For me, the joy of any hobby is in sharing.  Although the anti-social hours of my flying may mean I  cannot use online ATC as much as I would like to, it does not mean I do not enjoy the contact of others who do. Virtual Airlines One way of doing this is by joining a Virtual Airline.  There are dozens out there to choose from. There’s a huge list on The AirNet Web Site. Pilot Club This is the newest of the networks out there.  It’s also the one I fly on.  Why? Well I’m a member of a VA who regularly use this network and find it much to our liking.  The software is excellent, and doesn’t interfere with your flying. As with all the networks, there are some elements to setting the software up that may prove a little frustrating for new users but there’s usually someone willing to help if you use the associated forums to request it.  Don’t be put off though, once you’ve got your system set up using the software is straight forward  and, I’m told, the best available. If you’re in to controlling, then the Pilot Club controller software is extremely good and as close to as real as it gets as can be found anywhere.  The system is being constantly monitored and development of FSX support is almost complete.   VATSim Probably the best known online flying community.  For some it’s popularity is it’s strength, for others it’s weakness.  While I wouldn’t like to put anyone off giving it a go, I would suggest that you avoid the major airports unless you are comfortable with SID and STAR procedures.  If you don’t know what these are, I’d advise you fly in and out of smaller fields for now.  As your experience increases, so will your knowledge.  Try a Virtual Airline (see above), many offer training programmes, an excellent way to improve. IVAO International Virtual Aviation Organisation to give it it’s full name.  There seem to be two sites laying claim to the organisation.  I’ve no desire to get involved in the why’s and wherefores of this,  I’ll simply provide links to the sites and you can take it from there.  IVAO is the second big name amongst the online flying community.  At the time of writing this, VATSim had 452 pilots and 87 controllers logged in, IVAO Aero 684 pilots and 84 controllers.  I suspect the reason it now outstrips VATSim is it’s support for FSX. IVAO Aero (Active for online flying) IVAO Org (Appears inactive for online flying) AVSIM As I said earlier, the  joy of any hobby is sharing.  The beauty of AVSIM is the huge resource library  created by flight sim enthusiasts who are willing to share their work. Usually for free.  But AVSIM is more than that, there are flight sim related reviews,  forums, and an online store. FS2004 Freeware Scenery List Looking for scenery to enhance that next flight?  Then the FS2004 Freeware Scenery list is one of my favourite resources.   While the site includes some links for route planning and obtaining charts, it’s primary goal is to provide links to freely available scenery world wide.  The site conveniently divides these down by country making searching for that particular piece of scenery a doddle. Peter Dowson’s Utilities FSUIPC and WideFS are two utilities essential to me.  Their purpose and use is best explained by the author himself on his site For those who have difficulties setting up router or modems to allow Port-Forwarding (a necessary evil for online gaming) then www.portforward.com  is a superb resource that may provide the answers you need to configure your system. Peter Dodds flightstick Ever fancied building your own Flightstick cheaply?  Here’s how Peter Dodds a member of the UK’s CIX VFR flying club built his Contact  Me As I have said several times now, the joy of any hobby is in the sharing.  I am only too happy to communicate with other enthusiasts. Be aware  though, I filter all my e-mail and any contact should be sent as plain text  only. All HTML mail and any other mail with unexpected or unsolicited  attachments will be automatically deleted. I am sorry to have to take these  precautions but that’s the way things are heading in today’s society.