[I am an] Air Traffic Controller Available on STEAM

Initially released in 1998 by Japanese tech company TechnoBrain and successively improved upon since, I am an Air Traffic Controller (aka Air Traffic Controller) is simulation computer game series that challenges players to maintain positive control of arriving and departing air-traffic in busy, terminal (Class B and Class D) airspace.

Players must alternately vector multiple arriving aircraft onto the ILS final approach paths of their destination airports, land them, and direct them to their gates while contemporaneously directing departures.

Conceived of and developed initially as a computer game, Air Traffic Controller has subsequently been adapted for play on Sony’s PlayStation Portable; Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance DS, and 3DS systems; and five discrete mobile ports for both Android and iOS.

Over the decades since its debut, the game has proved a strong and consistent seller, enjoyed by players within and without the nebulous boundaries of aviation fandom

Known colloquially as Bokukan among its Japanese fans, [I am an) Air Traffic Controller allows players to immerse themselves in ATC scenarios, controlling the aircraft of numerous well-known international airlines against accurately simulated backdrops of Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport (HND), Komatsu’s Komatsu Airport (KMQ), Nagoya Airfield (NKM), and other high-volume, Japanese airports.

The game’s most recent iteration, [I am an] Air Traffic Controller 4, includes a simulation of Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport (CTS) and the adjacent Chitose Air Base (of Japan’s Defense Forces). By controlling both civilian and military aircraft arriving and departing the two facilities, players are afforded opportunity to experience the characteristics of both conventional transport category aircraft and high-speed, fast-climbing fighter jets.

Unlike its predecessors, [I am an] Air Traffic Controller 4 encompasses both summer and winter airport operations. In its winter mode, the game randomly closes runways on account of snow (a tiresomely common atmospheric phenomenon in Hokkaido—Japan’s northernmost island and home to the thermal-spring frequenting macaques made famous by BBC nature documentaries. Players must order airport snow-removal equipment into action between arriving and departing flights for purpose of keeping the airport open. In the event of heavy snow, players may be required to issue holding instructions to arriving aircraft, then direct the clearing of runways as aircraft orbiting overhead in IMC conditions and icing burn finite fuel-loads.  

Conversely, in summer mode, thick ocean fog often limits visibility, limiting flight operations and removing the luxury of visual approaches.

[I am an] Air Traffic Controller can be had for an eminently reasonable $39.95, and requires:

• A 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64bit
• Processor: Intel 4th Gen Core i3 2.4GHz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4400 series
• DirectX: Version 9.0
• Storage: 3 GB available space
• Sound Card: DX9-compatible sound card
• A 1366x768 display

FMI: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839300/ATC4_Airport_NEW_CHITOSE_RJCC/, www.technobrain.com/atc4_g/newchitose/