Updraft · Flight sim · 90 sec

How to play Updraft

A long-haul flight in ninety seconds. Real wing physics, three camera views, and one route a day that everybody in the world flies identically.

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Play today's Updraft Unlimited mode Strategy guide

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.

Controls

Hold to pull the nose up. Release to let it drop — the elevator is biased slightly nose-down, so letting go is a real input rather than the absence of one. On a keyboard Space or the up arrow holds the nose up, Q and E bank left and right, and the throttle sits on the minus and plus keys.

V cycles the camera, or use the view button on the stage.

The three views

Cockpit — a full glass panel. The attitude indicator genuinely tracks your pitch and bank; there are airspeed and altitude tapes, a vertical-speed needle, a heading tape with a bug on the next leg's bearing, throttle with N1 percent, and a nav readout showing the next waypoint and miles to run.
Chase — side-on, and the easiest view for judging the altitude windows. You can see the aircraft bank, the contrails, and the gates ahead.
Map — a north-up moving map of the whole route with waypoints, plus an altitude-profile strip showing the target profile and where you actually are.

One input gets you to Singapore. The physics decide how well.

Flying it

Lift is proportional to airspeed squared, so speed is the resource everything else is bought with. Pull too hard and the angle of attack passes roughly 16 degrees, the airflow separates, lift collapses and the nose drops. You feel the buffet before it happens — that shake is your warning, and easing off is the whole recovery.

Banking costs you vertical lift, because a banked wing points part of its lift sideways. That is why turns make you sink, and why the route's course changes are the hardest part of a good run.

Scoring

The route is flown through a series of altitude windows — hold the given block within tolerance and you score, bust it and you do not. Beacons along the way are worth more and demand a tighter line. Reaching Singapore is the win, and how much of the route you complete is most of your score.

Playing against someone

Everyone flying on a given day gets the identical route, weather and window sequence, so a challenge link puts your friend in exactly the flight you just made a mess of.

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.

Keep going

Play today's Updraft →Flight sim · 90 sec — the run everybody is playing right now. Updraft strategy →Energy is the only currency. Trade it deliberately, fly the window rather than the aircraft, and treat every turn as a descent you agreed to. Updraft Unlimited →Practise the mechanic as many times as you like, free. Which of the eight should you play? →All 8 compared by length, input and how much pressure they put on you. How to play Dash →Runner · 2 min — Three lanes, no brakes and a course that never repeats a day.How to play Blitz →Reflex · 60 sec — Sixty seconds.