What on earth is this?

Once upon a time, when personal computers were young, someone wrote a programme that would simulate flying on a PC. The first flight sims had wire frame graphics and were slow and clunky, but gradully they became more refined, until with the arrival of Microsoft Flight Simulator, the world of flight simulation opened up to the masses of home computer users.

But even with modern technology the computer pilot flew alone, with only AI aircraft and the most basic of air traffic control. Then multiplayer capabilities allowed him (or her) to fly on the internet with other pilots, and suddenly he was not alone.

And with all these aircraft buzzing around in cyberspace, someone was needed to stop them crashing into one another. And so, online ATC simulation was born. While the pilots sit at home with their on-screen cockpits, ATC simmers sit behind their simulated radar screens watching the blips - each one representing a real person flying his simulated aircraft - and giving them the directions to get to their destination safely.

This site is dedicated to the online ATC simmers. While written from the point of view of one particular organisation, VATSIM, it aims to become a resource for online ATC and pilots everywhere.

Read and enjoy, and more importantly, come and join us!

Ruth McTighe
Deputy Director, Vatsim-UK
www.vatsim.net
www.vatsim-uk.org