When I was in college i got into flight simulators for a minute, and discovered there was a whole community of people who roleplay as air traffic controllers on a multiplayer version of MS flight simulator. There was specialized radar and comms software and you could sign up for classes where you learned real-world lingo and techniques for directing air traffic. I tried it for a couple weeks and realized it was basically "having a stressful job" as a hobby

anyway now I'm a moderator on mastodon

@prehensile VATSIM isn't just role playing, much like flight simming isn't just role playing. It's people training and getting experience for roles in ATC or as a pilot

@sortius @prehensile
So it occurred to me that they could be called in if there was a strike of air traffic controllers or of the pilots union...

... not my best idea maybe.