The Hostile Takeover of a Microsoft Flight Simulator Server
It's a peaceful evening in the sky above O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. The air is still, barely a hint of clouds overhead. Visibility extends for miles. Conditions are perfect for flight. In fact, air traffic control just gave a pilot word that they are clear for takeoff. The sky’s the limit, it would seem. But the controller isn't seated at O'Hare, and neither is the pilot. 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.
Formed 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.
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. Members of fsATC and others in the flight sim community would rather not have the skies littered with daredevils. Instead, they fly by staying grounded in reality. Air traffic controllers keep tabs on flying conditions and are tasked with clearing flight plans proposed by pilots looking to complete a journey. Success is declared when a plane safely lands at its designated destination.
