Updraft No. 9
The Updraft puzzle from 6 August 2026, exactly as it was played.
About Updraft
Updraft is a stylised flight simulator. You fly a twin-engine widebody from Auckland to Singapore, and the aircraft obeys a real fixed-wing model: lift rises with the square of your airspeed, drag rises with lift, and if you pull the nose up too far at too low a speed the wing stops flying and you stall.
It takes one input to fly and a long time to fly well. The whole game is the trade every pilot actually makes — altitude costs speed, speed buys altitude, and the wing only works inside a band you have to stay inside.
Common questions about Updraft
Do I need to know anything about flying?
No. One input gets you to Singapore. The physics reward understanding, but the game never requires you to read an instrument to survive — the chase view is enough.
What causes a stall?
Too much angle of attack for your airspeed, roughly past 16 degrees. Lift collapses, drag spikes and the nose drops. Release the stick, let the speed build, and the wing starts flying again. Holding full back-stick produces a genuine porpoising phugoid and wrecks your route progress.
Why do I sink in turns?
Because a banked wing sends part of its lift sideways instead of up. Real aircraft do exactly the same thing. Roll out, or add power.
Is the aircraft a real airline?
No. The carrier and its livery are invented, and the aircraft is a generic twin-engine widebody with no model designation. Only the geography is real.
Why is the flight so low?
A real widebody climbs a few thousand feet a minute, so a ninety-second flight only has a few thousand feet of vertical budget in it. Cruising at altitude would also mean seeing nothing — the sea, the islands and the cities you pass are the point.