Dear Pilots,
I'm doing research for an upcoming Salon.com article about the increasing level of realism in popular home computer games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Fly!, and several third-party add-on modules for these titles that simulate commercial jet aircraft. (To see one of the latest examples, go here:
http://www.precisionmanuals.com/PROD...ners/737NG.htm.)
Given the events of September 11 and the ongoing terrorist obsession with using planes as weapons of destruction (as evidenced by the recent reports of a foiled hijacking plot in Saudi Arabia), are these games getting a little too accurate? I'm not suggesting for a moment that a person could learn to fly an airliner properly using their home computer. Yet could such detailed software be misappropriated by terrorists wishing to become familiar enough with the operations, procedures, V-speeds, and other characteristics of a particular model of aircraft to carry out their mission in the event of a successful hijacking?
The fair and balanced answer that I seek to this question requires input from airline pilots—hence the reason for this posting. If you have experience as a captain or first officer on Boeing or Airbus aircraft and are also acquainted with home computer flight simulators, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject. Please e-mail me at
[email protected]. Thanks very much in advance for your input.
Sincerely,
Joshua Tompkins