FlightGear is a sophisticated open-source flight simulator with worldwide scenery, hundreds of aircraft, and multiplayer flying. It is heavier than a casual arcade flyer, but nothing else in FOSS matches its scope.
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PlayBound Weekly · Week 33, 2026
FlightGear
The whole planet is your free, open-source flight school.
Published · Simulation · 2.0 GB · Open Source (GPL-2.0)
The PlayBound Bar
4 of 4 met
FlightGear is our pick because it feels like the flight sim we stumbled into and kept coming back to. It’s deep, open, endlessly tinkering-friendly, and still feels like a hidden gem.
Worth the cost
Free, or regularly available for $15 or less. Good developers deserve to be paid, and optional cosmetics, expansions, and premium extras are welcome. But we won't list games that sell competitive advantages, disguise a trial as free, or charge again to finish the core experience.
Ready to play
Playable and satisfying today. It can be unfinished; it cannot be unfun. We love supporting indie developers, but prototypes, broken releases, and promises of a future game do not make the cut.
Tested by PlayBound
We install it, launch it, and play it ourselves. We've spent hours building definitive editions and making multiplayer work, because a store-page claim is not the same as a game we can confidently put in front of you.
That One Thing
Every game needs that one thing we'd excitedly tell our friends about. It might be the mechanics, story, art, soundtrack, controls, community, or the way it brings people together. If it doesn't have one, it doesn't make the catalog.
FlightGear last verified against the bar on . Read the full standard →
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