How to play Sky Jam
Aircraft fly in from every edge of the screen, each painted in the colour of the runway it must land on — red, blue, green or purple — or yellow for the helicopters’ helipad. Touch an aircraft and draw its flight path with your finger or the mouse: it follows your line, turning as tightly as it can. Draw the path into its runway from the side the coloured arrows point from and it locks on — the line turns solid and the aircraft lands. You can redraw any path at any time.
Keep them apart
A yellow ring means two aircraft are getting close; red means they are about to touch. If two aircraft meet, the game is over. An aircraft that flies out of the airspace without landing is missed, and after too many mistakes the airport closes. New traffic is announced by an arrow at the edge a moment before it comes in, so you can plan ahead.
It gets busier the longer you last
Every round starts quiet: a few slow aircraft and generous warnings. Then the traffic builds — aircraft come more often and fly faster, heavy jets that turn wide join after a minute, then MAYDAY emergencies short of fuel, thunderstorms to route around (later on, a severe storm’s heart brings aircraft down) and runway closures announced a few seconds ahead. How long can you keep it going?
Nine airports
Each airport has its own runways to learn. Harbor Field, Parallel Bay and Twin Rivers are free for everyone. A Premium account opens the other six: Desert Cross, Midnight Lights after dark, Palm Islands with a runway on each island, Alpine Valley in the snow, Metro International’s pinwheel of four runways and Mega Hub, with four runways and two helipads at sunset.
Points and the leaderboards
Every landing scores 10 points, a helicopter 15 and an emergency 25; five safe landings in a row add 30 and ten add 75. A missed aircraft costs 10. One leaderboard covers all nine airports, for this week and for all time: sign in (it’s free) before you play and your best score at any airport goes on the board, with the airport you made it at. As a guest you can play the three free airports straight away — your best score at each is kept on your device.
Like this? Try the real thing
Sky Jam is the arcade side of the ATC Radar Simulator, where you control real arrivals on a radar scope. Learn how it works in the guide to air traffic control, or try Runway Madness, Sky Chess and Flappy Pilot in the Fun Zone.