AIRCRAFT MISC VARIABLES

The tables below indicate the properties for the Simulation Variables that can be used to get and set properties various miscellaneous properties related to the aircraft. For information on the units listed for each variable, please see here: Simulation Variable Units

NOTE: When Microsoft Flight Simulator is running in multiplayer mode, only a small number of variables are communicated between aircraft. Those variables that are available will say so in the description as being either for "All Aircraft" or for "Shared Cockpit".

You can find a complete index of all available SimVars here: SimVar Index

 

 

Aircraft States

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
AMBIENT IN CLOUD True if the aircraft is in a cloud. Bool
CONTRAILS CONDITIONS MET True if the aircraft has met the conditions required to spawn the contrail VFX. Bool
IS SLEW ACTIVE True if slew is active. Bool
IS SLEW ALLOWED True if slew is enabled. Bool
IS USER SIM Is this the user loaded aircraft. Bool
ON ANY RUNWAY Whether or not the plane is currently on a runway. Bool
PLANE IN PARKING STATE Whether or not the plane is currently parked (true) or not (false). Bool
SURFACE CONDITION The state of the surface directly under the aircraft.

Enum:

  1. 0 = Normal
  2. 1 = Wet
  3. 2 = Icy
  4. 3 = Snow
SURFACE INFO VALID True indicates that the SURFACE CONDITION return value is meaningful. Bool
SURFACE TYPE

The type of surface under the aircraft.

Enum:

  1. 0 = Concrete
  2. 1 = Grass
  3. 2 = Water
  4. 3 = Grass_bumpy
  5. 4 = Asphalt
  6. 5 = Short_grass
  7. 6 = Long_grass
  8. 7 = Hard_turf
  9. 8 = Snow
  10. 9 = Ice
  11. 10 = Urban
  12. 11 = Forest
  13. 12 = Dirt
  14. 13 = Coral
  15. 14 = Gravel
  16. 15 = Oil_treated
  17. 16 = Steel_mats
  18. 17 = Bituminus
  19. 18 = Brick
  20. 19 = Macadam
  21. 20 = Planks
  22. 21 = Sand
  23. 22 = Shale
  24. 23 = Tarmac
  25. 24 = Wright flyer track
STRUCTURAL ICE PCT Amount of ice on aircraft structure. 100 is fully iced. Percent Over 100
TITLE Title from aircraft.cfg.

String

(max 128 chars)
TOW CONNECTION True if a towline is connected to both tow plane and glider. Bool
WINDSHIELD RAIN EFFECT AVAILABLE Is visual effect available on this aircraft. Bool

 

 

Aircraft Position, Direction And Speed

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
ACCELERATION BODY X Acceleration relative to aircraft X axis, in east/west direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
ACCELERATION BODY Y Acceleration relative to aircraft Y axis, in vertical direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
ACCELERATION BODY Z Acceleration relative to aircraft Z axis, in north/south direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
ACCELERATION WORLD X Acceleration relative to the earth X axis, in east/west direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
ACCELERATION WORLD Y Acceleration relative to the earth Y axis, in vertical direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
ACCELERATION WORLD Z Acceleration relative to the earth Z axis, in north/south direction. Feet (ft) per second squared
SURFACE RELATIVE GROUND SPEED The speed of the aircraft relative to the speed of the first surface directly underneath it. Use this to retrieve, for example, an aircraft's taxiing speed while it is moving on a moving carrier. It also applies to airborne aircraft, for example when a helicopter is successfully hovering above a moving ship, this value should be zero. The returned value will be the same as GROUND VELOCITY if the first surface beneath it is not moving. Feet per second
GROUND VELOCITY

Speed relative to the earths surface.

NOTE: This is available in multiplayer to all far aircraft. See here for more information: Note On SimVars In Multiplayer.

 Knots
PLANE ALTITUDE Altitude of aircraft. Feet (ft)
PLANE ALT ABOVE GROUND Altitude above the surface. Feet (ft)
PLANE ALT ABOVE GROUND MINUS CG Altitude above the surface minus CG. Feet (ft)
PLANE BANK DEGREES Bank angle, although the name mentions degrees the units used are radians. Radians
PLANE HEADING DEGREES GYRO Heading indicator taken from the aircraft gyro. Degrees
PLANE HEADING DEGREES MAGNETIC Heading relative to magnetic north - although the name mentions degrees the units used are radians. Radians
PLANE HEADING DEGREES TRUE Heading relative to true north - although the name mentions degrees the units used are radians. Radians
PLANE LATITUDE Latitude of aircraft, North is positive, South negative. Radians
PLANE LONGITUDE Longitude of aircraft, East is positive, West negative. Radians
PLANE PITCH DEGREES Pitch angle, although the name mentions degrees the units used are radians. Radians
PLANE TOUCHDOWN BANK DEGREES This float represents the bank of the player's plane from the last touchdown. Degrees
PLANE TOUCHDOWN HEADING DEGREES MAGNETIC This float represents the magnetic heading of the player's plane from the last touchdown. Degrees
PLANE TOUCHDOWN HEADING DEGREES TRUE This float represents the true heading of the player's plane from the last touchdown. Degrees
PLANE TOUCHDOWN LATITUDE This float represents the plane latitude for the last touchdown. Radians
PLANE TOUCHDOWN LONGITUDE This float represents the plane longitude for the last touchdown. Radians
PLANE TOUCHDOWN NORMAL VELOCITY This float represents the player's plane speed according to ground normal from the last touchdown. Feet (ft) per second
PLANE TOUCHDOWN PITCH DEGREES This float represents the pitch of the player's plane from the last touchdown. Degrees
RELATIVE WIND VELOCITY BODY X Lateral (X axis) speed relative to wind. Feet (ft) per second
RELATIVE WIND VELOCITY BODY Y Vertical (Y axis) speed relative to wind. Feet (ft) per second
RELATIVE WIND VELOCITY BODY Z Longitudinal (Z axis) speed relative to wind. Feet (ft) per second
ROTATION ACCELERATION BODY X Rotation acceleration relative to aircraft X axis. Radians per second squared
ROTATION ACCELERATION BODY Y Rotation acceleration relative to aircraft Y axis. Radians per second squared
ROTATION ACCELERATION BODY Z Rotation acceleration relative to aircraft Z axis. Radians per second squared
ROTATION VELOCITY BODY X Rotation velocity relative to aircraft X axis. Feet (ft) per second
ROTATION VELOCITY BODY Y Rotation velocity relative to aircraft Y axis. Feet (ft) per second
ROTATION VELOCITY BODY Z Rotation velocity relative to aircraft Z axis. Feet (ft) per second
SLOPE TO ATC RUNWAY The slope between the plane and the expected landing position of the runway. Returns 0 if no runway is assigned. Radians
VELOCITY BODY X True lateral speed, relative to aircraft X axis. Feet (ft) per second
VELOCITY BODY Y True vertical speed, relative to aircraft Y axis. Feet (ft) per second
VELOCITY BODY Z True longitudinal speed, relative to aircraft Z axis. Feet (ft) per second
VERTICAL SPEED The current indicated vertical speed for the aircraft. Feet (ft) per second

 

 

Aircraft Structs

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
EYEPOINT POSITION The eyepoint position relative to the reference datum position for the aircraft.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

feet
STRUC AIRSPEED HOLD PID CONSTS Returns the various airspeed PID constants. This is generally only used for AI controlled aircraft and boats, although it may be useful when working with RTCs and the user aircraft.

PID_STRUCT
STRUC HEADING HOLD PID CONSTS Returns the various airspeed PID constants. This is generally only used for AI controlled aircraft and boats, although it may be useful when working with RTCs and the user aircraft.

PID_STRUCT
STRUCT BODY ROTATION ACCELERATION The body rotation acceleration.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

radians per second
STRUCT BODY ROTATION VELOCITY The body rotation velocity.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

radians per second
STRUCT BODY VELOCITY The object body velocity.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

feet per second
STRUCT ENGINE POSITION:index The position of the indexed engine relative to the Datum Reference Point for the aircraft.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

feet.
STRUCT EYEPOINT DYNAMIC ANGLE The angle of the eyepoint view. Zero, zero, zero is straight ahead.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

radians
STRUCT EYEPOINT DYNAMIC OFFSET A variable offset away from the EYEPOINT POSITION.

SIMCONNECT_DATA_XYZ

feet
STRUCT LATLONALT Returns the latitude, longitude and altitude of the user aircraft. SIMCONNECT_DATA_LATLONALT
STRUCT LATLONALTPBH Returns the lattitude, longitude, altitude, pitch, bank and heading of the user aircraft. Returns a struct with 6 values: lat, lon, alt, pitch, bank, heading

 

 

Airspeed

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
AIRCRAFT WIND X Wind component in aircraft lateral (X) axis. Knots
AIRCRAFT WIND Y Wind component in aircraft vertical (Y) axis. Knots  
AIRCRAFT WIND Z Wind component in aircraft longitudinal (Z) axis. Knots
AIRSPEED BARBER POLE Redline airspeed (dynamic on some aircraft). Knots
AIRSPEED INDICATED Indicated airspeed. Knots
AIRSPEED MACH Current mach. Mach
AIRSPEED SELECT INDICATED OR TRUE The airspeed, whether true or indicated airspeed has been selected. Knots
AIRSPEED TRUE True airspeed. Knots
AIRSPEED TRUE RAW Equivalent to AIRSPEED TRUE, but does not account for wind when used to Set Airspeed value Knots
BARBER POLE MACH Mach associated with maximum airspeed. Mach
TOTAL VELOCITY Velocity regardless of direction. For example, if a helicopter is ascending vertically at 100 fps, getting this variable will return 100. Feet (ft per second
WINDSHIELD WIND VELOCITY Longitudinal speed of wind on the windshield. Feet (ft per second

 

 

Temperature

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
STANDARD ATM TEMPERATURE Outside temperature on the standard ATM scale. Rankine
TOTAL AIR TEMPERATURE Total air temperature is the air temperature at the front of the aircraft where the ram pressure from the speed of the aircraft is taken into account. Celsius

 

 

Ornithopter

Simulation Variable Description Units Settable
ORNITHOPTER CONTROL LEVERS X The deflection control left / right, usually used for animation.  Position 16k
ORNITHOPTER CONTROL LEVERS Y The deflection control fore / aft, usually used for animation. Position 16k
ORNITHOPTER DIVE MODE ENABLED Returns whether the ornithopter dive mode is enabled (TRUE) or not (FALSE). Boolean
ORNITHOPTER GLIDE MODE ENABLED Returns whether the ornithopter glide mode is enabled (TRUE) or not (FALSE). Boolean
ORNITHOPTER WINGS BRAKE ENABLED Returns whether the ornithopter wing brake is enabled (TRUE) or not (FALSE). Boolean
ORNITHOPTER WINGS BRAKE ACTIVE Returns whether the ornithopter wing brake is active (TRUE) or not (FALSE). Boolean
ORNITHOPTER WING HORIZONTAL TILT:index The horizontal tilt of the indexed wing expressed as a value between 0 and 1. Percent Over 100
ORNITHOPTER WING PITCH:index The pitch of the indexed wing expressed as a value between 0 and 1. Percent Over 100
ORNITHOPTER WING VERTICAL TILT:index The vertical tilt of the indexed wing expressed as a value between 0 and 1. Percent Over 100
ORNITHOPTER WINGS BLUR The current amount of blur applied to the animation of the ornithopter wings when flapping, expressed as a value between 0 (none) and 1 (maximum). Percent Over 100
ORNITHOPTER WINGS CLUTCH STATE The current progress of engaging/disengaging the clutch on the wings when entering or leaving glide mode, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. Percent Over 100
ORNITHOPTER WINGS FOLDING OPERATION ID

Returns a value that defines the current folding operation of the wings, where:

  1. 0 - stand by
  2. 1 - parking (slow mode)
  3. 2 - setting up (slow mode)
  4. 3 - folding for diving (fast mode)
  5. 4 - unfolding from a dive (fast mode)
 Number
ORNITHOPTER WORLD LIFT Returns the current total lift of the ornithopter. Pounds (lbs)