Controlling aircraft in Flight Simulator is a lot like flying a real aircraft. You can move the ailerons, elevator, and rudder with a joystick instead of a yoke or control stick, and you can use a mouse to work all the buttons, levers, and knobs on the panel.

But the secret to controlling Flight Simulator is learning keyboard shortcuts. A real pilot needs to pull a lever to raise or lower the landing gear, but in Flight Simulator you can just press the G key. By learning which keys handle each action, and by changing the key assignments to suit your own preferences, you can be more efficient in the Flight Simulator cockpit.

Key Commands

The Key Commands page of the Kneeboard features a comprehensive list of Flight Simulator keyboard commands. To display the Kneeboard, press F10 or the Kneeboard icon. Whenever you need to know which key to press, just look at the Kneeboard.

To display the Kneeboard, press F10 or the Kneeboard icon.

Note
The list displayed on the Keyboard Commands page of the Kneeboard is dynamic. If you change a command (see Changing Key Assignments, below), the list will reflect that change.

Adjusting Keyboard Sensitivity

The aircraft in Flight Simulator are much easier to fly using a joystick, but you can also control the aircraft using a keyboard. By default, Flight Simulator sets keyboard sensitivity in the middle of the normal operating range. You can change these settings to make the controls that control the primary flight surfaces (ailerons, elevator, and rudder) more or less sensitive to key presses. Experiment to find a setting that suits your flying style. Use the Control Sensitivities dialog box to fine-tune the sensitivity of the controls to your key presses.

Adjust key sensitivities for the ailerons, elevator, and rudder using the Calibration tab on the Controls dialog box.

To adjust keyboard sensitivity On the Options menu, point to Settings, and then click Controls. On the Calibration tab, drag the Keyboard sensitivity sliders. Drag the sliders to the left to decrease sensitivity, and to the right to increase sensitivity. To reset all sensitivity options to their default values, click the Reset Defaults button. Click OK.

Changing Key Assignments

In a real aircraft, there's only one button, lever, or knob for each task. In Flight Simulator, you can easily customize joystick buttons and keyboard shortcuts so that your simulated cockpit works the way you like best.

Let's look at an example. The default key for the wheel brakes in Flight Simulator is the PERIOD (.) key, an important command to know to prevent your plane from rolling off the end of the runway after a flawless approach and landing. If you find yourself forgetting that the brakes are activated by pressing PERIOD (.), you might prefer to use the B key (which by default resets the altimeter). You can easily switch these two keyboard commands.

Change keyboard assignments using the Calibration tab on the Controls dialog box.

To change keyboard command assignments On the Options menu, point to Controls, and then choose Assignments. Click the Buttons/Keys tab. Select either the Normal or Slew Mode option, depending on which mode you want to change key commands for. In the Event category list box, choose the category of buttons, settings, or controls that you want to set. (For example, select Engine controls to customize the settings for engine commands.) Your selection determines what appears in the Assignment list below. In the Assignment list, select the event whose keyboard command you want to reassign. Click Change Assignment to choose a new keyboard assignment for the event you've selected. The Select Assignment dialog box will open. Press the key that you want to assign to the selected event. If the command is currently being used and you don't want to replace it, click the Clear button. Click OK. Make any additional changes you want, using steps 3 through 8 above. Click OK.

Removing and Resetting Key Assignments To remove a keyboard assignment from an event you've selected, click the Delete Key Assignment button. To cancel any changes you've made to your key assignments and return to the Flight Simulator default settings, click the Reset Defaults button.