Now Allows Pilots To See Other Aircraft And Hear Other Pilots On The Network

By Maria Morrison

Electronic aviation simulator software has come a long way as far as control response time, airport databases, and realism is concerned. However, there is one aspect that hardly get touched upon. "When this first started, it was originally born out of the idea that, at our home in Leesburg, some of these people who have been flying for 50 years cannot use a radio... We've got all these Redbirds, how can we use all these Redbirds and let people practice using the radio? So we've got a King Air facility, 172s at the flight school... And they're all networked together (using the Mindstar software) and they can practice radio work together at their home   airport." Says Mindstar president Stasi Poulos.

The new Mindstar software allows any simulator using Microsoft Flight Simulator X or Lockheed Prepar3D to join the network of any active simulators, all able to communicate with each other and ATC. Scheduled to release late this year, this software, Airspace VR, allows any simulator operating with the approved programs to interact with others and a live ATC. When the product releases, they plan to have a controller working real-time at different airports. This allows pilots to experience crowded frequencies, following ATC instructions, and communicating with other pilots.

This software also shows the aircraft of other pilots. If someone in a 172 living in Washington lands at KOSH at the same time that the pilot of a Fairchild 71 living in New York does, the two will see each other's aircraft and be able to hear live radio transmissions with the tower. "We rehearsed," says Poulos, "we had one simulator in Germany and the other one in northern Virginia. And we pick an airport and fly at it, and it's like we're right in the same space."

Months before AirVenture, Redbird simulators planned a display at the AOPA tent, offering ten minutes of simulator time to anyone who wanted it. Mindstar jumped on the chance to display their new product and cut a deal with Redbird and AOPA. They exchanged the standard software with their network, upgrading nine solo simulators to a comprehensive, interacting group of  pilots and controllers.

While they are still working out the details of having real interacting frequencies, Mindstar hopes to expand the software to fit many more simulator programs, so that anyone can have the experience of interacting with other aviators in the digital world.

FMI: www.AirspaceVR.com