Menus and sessions
Everything before the radar screen: where you start a game, resume one, and find the guided lessons.
The main menu
Section titled “The main menu”
- New Session — set up and start a game.
- Load Session — resume a save with its original airport and traffic.
- Tutorials — guided video lessons, plus links into this wiki.
- Settings — Display, Audio, Voice, Privacy, Colors and Controls.
- Mods — opens the community project on GitHub.
- Navigraph panel — your navigation-data cycle and sign-in state.
Closed beta menu
Section titled “Closed beta menu”| Stable control | Closed-beta control |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | Wiki in Community — opens this wiki directly; the video lesson hub is no longer in the menu. |
| Mods | Contribute in Community — opens the contribution website. |
| Report bugs | Gone. Report problems in Discord, where they get answered. |
| New Session / Load Session | New session / Load session — same buttons, sentence case. |
| Scattered edge links | Two panels down the right side, Status and Community. |
| — | Changelog — shows the bundled notes for each game version. |
| — | Roadmap. |
Status tells you what the game still needs from you. Voice always shows one clear value:
| Value | What it means | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Off | Voice recognition is off. Saved checks remain. | None. |
| Not checked | No microphone or speaker check is saved. | Check voice. |
| Finish check | One part passed. | Continue checks only the missing part. |
| Recheck | Your selected microphone, speaker, or pilot voice changed. | Recheck only that part. |
| Ready | Saved checks match the selected microphone, speaker and pilot voice; both devices are available. | None. |
| Needs attention | A selected route or engine needs review. | Review opens Settings → Voice. |
The first visit offers Check voice or Not now only for Not checked. Not now stops the prompt permanently. The Status row stays available. Below Voice, Navigraph shows sign-in state and AIRAC shows the data cycle.
Community has six controls: Wiki, Changelog, Discord, Roadmap, Contribute and Credits. The version number sits above both panels. Quote it when you report a problem.
After an update, Changelog opens once on an existing installation. Close it or press Escape to stop it opening again for that version. A new installation skips this popup. Press Changelog at any time to reopen it and select older versions. The notes are included with the game, so they work offline.
On a first visit, a dismissible welcome prompt links to Discord and the public roadmap.
New Session and Load Session stay unavailable until Steam ownership is verified and any navigation-data update has finished. If an online owner’s local authorization cache is damaged, the simulator repairs it automatically.
Starting a new session
Section titled “Starting a new session”
Airport. Press Select Airport and search by ICAO code or name. Mark favourites to find them again quickly. A MOD star marks airports that have community content.
Runways and sector. Open the diagram and choose the arrival and departure runways. Until you do, the indicators show dashes and Start new session stays unavailable. The diagram previews the controlled sector, the SSR and PSR rings, and the published routes. The game normally picks the sector; community airports can supply named sector configurations and optional delegations.
Traffic. Set Arrivals, Departures and optional Alien traffic. Any slider at zero means none of that kind.
Start. If the button is unavailable its label tells you what is still missing. On a first run you may briefly see Syncing route data….
Loading a save
Section titled “Loading a save”
- Pick a save from the list.
- Press Load session.
- Wait while the airport, traffic and route state are restored.
You do not choose the airport or runways again — the save carries them. If the list is empty, start a new session first. The main menu may briefly wait for navigation data before loading becomes available.
The save also restores its traffic rates, so new arrivals, departures and en-route traffic continue after loading.
Tutorials in stable
Section titled “Tutorials in stable”
- Basics — the goal, session setup, the in-game screen, settings, mouse controls and labels.
- Voice Commands — lateral, altitude, speed and additional instructions.
- Aviation — STARs, transitions and approaches.
- Extra — game files, community airports, and links into this wiki.
The lesson buttons play the videos; the guide buttons open these pages in your browser. There is a Discord help link here too.
Pausing and leaving
Section titled “Pausing and leaving”Escape opens the pause menu mid-session. Traffic stops completely while you are paused.
- Resume — back to the session.
- Settings — change options without leaving the game.
- Return to main menu — abandon the session.
- Save and quit — save, then close it.
- Discord help and Roadmap.