Ever wanted to be a Playmonaut? El Reg's Vulture 2 spaceplane sim reveals what it's like

Unique tree-acquisition capabilities work well

It has to be said, the ship flies pretty well via a budget USB joystick, and with no throttle, flaps or other such fripperies to worry about, it's just a matter of gliding back to terra firma, in this case at an undisclosed location in the US of A, as a tip of the hat to Billy:

Everything at this point was going according to plan, but then we unwisely attempted to bring the ship down in an area heavily populated by the High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) community's nemesis - the magnetic tree:

You won't need a picture to demonstrate what happened next. Suffice it to say, subsequent flights have been conducted over terrain where the largest plant is a shrub no taller than 20cm.

If necessary, there is the option to deploy a 'chute just before hitting the ground, although the real Vulture 2 doesn't pack this extra.

So, that's a quick teaser of where we're at with the virtual Vulture 2. Billy's still working on tweaks and improvements, including a refined launch rod, and spaceplane design nipper Ariadne's upper livery.

We've only had a couple of hours to try out the aircraft, so we'll report back with a more detailed analysis when we've mastered the beast and Billy's wrapped the final details.

At that point, we'll release the X-Plane Vulture 2 into the wild, so you can all have a play. In the meantime, please join us in raising the traditional pint or two to Mr Bargagliotti. ®

More from the lovely LOHAN:

• You can find full LOHAN coverage right here.
• If you're new to LOHAN, seek out our mission summary for enlightenment.
• There are photos our our magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane here, and detailed structural plans here.
• For your further viewing pleasure, we have all our photographic material stored on Flickr.
• Our LOHAN and Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) videos live on YouTube.
• We sometimes indulge in light consensual tweeting, as you can see here.