Frequently Asked Questions

Shirley is a real-time AI voice copilot for pilots.

Instructors create and Shirley delivers simulator-based structured training scenarios, while pilots get a digital teammate that sits right next to them — in the sim or in the air.

Shirley runs entirely in your browser as a voice call.

1. Start a Shirley call. Open FlyShirley.com, head to the Flight Center, and press Start Flight. That opens your voice call with Shirley.
2. Start a simulator flight. Open X-Plane 12 and press New Flight — not Flight School (X-Plane's Flight School runs its own built-in tutorials that Shirley can't see or participate in). Load fully into the flight.
3. Connect Shirley to the sim. With both a Shirley call and a simulator flight running, click the blue Connect to X-Plane button in your Shirley call. That's it — Shirley is now in the cockpit with you.

Shirley gets a live feed of your airplane — airspeed, altitude, heading, engines, radios, autopilot, and the weather around you. That's how Shirley can answer questions like "am I on glide path?" or "what's my groundspeed?"

Shirley can reach into the sim and control it for you: dialing in a radio frequency, setting an autopilot target, flipping the landing lights, dropping the gear, changing the weather or time of day — even repositioning your airplane mid-flight to set up on final or move to a new airport entirely. Traffic pattern guidance is available at over 10,000 airports worldwide.

Shirley grades your flying to real checkride standards. Fly structured training challenges — or mark a takeoff, landing, or steep turn yourself — and get detailed ACS-standard scoring with specific feedback on what to improve. Track your progress over time, or create your own challenges to practice exactly what you need.

You get a copilot with the information you need, when it matters: real-time web search to answer questions mid-flight, proactive callouts on critical phases, and wake-up triggers on altitude, airspeed, or time so nothing slips by.

For the full list of what Shirley can see and control, check out Core Capabilities.

Shirley can control most discrete switches, but roll, pitch, yaw and throttles remain the pilot's responsibility.

Shirley can control the Autopilot and coach you on how to use these levers, flagging when something looks off — but they won't take these controls from you.

The fastest way to start is Shirley School — a guided orientation that takes about 5 minutes and doesn't require a simulator. You'll learn how to talk to Shirley, use assistant mode, and navigate the platform.

Once you're comfortable, try the Discovery Flight to get hands-on with the simulator, or jump straight into ACS Challenges like takeoffs, landings, and steep turns where Shirley grades your flying against real FAA checkride standards.

Visit the Fly page to see everything available.

X-Plane 12 is fully supported with zero install required. Microsoft Flight Simulator support is currently in beta (see Pre-Release Products below). We can also support P3D-based sims on request — get in touch if you're interested!

FlyShirley is a web application that runs in your browser, so you can talk to Shirley on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android/iOS — any OS that can run a supported browser.

To connect to a sim, Shirley must be running on the same computer as your flight simulator (it uses local WebSockets).

The connection to your simulator works best in Chrome on desktop and is not supported in Safari on macOS (Safari doesn't support local WebSockets, which are needed to communicate with the simulator). Firefox and Chromium-based browsers like Edge and Brave also work.

For connecting to your simulator:

• X-Plane 12 (Windows, macOS, Linux) — connects directly from your browser with no extra software.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator (Windows) — requires our SimConnect Bridge. See "How do I try the MSFS Beta?" below for setup instructions.

Organizations let you share and assign Challenges, plus see flights by other members. Organization setup is currently a manual process. Please email us or schedule a call and we'll get you set up right away!

For the best experience, we recommend wired microphones with a physical mute switch:

• USB desktop microphones with a green/red mute indicator — great for classrooms and shared spaces
• Gaming headsets with flip-up mics — the mic mutes when you flip it up, making it clear when Shirley can hear you

Check out our STEM Educator's Guide for specific hardware recommendations.

We've put together a detailed guide covering flight controls, computers, audio, and displays for individual pilots and STEM labs alike — including specific product recommendations at every price point.

Read the full guide: The STEM Educator's Guide to Building a Flight Sim Lab.

TL;DR — a gaming laptop, X-Plane 12, a joystick or yoke, and a wired microphone is all you need to get started.

Shirley offers several ways to learn, whether you're brand new or practicing for a checkride:

1. Shirley School — Start here! A guided orientation that teaches you how to talk to Shirley, use assistant mode, and navigate the platform. No simulator required.
2. Discovery Flight — A relaxed introductory flight where Shirley walks you through the basics of flying in the simulator.
3. ACS Challenges — Teach yourself to fly with scored maneuver analysis! Shirley grades your takeoffs, landings, and steep turns against the standards required to pass a real FAA ACS checkride, with detailed performance feedback.
4. Challenge Creator — Design your own structured training scenarios. Describe what you want to practice and Shirley will generate a complete multi-phase challenge for you.
5. Free flight — Just connect to your sim and fly! Shirley acts as your copilot, answering questions and providing coaching whenever you need it.

Visit the Fly page to see all available options, or check out Shirley's capabilities to learn more about what they can do.

Shirley needs microphone access to hear you. When you first start a session, Chrome shows a permission prompt — click Allow.

To select a microphone input for Shirley:

1. Click the dropdown arrow (▼) next to the Microphone button
2. Select your preferred audio input device from the list

Windows sometimes has trouble remembering your audio input device selection. You may need to re-select your device each time you start a session if Windows resets your preference.

If you previously blocked the microphone (or want to change it later):

1. Make sure you have a microphone plugged in
2. Go to the FlyShirley website in Chrome
3. Click the Lock or Settings icon or View site information (ⓘ) left of the URL
4. Click Site settings
5. Find Microphone and change the dropdown to Allow
6. Reload the page so Shirley can pick up the new permission

Shirley's voice plays through your browser and default audio device (e.g. your headset) — completely separate from X-Plane's audio. It doesn't come over the sim's intercom or radios.

Does that voice seem familiar? One of Shirley's voice options was synthesized from recordings of Austin Meyer (with his permission) — the same Austin who built X-Plane and narrates its built-in tutorials. If you have that voice selected and start one of X-Plane's Flight School tutorials, you'll hear a familiar voice — but that's X-Plane's own narrator, not Shirley.

If X-Plane can't connect to Shirley, you may need to allow local network access in Chrome:

1. Go to the FlyShirley website in Chrome
2. Click the Lock icon or View site information (ⓘ) next to the URL
3. Click Site settings
4. Find Local network access and change the dropdown to Allow

You may also see a prompt when first connecting — click "Allow" when it appears.

The Microphone button serves as a mute/unmute toggle. Click it to mute your microphone input — Shirley won't hear anything with your microphone muted.

The dropdown arrow (▼) next to the button opens the audio source selector, where you can choose which microphone input to use.

There are a few ways to quiet Shirley:

• Mute checkbox: Use the mute checkbox in the Shirley interface to mute Shirley's microphone.
• Voice command: Say "Mute" or "Shirley, sterile cockpit mode" to have Shirley mute themselves.
• Assistant Mode toggle: Enable "Assistant Mode" (also called "Shirley Mode") toggle under the microphone button. When enabled, Shirley only responds when you say "Shirley", then automatically re-mutes after responding.

Compared to muting your microphone, Shirley can still hear everything said while muted or on assistant mode, but won't respond until you say "Shirley."

When running your simulator in fullscreen mode, the FlyShirley browser window is often hidden. Here are some options:

• Windowed simulator mode: Run your simulator in windowed mode so you can see both the sim and FlyShirley's interface
• External monitor: Place FlyShirley on a second display alongside your simulator
• Chrome Live Captions: Enable Chrome's built-in Live Caption feature to see captions overlaid on your screen (see Google's guide)

Shirley understands speech in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, and Japanese.

Shirley can also speak in these same 10 languages (currently in beta), with voices Agnes and Sarge. Other voices still have an (extremely) American accent.

Note: Some utterances may occasionally be misrecognized across languages — for example, phonetically similar words in one language may be interpreted as another.

Head to the Challenge Creator and describe the scenario you want to practice — for example, "practice short-field landings at a mountain airport" or "recreate the Miracle on the Hudson river landing." The AI will generate a complete multi-phase challenge for you. Watch the tutorial video for a walkthrough!

From there you can:

• Edit the result — The generated challenge appears in a live editor where you can modify any part of it directly. The editor validates your changes in real-time against the challenge schema.
• Iterate with AI — Want changes? Type what you'd like to adjust and regenerate — the AI will use your current challenge as a starting point rather than creating from scratch.
• Test immediately — Start a Shirley call right on the same page to fly your challenge without leaving the editor.

Most built-in challenges also have a "Show Challenge JSON" button that lets you view (and copy) their underlying code — a great way to learn how challenges are structured.

For advanced authoring, browse the challenge specification to see the full TypeScript schema, or explore example challenges on GitHub for inspiration. The Challenge & Training page has a detailed overview of what each phase can control.

Sharing a completed flight:

1. Open your flight from the Logbook
2. Click Share Flight — the button is replaced by a Copy link button
3. Send the link to anyone — they can view your map, transcript, and summary without logging in

Sharing a live/scheduled flight: (beta)

You can invite teammates to participate in your flight in real-time.

Scheduled flights are automatically shared with a join link. Until about an hour after the scheduled time you'll see two buttons:

• Copy join link — lets someone enter their name and fully participate in your live flight (they can speak with you and Shirley, and see the flight in real-time)
• Copy share link — gives the regular read-only view URL

Unsharing:

Click the three-dots menu (⋮) and select Unshare Flight — the public link stops working immediately. If you reshare later, the same URL is reused.

Some of Shirley's X-Plane 12 automations require a G1000-class avionics suite (including Cirrus SR22, Lancair Evolution, and Van's RV-10). Here's what's different on the Cessna 172 SP steam gauge (6-pack with GNS 430/530-class avionics):

Everything else — autopilot on/off, heading bug, vertical speed, flight coaching, traffic pattern guidance, weather, repositioning, and all training challenges — works the same on both variants.

If you're flying IFR training or challenges that involve GPS navigation, Shirley is most capable in G1000 variants.

Mark the start as you line up on the runway, before you begin your takeoff roll. Mark the end once you've climbed through at least 700 ft AGL — Shirley needs the full climb profile to score your Vy (best rate of climb) segment cleanly. Marking the end below 700 ft will leave the climb portion of the score incomplete.

Shirley needs a few things set before scoring can run:

• Runway waypoint — ask Shirley to set it by voice (Shirley will also prompt you if it's missing).
• V-speeds (Vr, Vx, Vy) — pulled automatically from your aircraft profile. Any aircraft tagged Training Ready in the picker has V-speeds configured: Cessna 172 (all variants), Cirrus SR22, Diamond DA42 NG, Lancair Evolution Turbine, Piper Super Cub, and Van's RV-10. For other aircraft, get in touch.

What's scored to ACS standards, by variant:

• Normal — Ground roll tracking, rotation speed (Vr), and Vy climb speed & track.
• Soft — Same as Normal, but rotation speed isn't scored (earlier rotation into ground effect is expected).
• Short — Adds a Vx (best angle) climb segment scored between 50–300 ft AGL, then transitions to Vy through 700 ft and beyond.
• Short-Soft — Combines the soft-field and short-field expectations (rotation not scored, Vx segment added).

If you forget to mark start: tell Shirley "set the start marker 180 seconds ago" (or whatever matches when you began the roll) and they'll place it retroactively. Markers can also be moved or adjusted afterward.

Mark the start while you're descending and at or above 500 ft AGL. You don't need to be lined up with the runway yet — if you're still in the pattern (turning base to final, for example), you can go ahead and drop the marker. The analyzer tool will wait to start scoring your runway alignment until you've stabilized on final approach, so placing the marker a little early is fine. Mark the end after you've rolled out and slowed below 15 kts, so Shirley can capture the full ground roll.

Shirley needs a couple of things set before scoring can run:

• Runway waypoint — ask Shirley to set it by voice (Shirley will also prompt you if it's missing).
• Approach speed (vApp) — including your gust factor. Shirley will ask for it if it's not already known.

What's scored to ACS standards, by variant:

• Normal — Your approach, touchdown, and ground roll.
• Soft — Same as Normal, plus a soft touchdown and gentle taxi speed after rollout.
• Short — Short-field profile; intended for tighter landings on shorter runways.
• Short-Soft — Combines the short-field and soft-field intent.

If you forget to mark start: tell Shirley "set the start marker 180 seconds ago" (or whatever matches when you began your descent) and they'll place it retroactively. Markers can also be moved or adjusted afterward.

Mark the start once you're established on your entry heading, at your target altitude, and at your target airspeed — those three values at the moment you mark become the scoring baseline. Mark the end after you've rolled wings level at the completion of the turn (or turns).

Flying the full ACS sequence? One 360° turn, roll wings level through your reference heading, then 360° in the opposite direction.

You can place a single start/end marker pair around any steep turn sequence — Shirley will detect and score each turn separately as long as your wings go level between each turn. If you do multiple full 360° rotations without leveling your wings between them, those will all just be scored as one turn.

What's scored to ACS standards (per turn):

• Altitude — Maintain within ±100 ft of your baseline altitude.
• Airspeed — Maintain within ±10 kts of your baseline airspeed.
• Bank angle — Hold 45° during the turn; your roll-in and roll-out aren't graded for bank angle.
• Heading return — Exit within ±10° of your baseline heading.

No runway waypoint or aircraft-specific parameters are needed.

If you forget to mark start: tell Shirley "set the start marker 60 seconds ago" per turn performed (so ~120 seconds for a left/right pair) and they'll place it retroactively. Markers can also be moved or adjusted afterward.

Our Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 & 2024 support is currently in beta! Here's how to get started:

1. Download the SimConnect Bridge tray app (Windows only, code-signed by Airplane Team).
2. Place the SimConnect DLL — the bridge needs SimConnect_internal.dll (MSFS 2024) or SimConnect.dll (MSFS 2020) in the same folder. See "Troubleshooting MSFS" below if you need help finding it.
3. Run SimConnect Bridge — it will appear in your Windows system tray and automatically connect to MSFS when the sim is running.
4. Navigate to FlyShirley for MSFS 2024 (or MSFS 2020) in Chrome.
5. Fly! Press "Connect to MSFS" and Shirley will connect to your sim through the bridge automatically.

Need help? Ask in our Discord, or email us directly.

The SimConnect Bridge needs a file called SimConnect_internal.dll (MSFS 2024) or SimConnect.dll (MSFS 2020) to run. This file ships with every copy of MSFS — you don't need the SDK or Developer Mode. You just need to find it and place it next to the bridge.

Step 1: Find the DLL

Option A — File Explorer (easiest):

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to This PC
2. Type SimConnect_internal.dll in the search bar (top right)
3. Wait for the search to complete — this may take a few minutes

Option B — PowerShell (faster):

1. Press Win + X and select Terminal or PowerShell
2. Paste this command and press Enter:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\,D:\,E:\ -Recurse -Filter "SimConnect_internal.dll" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName

Step 2: Copy the DLL next to the bridge

Copy SimConnect_internal.dll into the same folder as simconnect-bridge.exe:

Your Folder
├── simconnect-bridge.exe
└── SimConnect_internal.dll

Important: Don't run the bridge from your Downloads folder — Windows applies extra security restrictions there. Move both files to a folder like Documents or your Desktop first.

Alternative: Instead of copying the DLL to the bridge, you can copy simconnect-bridge.exe into your MSFS 2024 game folder (where the DLL already lives) and run it from there.

Where is the DLL usually located?

• Steam (default install): C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator2024\
• Microsoft Store / Xbox App: C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Limitless_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\
• SDK installed: Look for SimConnect.dll in your SDK's SimConnect SDK\lib\ folder — either DLL works with the bridge.

Common issues:

• Bridge starts but won't connect: Right-click the bridge in your system tray and click "Reconnect." If that doesn't work, restart the bridge while MSFS is running.
• Can't find the DLL anywhere: Make sure MSFS 2024 is fully installed (not still downloading). Try searching all drives.
• Found multiple copies of the DLL: Any copy will work — pick the one in your main MSFS game folder.
• Using MSFS 2020: Search for SimConnect.dll instead of SimConnect_internal.dll and follow the same steps.

Still stuck? Get in touch and include which MSFS version you're running (2020 or 2024), whether you installed via Steam or Microsoft Store, and the error message you see.

The MSFS integration doesn't yet have full feature parity with X-Plane 12. Here are a few things to be aware of:

• [Limitation] Weather & wind: Shirley can't currently set wind or weather conditions in MSFS. You'll need to configure weather in the sim's settings yourself before or during your flight.
• [Bug] Repositioning tools: The teleport and set-pattern-position tools require your aircraft to be airborne to work correctly. Get in the air first, then ask Shirley to reposition you.
• [Bug] Time resets: MSFS may occasionally snap back to real-world time for your location, overriding your custom time-of-day settings. If the time suddenly changes, check the sim's time settings.

If you run into anything not listed here, let us know in Discord or email us — your feedback helps us decide what to prioritize!

FlyShirley in-flight is currently in alpha testing on iPad and iPhone! The experience replicates what you can see from the Shirley Air Tour — Shirley acts as your copilot during real flights, keeping a transcript, providing helpful information and answering questions.

To get early access, email us or ask in our Discord.