Flight Club International
F.S Flight Club International is a virtual flying club, similar to a virtual airline, utilizing Microsoft’s Flight Simulator program for the personal computer. This group was launched on the world wide web in January, 2003 by hobbiests, calling themselves “Flight Simmers” or “Flight Sim(ulation) Enthusiasts” from six nations: Australia, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Venezuela and the United States. They have since added administrative members from Peru and The Netherlands but have pilots from over fifty nations. Members of this group have all had articles or editorial pieces published on flightsim.com 1 and use their common interest as the catalyst for the group. The premise of this particular group or club is for one member to present a virtual flying challenge each month and then for the other members to complete the tasks or challenges laid out for that month’s feature flight or FOTM (Flight of the Month). In 2004 the group also launched a virtual airline, Flight Club International Airways which is hosted on a web-based forum at YahooGroups.
Other flight simulator enthusiasts or virtual pilots can join this, or any other virtual airline, where they can fly prescribed routes in specified aircraft to earns points or credits with the group. Some virtual airlines are very structured and try to emulate real-world business while others, such as this group, are designed more for fun and entertainment - rather than sticking strictly with real-world routes and schedules. Pilots are encouraged to use live voice-chat and/or air traffic control functions such as VATSIM 2, as often as they wish. Like most virtual flying clubs or airlines, this group has a unique livery or paint scheme displayed on their aircraft "http://img446.imageshack.us/img446/7254/767sa18yk.jpg" which other simmers can download into their own games on their own computers. These aircraft add-ons may be available on a group-specific website (which most virtual flying clubs or airlines have) or for public download from a flight simulator website such as flightsim.com3.
This particular group is unique not just for the fact that they feature a new and unique challenge each month but also because they have been featured in magazines such as Computer Pilot 4 and PC Pilot5, which is based in the UK. One member from Australia has gone so far as to publish a flight simulator-based novel entitled, GET REAL.