New Delhi, June 18 -- SAN FRANCISCO - The first time most people encounter a flight simulator, it is behind a paywall. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 retails at around $70. Professional-grade alternatives run steeper. For hundreds of millions of people who have wanted to know what their city looks like from 3,000 feet, that price tag has been the answer.

Google changed that on June 12, when it folded a free, browser-based flight simulator into the web version of Google Earth. No installation. No graphics card requirements. No login. Open a browser, navigate to earth.google.com, click Explore Earth, go to the Tools menu, and select Flight Simulator. You are airborne within seconds.

The feature is labeled experimental, and Google has bee...