3.99 to board Aerofly FS Global, and more if you want to play the whole game. If you feel like taking the chance, you can download it right now on Android and iOS.