Apex Sky: Catch & Fly Planes

See a real plane overhead. Catch it. Then fly it.
Apex Sky shows the real aircraft flying near you right now, from live flight data. Catch one, and then take the controls of that aircraft type yourself — over real 3D terrain.

HOW IT WORKS
1. Spot — open Sky mode and see the real planes around you, in 3D and on radar.
2. Catch — every aircraft inside your catch ring is logged to your collection.
3. Fly — tap one to fly a short round in that type: a landing if it is airborne, a takeoff if it is on the ground.

Free to download, with optional in-app purchases and optional reward videos.

• THE PLANES ABOVE YOU — Sky mode draws the real aircraft within 18 km of you, in a 3D scene and on a radar scope, from live ADS-B data (adsb.lol). Tap any aircraft for its type, callsign, altitude, speed, distance and where it is going. When real traffic is thin, simulated aircraft fill the sky and carry a "Simulated" badge; a "Real only" switch hides them.

• CATCH IT, THEN FLY IT — Every aircraft inside your catch ring is logged. Fly it well and it pays parts and coins toward your collection.

• BUILD YOUR OWN PLANE — In the Workshop's Plane Designer, buy parts with coins — fuselage blocks you shape, wings, landing gear, floats, tanks, and engines from an electric motor to a solid rocket — bolt them together, and fly what you built over an island with towns, rivers, lakes and four airports.

• SHARE YOUR DESIGNS — Share a design with a code or a link, or list it on the marketplace for other players. Invite a friend and you both get coins.

• A REAL 3D WORLD — Real elevation, satellite photography, and runways rebuilt from real airport data around the world, with taxiways and gates from FAA data at US airports. In Free Flight, pick any airfield on Earth and start at the gate, on the runway, or already airborne.

• CARRIERS AND WATER LANDINGS — Catapult off an aircraft carrier and catch the wire coming back, or put an airliner down on a river like the Miracle on the Hudson.

• ONE FLIGHT ENGINE — Every mode runs on the same six-degree-of-freedom flight model: wind and gusts, flaps, spoilers, reverse thrust, gear that takes time to extend, and fuel. Weather from calm to storm, and ten in-flight failures to train for.

• EVERY LANDING SCORED — Sink rate, touchdown zone, centreline, speed, drift, pitch and bank, in a 0–100 score.

• LANDING OF THE DAY — Everyone flies the same approach each day, ranked on a leaderboard. Plus a weekly approach in a loaned aircraft, mission boards, streaks, and a 200-mission landing campaign at 200 real airports.

• SEASONAL EVENTS — Limited-time events change the sky, like Halloween's ghost planes and the Haunted A320.

• COLLECT THE SKY — More than 170 aircraft, from a Cessna 152 to the A380, Concorde and the Space Shuttle, in six rarity tiers, each with real specs and a short story.

• FLIGHT SCHOOL — 7 courses and 30 lessons, from Student Pilot to Heavy Type Rating and Emergency Training. Every lesson is flown, timed and graded.

• NIGHT FLIGHTS — City lights below, runway lights ahead, and real constellations overhead.

• BUILT BY A STUDENT PILOT — made by a 15-year-old glider pilot, which is why the details matter.

No account needed. Ads appear only when you choose to watch one for a reward. Location is opt-in, used only while the app is open, to show the sky above you and find the airfields near you. Live flight data needs a connection.