Free online airplane games: fly the coolest planes and gliders

Take flight with Kizi’s collection of airplane games! On this page you’ll find a selection of games ranging from cartoony 2D games in which you have to guide little planes from one hangar to the next, to full on 3D flight simulation games. Soar above the clouds as you control a realistic aircraft! We’ve also collected a selection of airport management games. Can you handle the responsibilities of an air traffic controller and direct the planes to the right runways for landing and takeoff? Make sure to choose the right flight paths and safely navigate all arrivals and departures across the runways.

A short history of airplanes and human flight

The inventor George Cayley developed the core concepts of airplane flight as early as 1799. He worked out how four principle forces need to be taken into account when designing a flying machine: The weight of the aircraft, thrust to propel the machine forward, lift generated by airflow, and understanding how drag affects the motion of moving objects. While Cayley was able to design a glider that could carry a person in the air, the design of the modern aircraft would have to wait - simply because at the time there was no engine light and powerful enough to do the job!

Another influential pioneer of human flight was the German inventor Otto Lilienthal. In the 1800s, Lilienthal became known as “the flying man” because of his successful experiments with gliders. Lilienthal’s gliders had impressive bird-like wings, and you can find some amazing pictures of them online. Although Lilienthal did eventually die when one of his gliders stalled and crashed, his flying experiments inspired the next generation of aviators, including the Wright Brothers.

Humans have dreamed of being able to fly for millennia, from the mathematicians of Ancient Greece to the flying machines of Leonardo da Vinci. People built machines with pedals and flapping wings, and even launched piloted gliders from giant catapults (often with deadly results!). But it was the Wright Brothers who were internationally recognized as the first to conduct a sustained and controlled powered flight with an aircraft in 1903. Some earlier airplane designs had been capable of sufficient power and lift, but they were impossible to control and therefore too dangerous to pilot. By 1905, the Wright Brothers had designed the first plane capable of stable and fully controllable flight.

Airplane games for kids and everyone else

In our collection of airplane games you can fly some pretty outlandish bird-wing gliders and antique flying machines. We’ve also got games featuring classic planes, biplanes, and propeller-powered war planes. And of course we’ve got games with modern fighter jets and stealth planes, as well as commercial airliners and jumbo jets. So load up your baggage and get ready for takeoff!