Fly two minutes over an airport and it counts as a visit
Catching aircraft and ships works because they come and go. An airport stays where it is, so "catching" one would just mean getting there. For places we wanted something else, and this is it: a visit.
The rule. Fly within reach of an airport, low enough to be around the field rather than over it at cruise height, for two minutes. Reach depends on the size of the airport: about 4 km for a large hub, 2.5 km for a medium one, 1.5 km for a small field and 1 km for a heliport. Low means no more than 500 m above the airport itself, so a field in Denver or Mexico City counts the same way as one at sea level.
The two minutes add up. Fly a lap, leave, come back later the same day and the clock carries on from where it stopped. It does not run while you are paused, and a tab sitting in the background does not earn time it was away. You can jump straight to an airport from the map. The jump is free, but you still have to fly the two minutes once you're there.
The timer. As soon as you enter an airport's zone, a small ring appears at the top of the screen with the name of the field and how long is left, for example "Hamburg Airport · 1:42 to go". If you are too high it tells you to come down below 500 m. If you already visited that airport today, it says so for a few seconds and gets out of the way.
Days level an airport up. One visit per airport per day (UTC) counts. Visits on different days build up that airport's tier:
- 1 day: Visitor
- 3 days: Regular
- 7 days: Local
- 15 days: Resident
- 30 days: Home base
The timer shows what today's visit is worth, like "day 6 of 7 to Local". Each new tier pays XP and feathers. A day that doesn't cross a tier still pays a little XP. From Regular upward the new tier also lands in your notifications, so it is still there after the toast is gone.
Achievements. Two new ladders count the different airports you have visited and the countries they are in.
Without an account. Guests see the same timer. When two minutes are up we ask you to sign in, and if you do within fifteen minutes the visit is saved to your new account for the day you flew it.
Which airports count: every airport that has a page on Skydex, the same ones you see as markers on the map and in the airport directory. Next we plan to show your own visits on each airport page and on the map, add a profile tile and add a daily mission. Visiting airports in real life, with the mobile app, is further out.
If you want a quick first one, open the map, pick a small field near you and circle it slowly at low altitude. Two minutes is about one relaxed lap.