![]() The two versions of Flight Simulator available through Steam- Microsoft Flight Simulator X and the newer Microsoft Flight Simulator-average more than 6,500 concurrent players combined at any given time, according to SteamCharts. This is thanks in large part to the release of Flight Simulator, a reboot of the classic Microsoft title that dropped last year. That worked until one founding member of fsATC, like a pilot flouting the directions of air traffic control, decided to go rogue and veered directly into turbulence that shook the whole community.Įvan Reiter, a real-life airline pilot and cofounder of the Flight Simulation Association-an organization dedicated to the growth of the flight sim community-says that the flight simulators, a relatively forgotten genre of games that seemed to be relegated to memories from the early 2000s, have been given new life in recent years. The community as a whole operated on a similar premise: As long as everyone kept the cooperative spirit, it continued to grow. When everything goes right-when air traffic controllers and pilots cooperate-planes take off and land without the slightest hint of a problem. If this sounds a little mundane, well, consider that a virtue. Success is declared when a plane safely lands at its designated destination. Air traffic controllers keep tabs on flying conditions and are tasked with clearing flight plans proposed by pilots looking to complete a journey. Instead, they fly by staying grounded in reality. ![]() Members of fsATC and others in the flight sim community would rather not have the skies littered with daredevils. Perhaps you remember entering the cockpit of a classic version of Microsoft Flight Simulator and buzzing the Eiffel Tower or landing on the Golden Gate Bridge-the type of reckless feats that become possible only within a video game. They are located thousands of miles apart, brought together by a Discord channel and a multiplayer server for Microsoft Flight Simulator, both operated by a bustling community known as fsATC, or flight simulator air traffic control.įormed in the summer of 2019, fsATC is one of a number of communities that have cropped up around flight simulators with the goal of keeping the game as realistic as possible. ![]() But the controller isn't seated at O'Hare, and neither is the pilot. In fact, air traffic control just gave a pilot word that they are clear for takeoff. The air is still, barely a hint of clouds overhead. It's a peaceful evening in the sky above O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
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