As a flight simmer, you’ve probably tried your hand at flying all sorts of aircraft. Try your hand at this scenario: landing a heavy C-5 or C-17 in the harsh weather of the Poles as you touch down on an all-ice runway in McMurdo Station.

Or perhaps you prefer SPEED.  As a virtual airman in vUSAF’s Air Combat Command, you’ll spend a lot of your time in excess of Mach 1 .

With the recent development of the  ACMI gauge, a completely free utility available to all vUSAF airmen, the line between reality and fantasy blurs even further. All missile-equipped fighters come with two wing-loads full of armament, making the fight extend BVR (beyond visual range). If your missile misses, you’ll always have your guns…at least until you run out of ammo and the ACMI gauge gives you that heart-stalling click of an empty magazine. Popping flares and chaff as you race to land at the nearest Air Force base, decked out with completely free payware-quality scenery, you somehow manage to evade the enemy and land among frame  rate-friendly models of your brothers and sisters in arms.

With major events each year, including a simulated Red Flag, a myriad of smaller deployments and wing training events, an active community of military-style pilots, and an administrative staff who are there to Continue reading →