Action · Free browser game
Crosswind — an airplane game and browser flight simulator
Seven real approaches, one gusting crosswind, and a landing graded out of 100.
Free to play No download Desktop & mobile
About Crosswind
Crosswind is an airplane game and browser flight simulator about the sixty seconds that actually matter. No cruise, no taxi, no checklist — you start on short final with the runway ahead, a crosswind pushing you off the centreline, and one landing to get right.
You fly by dragging: up and down to pitch, left and right to bank. The instrument strip reads altitude, vertical speed, airspeed and the number that decides the whole approach — how many feet you are offset from the runway. Line up on the PAPI lights, hold the drift with a little bank into the wind, and straighten out just before the wheels touch.
Every landing is graded out of 100 and the breakdown is unforgiving: 40 points for touching down in the zone, 30 for the centreline, 20 for level wings, 10 for arriving gently. Come down faster than 6 m/s, bank more than 9°, or drop the nose and you don't get a score at all — you get a crash report. Thirteen verdict bands sit above that, from Rebook their connections at the bottom to Greased it at 96 and above.
Seven real approaches are modelled, and they are not equally hard. San Francisco is a 5–13 knot warm-up over the bay. Wellington is 16–30 knots with sea on both sides and wind that never lets up. Innsbruck threads an alpine valley; Madeira gives you Atlantic cliffs and no room to go around. Practice mode switches the crosswind off entirely so you can learn the aircraft in calm air before any of that.
How to land in a crosswind
- Pick an approach — the seven airports are rated 1 to 5, so start at San Francisco rather than Wellington.
- Drag anywhere on screen to fly: up and down pitches the nose, left and right banks the wings.
- Fly the PAPI lights beside the runway. Two white and two red is on profile; more red means low, more white means high.
- Hold a little bank into the wind so the aircraft tracks the centreline instead of drifting downwind, and watch the offset readout in the HUD.
- Straighten the wings in the last second and touch down inside the green box, descending gently — over 6 m/s, past 9° of bank, or nose-down and it counts as a crash, not a score.
- Read the four-part breakdown, then fly it again for the missing points.
Controls
- Drag (mouse or finger)
- Pitch up and down, bank left and right
- CAM slider
- Raises or lowers the chase camera
- Invert pitch toggle
- Switches to drag-up-equals-nose-down
- Practice mode toggle
- Calm air, no crosswind — for learning the aircraft
Crosswind tips — scoring a perfect landing
- Fix the centreline high. Drift is cheap to correct at 500 feet and nearly impossible in the flare, and the centreline alone is worth 30 of the 100 points.
- Fly the PAPI, not the runway. Holding two white and two red puts you in the touchdown zone automatically, which is the 40-point half of your score.
- Level the wings before the wheels, not with them. Nine degrees of bank is the crash threshold, and anything over about four throws away most of the 20-point wings component.
- Learn the aircraft at San Francisco in practice mode, then take the same hands to Wellington. Trying to learn the controls and a 30-knot crosswind at once teaches you neither.
For aviation enthusiasts and flight sim players
If you fly desktop simulators, this is the last ninety seconds of a flight with the rest removed. No cold-and-dark start, no flight plan — just short final, a crosswind, and a landing that gets graded. The instrument strip reads the four numbers you would actually be scanning, and the PAPI lights work the way real ones do.
The seven approaches are real places chosen for the reason enthusiasts already know them: Innsbruck for the valley, Madeira for the cliffs and its notoriously short runway over the Atlantic, Wellington for wind that genuinely never lets up. If you have watched crosswind landing compilations, this is that, from the left seat.
Crosswind questions, answered
How is a landing scored in Crosswind?
Out of 100, split four ways: 40 points for touching down in the zone, 30 for how close you are to the centreline, 20 for having the wings level, and 10 for a soft arrival. Thirteen verdict bands sit on top, with 96 or better earning 'Greased it'.
What do the PAPI lights mean?
The PAPI lights beside the runway tell you whether you are on the correct glideslope. Two white and two red means you are on profile. Three or four red means you are too low; three or four white means too high. Flying them is the fastest way to a good touchdown score.
How do you correct for crosswind drift?
Bank gently into the wind so the aircraft tracks along the centreline instead of being blown downwind, and hold that correction the whole way down. The offset readout in the HUD shows how many feet you still have to make up — level the wings only in the last second before touchdown.
Which airport is the hardest?
Wellington. It is the only difficulty-5 approach in the game, with sea on both sides and a 16 to 30 knot crosswind that never eases. Madeira is next at difficulty 4 — Atlantic swell, cliffs and no room for error. San Francisco, at 5 to 13 knots, is the gentle one.
What counts as a crash rather than a bad landing?
Four things end the approach with no score: touching down off the runway, descending faster than 6 m/s, having more than 9° of bank at the wheels, or arriving nose-down. Overshooting the runway or clipping a tree on short final will also write the aircraft off.
What is a crosswind landing?
A landing where the wind blows across the runway rather than along it, pushing the aircraft sideways off the centreline. Pilots counter it by angling into the wind — crabbing — or by lowering the into-wind wing, then straightening the aircraft just before touchdown.
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