What is a Flight Simulator?

Well, before I get into detail what it is I'm going to do, let me first tell you what a flight simulator is.

My F-14D Tomcat flying over fog-laden mountains in Japan.

Since man has invented video games there have been flight simulators.  Originally it was a couple green lines, an altimeter, and a speedometer.  Now that computers have advanced, simulators have left the gaming community, and the real ones are much more professional, even used today by airlines for their reality.  They simulate the interior of the cockpit in the 3rd dimension, and in Microsoft Flight Simulator X all of the "bells and whistles" within a planes cockpit are operational, either from shortcuts on your keyboard, or you can move them on the screen with your mouse.

The level of realism is astonishing, you may as well be in the actual plane, though I quote my father saying "If you were to make the ultimate flight simulator, you'd end up making an airplane."  My history with these programs goes back to when I was first introduced to them at 4 years old on an MS DOS run Macintosh computer.  Ever since then my skill while flying has grown considerably, and now I want to take it to the next level by joining a flight simulator community known as VATSIM (Virtual Air Traffic Simulator).  This is where all professional level virtual pilots come to test their skills at what could be considered the real deal, whether they are actual pilots are just civilian enthusiasts.

So now we come to the purpose of my blog,  I have just joined this community, and will be putting my flying skills to their ultimate test, as I practice routine flights, and air traffic control systems.  The ultimate goal being to join a virtual Navy, and pass their training courses in order to join a squadron at the most professional level I can reach without actually joining (which I can't physically because I'm too tall to pilot actual jet fighters).  So please sit back, buckle your seat belts, turn off all electronics and place your trays in the upright and locked position.  Thank you!

How I plan to go about practicing for VATSIM