Altitude Flight Simulation

06/20/2026

Give Dad the thrill of Flight. get it now, use it later. All Gift Certificates are 15% off now until Fathers Day.

https://altitudesim.ca/gift-ideas/

At Altitude Flight Simulation Center, you don’t need a license — just the love of flight! From rookie flyers to real-world pilots, the sky’s yours to explore.

06/16/2026

Meet: The Bell X-5!

The first ever "operational" variable sweep wing aircraft, the X-5 was designed based on studies done on a captured Messerschmitt P.1101 prototype (You'll be seeing the P.1101 again soon), the resulting design has adjustable positioning of the wings, at 20, 40, & 60 degrees. The idea being to avoid the cons of both a straight wing, and a swept wing, by having the option to change between either configuration.

Unfortunately this design had several flaws fatal flaws, most important being the poorly placed tail and vertical stabilizer, which at certain wing positions would cause an irrecoverable spin. The poor aerodynamics and violent spin conditions of the X-5 led to an incident involving the death of a test pilot, as well as the destruction of one of the only two prototypes built.

While it was originally planned to be manufactured into a low cost fighter the US could sell to NATO and other countries, the major flaws led to the cancellation of that proposed plan, and the X-5 was retired in 1958.

06/12/2026

Get it?

06/09/2026

Meet: The XF-91 Thunderceptor!

An interesting post WW2 attempt at a rocket powered interceptor, a main design focus being to fix a specific problem that many swept-wing aircraft had at this point in time, that being: The "Sabre Dance". A fair amount of crashes were attributed to fighters with a high angle of attack, and slow speed, causing stagnant air over the wings slipping to the tips, this, in turn, caused the center of lift to quickly and drastically change, sending the nose upwards, and sometimes even making the plane flip end-over-end. This phenomenon was noted particularly with the F-100 Super Sabre, leading to the name.

The XF-91 tried to fix this problem by introducing the oddly shaped wings, adding more chord (distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge) to the tip over the root, which helped generate more lift. This did solve the sabre dance problem, but unfortunately this particular design was eclipsed by others, and was never put into production.

06/02/2026

Meet: The F-82/P-82 Twin Mustang!

An interesting twin cockpit concoction from the second world war, the Twin mustang was initially conceived of as an es**rt fighter for American bombers, unfortunately for whoever designed it, the war ended before the F-82 could be properly put into production. And due to it's development being right around the dawn of the "jet era" this oddball nearly sat completely abandoned. However because of some problems with the development of all weather jet fighters in the US, the P-82, renamed to the F-82 in 1948, did end up seeing use in it's Night-Fighter variants.

It's 742 km/h (461 mph, 401 kn) top speed is nothing to scoff at. And even though it didn't see use in the conflict it was designed for. It made enough lasting impact that an XP-82 was restored to proper flying condition, and was first flown again in 2018!

05/26/2026

Meet: The Airbus BelugaXL!

This outsize freight plane is a great example of what we'd call an "Oddball Aircraft" and let me tell you, there's plenty of those!

This particular oddball is quite the powerhouse, with a total weight capacity of 50,500kg (111,333 lbs) while being able to get up to a max speed of 737km/h (458 mph, 398 kn). With a 63.1 m (207 ft) length, and a 60.3 m (197 ft) wingspan, this giant is quite a sight to behold, especially with the charming painted beluga face, this plane is a great example of not only how important aviation is; by transporting cargo that would otherwise take much longer to move. But also how impressive planes, and indeed all aircraft have become since the first manned flight!

05/23/2026

After the Wright brothers proved man could fly in 1903, many others began trying to invent flying machines, this is one such machine, and not a particularly functional one.

This is the "Pitts Sky Car" Designed by John W. Pitts, the intention behind the design being that the spinning of the blades, and the up-down motion of the propeller, would induce lift, somewhat like the flapping wings of a bird. Unfortunately for Mr. Pitts, this did not in fact, induce lift, and the project was promptly abandoned after a prototype test, which is what you see here.

Nowadays this amusing attempt at flight is not only an interesting example of the early understanding (or lack thereof) of aviation, but also a showing of just how far that understanding has come!

05/16/2026

We created our own Top Gun ,mission. We had to dispense with the Hollywood garbage to make it more realistic, but if you ever wanted to try it...

05/15/2026

That's pretty fast!

Why don't you come try out the F-18 here, at https://altitudesim.ca/

05/10/2026

Yep, you heard right. 25% off the regular price. Come learn how to fly this bad boy.