Flight One Software has announced that the company will be branching out into the area of real world aviation training under the banner of Flight 1 Aviation Technologies. Though some changes will result, Flight One will continue to supply flightsim products as well. For full details, click on Read More.Flight1 Aviation Technologies Announcement
Back in 1997, Flight One Software started with just a few projects for Microsoft Flight Simulator. With the company being primarily built by those who have the love of aviation and computing, Flight One has grown to cover a wide spectrum of aviation applications.
Starting a few years ago, a few things happened. Flight One started getting inquiries from various real-world aviation entities regarding our knowledge of aviation, and integrating this knowledge into real-world training and safety applications. At the same time, many of those at Flight One Software became very excited about entering areas of software development in the real aviation sector.
So during the last 2 year period, a lot of time and effort has been placed into real-world aviation applications and technology. At the same time, Flight One still focused on the Flight Simulation area that has and will still be a very core part of their business.
Flight One president Steve Halpern states "Over the last 2 years we have dealt with tremendous pressures. Trying to maintain the highest quality Flight Simulator add-on software, as well as working towards some real-world goals, has been both very tiring and invigorating. If one looks at an R & D budget, I would say that over 50 percent of our budget has gone towards our real-aviation initiatives."
"On the outside, not much will change. We still enjoy creating Flight Simulator add-ons, and we will keep providing these. At the same time we would like to announce a new sister entity called "Flight1 Aviation Technologies", that only works on real-world aviation training and safety applications and technologies."
Flight1 Aviation Technologies ( http://www.flight1tech.com) is precisely what the name says. It is a company focused solely on aviation technology, focused on the training and safety sectors. Although Flight1 can't mention the exact areas they are currently involved in, Flight1 feels it is important to make this announcement now because as they make Flight1 Aviation Technologies more public, there may be confusion. For example, this year at Oshkosh, our signage is strictly Flight1 Aviation Technologies (but Jim Rhoads and Roger Dial are handling both company entities while they are there). Flight1 also feels that with the effort being placed into these newer areas, the time is correct for such an announcement.
What does this finally mean for the consumer? Well, Flight One Software will still be releasing titles, and Flight1.com will still be providing, expanding, and refining their e-commerce model. However over the next few months, you will likely start seeing a less of the people you have been accustomed to seeing. For example, Tom Main and Jim Rhoads will still be around, and they are committed to, and enjoy, the Flight Simulator hobby and community. But you will be seeing less of them as things move forward. However, in turn you will likely see a few new faces jump in representing Flight1.
Steve Halpern sums it up... "It has been quite remarkable. What started out as a simple hobby for all of us many years ago has really evolved into having a potential positive effect on aviation safety and training. And although the shift has been gradual, it has been occurring. And it is not like we are abandoning our current business model, we are just kind of moving with the tide. On the flight simulation side of things, we hope the changes will ultimately allow us to bring even better and more diversified products to our customers. We do welcome anyone to write us if they have any questions or concerns about the changes."
Over the next few months, Flight1 Aviation Technologies will be expanding the www.flight1tech.com web site to showcase more of what they have been working on. If you have any questions, or are a developer interested in working in some real-world areas, please send an e-mail to info@flight1tech.com or visit the http://www.flight1tech.com web site.
