They fly the same routes as the actual Delta Air Lines, sometimes on the same schedules. One of the largest, Delta Virtual Airlines, has 2,000 active pilots who must pass written and virtual flight tests in order to advance through the ranks as well as to fly progressively larger and more complex airplanes. If it’s an airline in the real world, there’s probably a virtual version. “I want to fly jets,” which he does for FedEx Virtual Cargo, one of hundreds of virtual airlines. “Frankly, I wouldn’t be satisfied flying a single-engine Cessna,” he said, referring to a typical trainer airplane.

Then there are those like Mark Hubbert, 44, a firefighter in Courtland, Va., who has more than 5,000 hours of simulated flight time. Or, perhaps, they are just afraid of heights. Friedland, who is not a pilot.Īn estimated 80 percent of virtual pilots, however, do not have pilots’ licenses because they lack the time or money for training or have an issue that would keep them from passing the medical exam. “There’s a fair amount of professional pilots and air traffic controllers who get involved because aviation is their passion and they want to encourage others,” said Mr. Their flights vary in length from long hauls, say, Los Angeles to Sydney (14 1/2 hours), to shorter hops, like Boston to Martha’s Vineyard (35 minutes). Most participants are men and range in age from teenagers to octogenarians. A rival network, IVAO, has 150,000 members in 56 countries. Think of it as a vast online video game like World of Warcraft for serious-minded aviation geeks. He is also the volunteer spokesman for Vatsim, a virtual flying network with 100,000 members in 143 countries. “The simulation software makes it photorealistic - the switches and gauges in the plane are the same, the airports are the same, the scenery is the same - it’s a completely immersive world,” said Justin Friedland, 66, a former producer for ABC News turned real estate agent in Pound Ridge, N.Y., who has logged 1,426 hours as a virtual pilot and 758 hours as a virtual controller. They get clearances and vectoring from fellow hobbyists acting as air traffic controllers who reference real waypoints in real airspace, adhering to the same stringent rules and procedures that govern actual aviation. They grip yokes and advance throttles in their spare bedrooms and basements, virtually flying everything from Piper Cubs to the Concorde.

Shah’s motivation, of course, but he represents just one of hundreds of thousands of virtual aviation enthusiasts. Why would a guy who spends so much time flying real airplanes want to pretend he’s flying a fake one in his off hours? Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. MUCH has been made of the flight simulator found in the home of Capt.

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