Aircraft Basics

Aircraft are at the center of FS Reality. You’ll need one to fly, and keeping it in good shape is part of the experience.

Aircraft Types

Every aircraft belongs to a type (like a Cessna 172 or a King Air). Each type has specific characteristics:

• Required rating: The pilot rating needed to fly this type
• Fuel type: What kind of fuel it uses
• Weight and passenger capacity: How much cargo and how many passengers it can carry
• Tank capacity: Maximum fuel it can hold

Finding Aircraft

You can find aircraft in two main places:

• Airports page. Each airport shows aircraft available at that location.
• Aircraft page. A marketplace where you can search all aircraft by location, registration, type, and whether they’re for sale or rent.

Aircraft Condition

Aircraft have condition indicators that tell you about their maintenance state:

• Airworthy. The aircraft has passed all required inspections and has no critical maintenance issues. You can only fly airworthy aircraft.
• Maintenance icons. Visual indicators on aircraft listings show you if an aircraft has maintenance or inspection issues at a glance.

What Makes an Aircraft Unairworthy?

An aircraft can become unairworthy if:

• Its annual inspection is overdue
• Its 100-hour inspection is overdue
• It has critical maintenance issues that haven’t been resolved

Unairworthy aircraft cannot be rented or flown until the issues are addressed.

Aircraft Logs

Every aircraft has a log history that records events like refueling, rental usage, sales, purchases, and lease changes. You can view the log from the aircraft’s detail page.

Ownership

Aircraft can be owned by individual pilots or by operators. The owner controls settings like whether the aircraft is listed for sale or rent, and what prices are set. Owners are responsible for maintenance and inspections (though with leased aircraft, the lessee may share this responsibility).