X-Plane Extreme

Aircraft that push the limits of their pilots

X-Plane Extreme is one of the spinoffs of the X-Plane 9 application. It features some of the most unusual, fastest, highest flying, and most maneuverable aircraft ever built, which can be flown through its six gorgeous map regions.

Included Aircraft

The X-Plane Extreme app includes the following aircraft:

F-22 Raptor
SR-71 Blackbird
B-1 "The Bone"
B-2 Spirit
B-52 Stratofortress
North American X-15

The F-22 Raptor is by far the most maneuverable and powerful fighter in the sky. Nothing else comes remotely close. An interesting point regarding the Raptor is that the thrust vectors up and down to steer the craft. This lets the plane pitch the nose up and down with full authority even at zero speed, simply by vectoring the thrust-it can even hang (nearly) motionless on its engines. This comes at a cost, though: When the pilot cuts the power, the craft loses that lift and maneuverability.

The SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest jet aircraft in the world, able to exceed Mach 3 and break 70,000 feet. It still holds several world speed records set in the 1970s and 1980s. Many users wonder why it is, then, that the F-22 has a higher acceleration and top speed than the SR-71 at low altitudes. Simply put, each plane is designed for a different mission and operational envelope. The SR-71 was designed as a spy plane and is absolutely untouchable (even 40 years later) in high-altitude, straight and level flight. In 1977 a Russian MiG-25 (Russia's premier interceptor and attack aircraft) made an attempt to intercept an SR-71 at nearly 70,000 feet. The Russian aircraft completely trashed its engines trying to keep up, though it could momentarily hit Mach 3. The Blackbird simply pulled away. The SR-71 at 50,000 feet or higher will leave any other aircraft in the dust, even the mighty F-22.

The B-1 "The Bone" bomber has almost full-span flaps (that is, the flaps cover nearly the full wingspan), leaving very little room for ailerons. Thus, spoilers must be used for roll control, as well as differentially deflecting all-moving stabilators (the horizontal tail surfaces) to aid in roll control. Despite the huge flaps and multiple roll controls, this huge, ungainly bird still has terribly high stall speeds and a limited roll rate due to its high weight. If pilots can get this plane around the sky and down in one piece, they are doing well!

The next aircraft in X-Plane Extreme is the B-2 Spirit, otherwise known as the "Stealth Bomber." The B-2, quite uniquely, has no tail. At all. There is no vertical stabilizer, no horizontal stabilizer, and no flaps. Instead, ailerons on the wingtips split open to add drag on the left or right side of the plane to give yaw control.

A fly-by-wire system coupled to multiple flight control surfaces makes this aircraft manageable, and really rather nice to fly. Actually, this aircraft is literally unflyable without the flight control computers, which continually make small inputs to keep the plane flying the way (and direction) the pilot commands.

The B-52 Stratofortress (informally known as the BUFF-the Big, Ugly, Fat ----) is a huge eight-engined bomber, originally designed during the Cold War to carry nuclear weapons.

This monster of a plane needs about 230 knots (with one third flaps) to get off the ground, and it has a maximum speed of about 650 miles per hour at 20,000 feet.

The North American X-15 is a rocket-powered speed demon. With a top speed of Mach 6.72 (4520 miles per hour), it is the fastest manned aircraft in the world. To begin flight, this craft is dropped, uniquely, from the B-52 "mothership." Its top speed is over double that of the SR-71 (the world's fastest airplane), and its maximum altitude of over 50 miles qualifies its pilots for astronaut status.

The craft's absurdly high top speed requires a blast shield to be installed over one side of the windshield-without it, the windows would burn up. Thus, the X-15 pilots would fly the high speed portion of the mission with the shield on the right side, looking out the left side only. After the craft slowed down (and the left window was sufficiently charred), the pilot would jettison the blast shield and move to the right window in order to land.

Included Flight Regions

X-Plane Extreme has six flight regions available:

Canyons (a fictional area filled with its namesake),
the Southern California desert (Palm Springs area),
Kathmandu, Nepal,
Van Nuys, California, and
Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Get it from the iTunes Store

Purchase X-Plane Extreme for the iPhone and iPod Touch using this link.

Get it from the webOS store

Purchase X-Plane Extreme for the Palm Pre using this link.

X-Plane Extreme--found in the main X-Plane Mobile manual

The main X-Plane Mobile manual (which includes X-Plane Extreme) can be downloaded using this link.

If you don't need the full manual, but only a quick introduction to the flight controls in the X-Plane Mobile apps, check out the Mobile Instructions page.

Click the images below to see them at full size, then click to close them.

Quick links

X-Plane for iPad is here!

Click here to read all about it!

See X-Plane Mobile in action!

Prepare to be stunned by X-Plane. Videos and photos speak where words can't. See the Multimedia page...

What do other people think?

Get more opinions before you buy. We're confident the reviewers love X-Plane Mobile as much as we do. Learn more...

What sets X-Plane apart?

It's blade element theory, of course. By breaking down every surface of the airplane and calculating the forces acting on each piece individually, X-Plane Mobile delivers the most realistic flight experience available--in a portable form. Learn more...

Buy an app

Click here to visit the Laminar Research page of the iTunes App Store.

Get the manual

In either PDF or Wiki form, the X-Plane manual can answer many of the questions you may have. See the Mobile Manual page...

Get quick instructions

Don't need the full manual? Looking for a brief introduction to flying on the X-Plane Mobile apps? See the Mobile Instructions page...

What's the difference...

...between the iPhone/iPod Touch and the Palm Pre version? The answer is... almost nothing. The user interface, flight controls, and all other features are identical. The most noticeable difference is, well, the loading screen. Find info on both here.