Learn to Fly: thirty days to prove a penguin wrong
Learn to Fly opens with a penguin at a computer, reading an encyclopedia entry that says penguins are flightless. He takes it personally. What follows is one of the best-loved launch games of the Flash era: a snow ramp, a chalkboard shop, and thirty days to turn a short slide into a real flight. Each day is one attempt. The penguin slides down on his own, and from the lip of the ramp you steer with the left and right arrows: nose down to pick up speed, nose up to stretch the glide. The run ends when he stops moving, and every foot travelled, every foot of altitude and every second in the air turns into research funds.
The funds are the game. Between days the chalkboard becomes a shop, and the shop is where the strategy lives: ten notches each of ramp height, acceleration and air resistance, three gliders that hold altitude, and three rockets that burn fuel while you hold Space. The first few days end in a sad little splash a hundred feet out; by the middle of the month a good flight crosses the screen several times and skips off the sea on its belly for more distance. The version on learntofly.ing is the original 2009 SWF by Light Bringer Games, played through the Ruffle emulator on this domain — it saves your days in the browser, it does not phone anyone, and the old sponsor buttons are disabled.
Controls & mechanics
| Action | Control | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Tilt nose down | Right arrow | Dive to build speed; hold it too long and you plough into the sea |
| Tilt nose up | Left arrow | Flatten out to glide; too steep and the penguin stalls |
| Rocket | Space (hold) | Burns fuel for thrust once rockets are bought; tap it in short bursts |
| Menus and shop | Mouse | Buy upgrades, read achievements, start the next day |
Getting further in Learn to Fly
- Buy the ramp first: Speed at the lip is worth more than anything else early on. Ramp height notches are cheap on the first days and every later purchase multiplies off them, so fill a few before touching the glider.
- Land flat and fast: The sea is not the end of the run. Level the penguin in the last second so he hits belly first with speed, and he skips back into the air. A steep, slow splash stops dead.
- Rockets are for the flat part: Firing the rocket while you are still climbing wastes it fighting gravity. Wait until the glide has levelled off, then burn in bursts to hold altitude and let the glider and the air-resistance notches do the distance.
Key features
- The original 2009 game: The Light Bringer SWF, not a remake, running through Ruffle on this domain with the sponsor links switched off.
- A thirty-day campaign: One flight per day, research funds for distance, altitude and hang time, and a chalkboard shop with three sliders, three gliders and three rockets.
- Saves in the browser: Progress is stored by Ruffle in your browser, so you can close the tab mid-month and pick up on the same day.
Game info
- Title: Learn to Fly
- Developer: Light Bringer Games
- Category: Launch and Flight
- Platform: Web browser (HTML5)
- Campaign: 30 days, one flight each
Pro tip: The results board pays for distance and altitude and then multiplies by a duration bonus, so the longest flight, not the fastest, earns most. Once you own a glider, dive only until the speed peaks, then pull the nose up to a shallow angle and hold it: a flat glide at moderate speed stays airborne far longer than a fast dive, and the belly-flop at the end still bounces if you level off before the water. Air resistance notches are the cheapest way to make that glide last.
Frequently asked questions
What is Learn to Fly?
A launch-and-upgrade game from 2009 by Light Bringer Games. A penguin, told by an encyclopedia that penguins cannot fly, builds a ramp and spends thirty days trying to fly across the Antarctic sea, buying ramp height, acceleration, air resistance, gliders and rockets with the research funds each flight earns.
Is this the real Flash version?
Yes. It is the original SWF, served from learntofly.ing and run through the Ruffle emulator, which plays Flash games in a modern browser without a plugin. The old sponsor buttons are disabled so nothing on the page opens another site.
What are the controls?
Left and right arrow keys tilt the penguin during a flight, Space fires the rockets once you have bought them, and the mouse handles the shop and menus. On a phone, a small tilt-and-rocket pad appears over the game.
How many days are there?
Thirty. Each day is one launch. The game ends after day thirty or when the penguin reaches the iceberg on the far side of the sea, whichever comes first, and you can start again from the title screen.
Where are Learn to Fly 2 and 3?
Learn to Fly 3, the 2016 rocket-to-space instalment, is served from this site too, under Launch and Flight. Learn to Fly 2 has its own page in the series and is not hosted here.
