Many users are curious about Live Mode, and in some cases users with access are unsure what to do initially. This is how I experienced Infinite Flight Live for the first time, to give people one perspective of Infinite Flight Live. Note: Live is changing fast, some features I show/mention here may have been modified for the current or future versions.
Winds of Change
My outlook on Infinite Flight changed when the community saw the first parked aircraft shortly after AutoPilot+ dropped. The relationship between AP+ and parked aircraft was implicit, yet we didn’t know the degree of change it would bring.
Early hype around Infinite Flight Live came from “Laura’s Fleet” and the “Infinite Flight Corp Fleet.” From March 2025
Nonetheless, continuous hints of what would become the new “Infinite Flight Live” excited me. Over time, I was thrilled to see this new mode shaping into my ideal version of flight simming—one that involves round trips, schedules, logs, and a well-defined route network. Oh, and of course an aircraft that doesn’t de-spawn.
That’s why when I was finally invited to try it out, I jumped in exploring elements that felt natural to me. Personally, getting started in Live involved:
- Learning the Live Management Portal
- Acquiring Lifts to support my personal fleet & Virtual Airline
- Discovering how Live Mode comes to life: Managing the Route network, Schedules, and Fleet.
- Experiencing flights in persistent aircraft
Note: I jumped into IF Live as both a VA (staff) member and single-member organization owner, so my experience of it will differ from others.
Here are my takeaways in a nutshell:
- Enjoying it right away may require setting up your own organization/fleet, or being an existing member of an organization (usually by means of a VA).
- Besides the persistent aircraft, what makes Live Mode unique are the non-flight aspects (managing fleet, scheduling/being assigned aircraft & routes, viewing history/logs).
- There are a variety of ways to experience Live Mode. Someone can be less involved in org management but more involved in flying the fleet, or both, or vice versa. It’s really up to you
The First Day
After familiarizing myself with the Live Mode Portal, I shared the news of my access to my VA and was invited into our organization. (Unless one is setting up their own organization or fleet, I believe being a member of a VA or organization upon gaining access to Live is necessary to enjoy it right away.)
I then purchased and applied some Lifts to our VA Org—which increased our level and re-activated 5 additional planes. The free one was nice, but it really isn’t enough to get jumpstarted in Live if you’re planning on creating an organization or your own fleet.
With that said, I applied leftover lifts to create my personal organization, The Emirates Endeavor, which is entirely based on my Emirates route challenge. However, at this time we couldn’t change registrations yet, so I held off on taking delivery of an A380 I added.
Learning Non-Flight Aspects of Live
I circled back to my VA and checked out the planes I helped re-activate. I looked at when they joined the fleet, where they’ve been, and where they’re going next. It was all fun information I geeked out about!
As the VA’s Routes Manager, I was invited to update our routes in the Live Mode portal. Then I spent the rest of the day playing around in the management portal, understanding how to make/edit schedules, and observing how our members request aircraft assignments. I was so intrigued with the non-flight element of IF Live, that I didn’t bother flying until the next day.
For my first flight, I chose to reposition a lone A350 that had been in Bahrain for almost 2 months. Then my plan was to use this A350 to complete the next Emirates destination in my challenge, Brussels.
Upon adding Brussels to our routes, I realized that many of the routes I added yesterday were missing! As it turns out, I needed to press “Save changes” when adding/removing routes! Luckily this was only a minor setback.
My First Live Mode Flight
After ~36 hours I was ready to start my first flight in Live Mode! To make it interesting, I jumped into Free Flight and flew a FlyDubai 737 Max 8 from Dubai to Bahrain. Upon exiting the runway, I saw it—the A350 that was abandoned, and I was about to rescue and bring it home to Dubai. Wow!
I started up Live Mode, jumped in this A350 named A6EXE, and was met with an APU that was on, and some settings that the previous pilot had set before leaving the plane—even the previous flight plan was still there! A lot cooler than I imagined!
Flying an A350 wasn’t new to me, but knowing that I was repositioning this abandoned plane with a history before I joined Live mode was really fulfilling.
Before I knew it, I was already at Dubai, and learned the hard way about parking at high-traffic gates. Nope! I wasn’t about to send this A350 I just rescued to the Virtual Hangar, so I found out how to find lower traffic gates on the map, and moved A6EXE to its resting place—for now.
A350 rescue mission, complete!
The Emirates Endeavor goes Live
With the rescued A350, I completed the scheduled A350 service to Brussels. Again, nothing new to me to do a round trip flight to/from Dubai. But this time felt meaningful as I left a mark on the history of A6EXE.
After some thought, I decided to bring The Emirates Endeavor fleet to life, despite the non-customizable registrations (they eventually became customizable). I purchased more lifts to level up, and added an A350 and a B77W. These were the aircrafts I needed to complete my next few destinations. Also, setting the routes up were quick thanks to the ability to export/import .json files from an organization’s database.
The delivery flights felt so special, and it was incredibly satisfying parking them after their first flight home. After their arrival, both planes received a scheduled route—Athens for the A350, and Jakarta for the B77W.
And just like that, The Emirates Endeavor Fleet was born.
Final Thoughts
I came into Live Mode intrigued about persistent aircrafts, but under the surface the true persistence stems from managing, or even just being a part of, the organization. Whether it be managing fleets, schedules, routes, flying the aircraft, etc…the parked aircraft is only the tip of the iceberg.
When it’s all said and done, Infinite Flight Live will eventually change one’s in-flight habits (especially with maintenance & wear coming soon). Or maybe it already has, by giving someone the need for a little extra care when flying an aircraft they own.
Regardless, Infinite Flight Live takes what we experience from Free Flight, but brings more meaning into what happens before and after a flight. It’s a flight simulator experience I never imagined—especially on a mobile device—but I’m so glad it’s here. And I look forward to being part of the evolution.
