Detroit Metro Ground (3.5 Beta)

Captured 2026-09-26 from a 3.5 beta build on iPad Pro 13-inch (M5), on the Detroit Metro (DTW) level.

Detroit Metro now has a ground mode. Open the level and tap Ground, or Ground Endless, and you run the whole airport from the tower: from touchdown to the gate and back out to the runway.

The map is the real airport, built from OpenStreetMap: all six runways, 133 gates across the McNamara Terminal's A, B and C concourses and the Evans Terminal's D concourse, the painted hold lines, and the taxiways between them. Mainline jets park on A, regional jets on B and C, and D takes both. Fuel trucks work out of a depot beside each terminal, and the 3D tower view looks out from Detroit's control tower.

Aircraft hold short of every runway until you clear them to cross or take off, and a crossing is refused while traffic is still on that runway. Runway 9R starts at taxiway T6, because the taxiways at its west end are closed on the current FAA airport diagram. Labels thin out as you zoom out: gate numbers at concourse level, taxiway names around a terminal, runway ends for the whole field.

In this clip a test script plays the controller, tapping the same buttons you would, at Licensed difficulty and four times normal speed.

What to look for in the clip:

• 0:00 The whole field, with the first arrival landing and taxiing in.
• 0:15 Taxiway names at this zoom, around the McNamara Terminal.
• 0:44 Gate numbers at concourse level, and arrivals waiting for a taxi instruction.
• 1:18 The D concourse gates, with arrivals taxiing in to park.
• 1:52 The middle of the field: aircraft holding short, crossing runways and taxiing out to depart.

The whole airport. Zoomed out this far, only the runway ends are labelled.

Closer in, the taxiway names appear. The McNamara Terminal sits between the parallel runways, with a fuel depot on its apron.

At concourse level every gate is numbered: the A concourse, with B and C across the apron. Two arrivals have landed and wait for a taxi instruction.

The Evans Terminal's D concourse. An arrival is on final for 21L, and AAL803 is on its way to B Concourse.

AAL344 holds short of runway 3L on its way in, then crosses when cleared.

AAL611 waits at the 22L hold line to depart. The release is refused while another aircraft is still on 22L, with the next arrival 30 seconds out.

Still being tuned during the beta: how busy each difficulty feels at an airport this size. Ships in 3.5.