Lukla is a remote town in Nepal surrounded by foothills of Himalayas. This town is the first stop for most of the hikers that want to hike Mt Everest. Getting to Lukla by road is treacherous. There is a small airport servicing this town, most of the travelers get to Lukla on flights that service this airport. Lukla airport is also known as one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Flying to Lukla as a passenger itself is known to be a gut wrenching experience, think about being the pilot who flies the airplane and lands it safely in one of the most dangerous airports in the World? That would be one heck of a trip. Now imagine, experiencing that ride of a lifetime sitting in the comfort of your own home! Using your mouse to flick at a globe and literally pick anywhere in the world to fly. if you are into roller coaster rides, you can do aerial stunts through NYC skyscrapers on a Pitts biplane, if you like nature, hit up all the glaciers in Alaska on a VFR flight flying a Beechcraft Baron, if you are into adventures, fly through the peaks of Himalayas on a Cessna Citation, make sure you miss Mr. Everest while you are at it. You could also fly to your home town and buzz your home or school just for the fun of it during the golden hour. Finally, if you are a speed junkie, you can take the F/A 18 Hornet for a spin at Mach 1.
Oh, I forgot to mention, you can control the weather and time anywhere in the world where you are flying, thunderstorms, fog, rain, snow, rainbows magically show up in your world based on you your selection from a dropdown, you can set how much clouds you want in the sky and how pretty they should look. You can choose to do a mid day flight from Livermore Muni to South Lake Tahoe airport and grab lunch there on a clear day, or fly around the bay area during the golden hour watching the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean from 3000ft as the marine layer creeps up the coastline and the bright lights of San Francisco come on.
If you are serious about flying you can go through training to master your flying skills on a Cessna 152, continue to the next level and get instrument rated. As you get more experience in flying you could graduate from single engine props to jet aircrafts. Have you wondered which seat is the best seat with the best view on a jetliner? Of course, it is the pilot’s seat right up front in the cockpit. Now you can sit there and enjoy your ride all the way from San Francisco airport to Cochin Intl. or even better, pilot the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with all its realism, if you can endure an 18 hour flight (Shhh..the trick is to engage autopilot after you climb out). Beware, this would require you to pour over hundreds of pages of flight manuals and learn all of the controls in the 787 cockpit. I am sure it will not be a problem for the curious minds out there.
I have slowly started enjoying this game or maybe I should say, I am enjoying learning to fly using the latest version of Microsoft flight simulator by taking flying lessons from my dad. I feel I am growing little wings to explore the virtual world while staying safely at home with my parents. Someday I will learn to put out my flying adventures on YouTube and share the fun with everyone.
