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Reddit“I listen to Sky Blue Radio nearly every time I fly,” says Benjamin Van Eps, a 33-year-old virtual pilot living in Springfield, Missouri. Van Eps, who works as an architect in his day job, likes to fly Boeing 767s on the Virtual Air Traffic Simulation Network after a long day at the office. On lengthy flights, he enjoys listening to the music and news on Sky Blue Radio, an Internet-based radio station that caters to the flight simulation community.
Sky Blue Radio, which began broadcasting on May 13, 2007, draws up to 750,000 listeners a month. “Not fascinating figures in the world of radio, but for the flight sim community, that is pretty good,” says Sky Blue’s founder, British media entrepreneur Richard Rudd. Instructions for how to tune in can be found at www.skyblueradio.com, and the site can accommodate the media players found on most Macs and PCs, including iTunes, Winamp, and RealPlayer.
The music selections are largely pop/rock, old and new, everything from Frankie Valli and the Beatles to John Cougar Mellencamp. “We have a little something for most,” says Rudd. “We prefer to stay away from songs containing vulgarity, as we like to think of the station as family-orientated.”
A check of Sky Blue’s 24/7 DJ schedule reveals that most of the slots are filled by Otto Mattix, the name of an automatic DJ system. On every day but Wednesday, however, live DJs (Mr. G, Scooter, and Willy Wheels among them) host two- or three-hour shows. Based in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium, they work as volunteers. “With the power of the Internet, we can host a show from virtually anywhere on the planet,” says Rudd, whose DJs all use off-the-shelf Internet broadcast software. Although Rudd hopes to someday transform Sky Blue into a commercial, revenue-generating enterprise, he currently covers all operating expenses with income he earns from Corporate Radio Services, a media company he owns in Lancashire, England.
When he’s not running his business, Rudd is a flight simulation enthusiast, or “flight simmer.” As a virtual pilot, he favors the Boeing 737-700 for short hops and the 767-300 for longer hauls. He’s also a home-builder of simulated cockpits, with two projects in the works: cockpit replicas of the Aero Vodochody L29 and the Beechcraft 65A. With Sky Blue Radio, Rudd wants to entertain his fellow flight simmers with music, yes, but he also wants to keep his listeners informed about the latest trends in flight simulation. “As far as news is concerned, we tend to only look at things that are happening within the flight simulation community,” says Rudd. “We will not cover world topics. The belief is that people tuned in to Sky Blue Radio are carrying out their hobby, and so do not need or want to have ‘real life’ thrust on them during that time.”
As far as simulating the real life of airline pilots, however, virtual airline pilots who listen to Sky Blue while “on duty” are taking liberties. Real airline pilots are, of course, not allowed to listen to commercial radio broadcasts in the cockpit; doing so would distract them from communications with air traffic control and possibly jeopardize safety. But many Sky Blue listeners are willing to compromise the perfection of their chosen flight simulations by tuning in while seated in the cockpit. For architect Van Eps, listening to Sky Blue helps pass the time at 34,000 (virtual) feet. Still, he’s choosy about when to dial in. “On a short hop such as KLAS [Las Vegas] to KLAX [Los Angeles], there isn’t enough time to listen to air traffic control, do all the checklists, and listen to Kenny Loggins pumped out on the radio. I suppose you could tune in, but Los Angeles Approach really wouldn’t like all the ‘Say again, please’ requests. But if I have a two-hour cruise time, bring on the tunes as it gets lonely up there.”
Besides the tunes and news about the world of flight sim, Sky Blue broadcasts occasional feature stories on aviation topics, interviews with real-world pilots, and field reports from such institutions as the annual mass gathering at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the air races in Reno, Nevada.
Whether they are sitting in the virtual cockpit of a Boeing 747, a Lockheed Martin F-16, or a Cessna 172, flight simmers of all stripes are frequently objects of curiosity for non-simmers, who can’t help but wonder why these (mostly) guys go to such great lengths to be armchair pilots. “People ask all the time, ‘But why?’ ” says Van Eps. “I can only respond with ‘Why not?’ ” As Sky Blue Radio catches on, it’s becoming known as a place where flight simmers get more than a little respect. “I know when I hear the DJs, they are talking to a very select group of people,” says Van Eps. “Those who are cruising the virtual skies.”
This is an excellent story. These kind of interesting stories are still unknown. Good Job !
Posted by Charles Randy on November 19,2008 | 03:28PM
FSX is a very good flight sim. Excellent visuals and lots of high tech. GPS, ILS, airports around the world and in remote locations. Aircraft from the Wright Brothers to current glass instrumented heavies. Available for a mere fraction of a general aviation aircraft. Major downside is lack of accurate stick feed back. Likely coming.
Posted by Roger Brown on December 22,2008 | 12:20PM
Blue Sky Radio is an excellent free product and yes, at fl340 it makes a massive difference
Posted by George J Leonard on February 14,2009 | 03:11AM
Hi guys and gals (which I know for sure, are also simmers) I´ve been flying Sims from FS95 and on, but my favourite is FS2002. It has everything the later versions have, exceptt that the FSX has better ground graphics. But, if you do mostly instrument flying with ILS landing and seeing the runaway at the last minute because of storms or heavy rain, the ground details don´t matter too much.On another v enue, I had to choose between not flying at all or split from my girlfriend and fly. Guess which one I picked. Non simmers don´t understand us, really. Keep up the good work simmers.
Posted by Gonzalo G. De Orense on March 10,2009 | 05:59PM
Glad to see that you guys have stumbled across this article. It's amazing the depth of knowledge one can gain in the simulators or today. By no grand illusion do I think I could sit down and do the real deal but the hobby has allowed me to study something in so much detail that I feel I at least have a sense of what the guy up front is doing. I get a real sense of satisfaction when I complete a great STAR arrival into KLAX with full ATC and traffic in all directions. Any one who has an interest in aviation and can't afford to jump in and get a PPL, I highly recommend the simulator. The fun is endless. Feel free to contact me if you want to get up in the simulator, questions on hardware or addons. I think over the past 5 years I have gone through it all. Benjamin V.
Posted by Benjamin on March 20,2009 | 09:51PM
Benjamin, Hi there. I´ll take you on your offer. I downloaded aLockheed L-1649A Starliner version 2.2 from Avism and installed on my FS2004. Tested according to the Readme file and everything works just fine, on the ground! because I set flaps at 80 and reach 130 knots and it does not takes off and when it does, it just goes down again. If I retract the landing gear, it just drops like a rock. Any ideas? had you downladed that classic? I love tha plane and I justo dont like sitting on the tarmac, getin a tan; it needs to fly ! Thanks for your imput whenever you have the time. Appreciated. Gonzalo
Posted by Gonzalo G. De Orense on April 16,2009 | 02:45PM