How Fly Away Simulation curates mods — and why

Because a library is only as useful as its worst file. On a publish-everything site, every genuine release sits next to broken uploads, duplicates, re-uploads of other people's work and packs that were abandoned years ago. Simmers learn not to trust what they download; search engines learn not to trust the site. The good work gets buried with the junk.

We made the opposite choice over twenty years ago and have held to it: a person installs every submission, flies it, and only then does it go live. That is slower, and it costs us real editorial hours per listing. It is also exactly why a listing here carries weight.

Four things a file dump cannot give you.

• Placement. Your work sits beside releases that were tested and chosen, not beside clones and broken zips. Readers assume quality before they click.
• Trust that transfers. Every listing carries an editor-written Expert Overview and our own in-sim screenshot pack. When a simmer sees a download has been installed and photographed by someone who flies it, your release inherits that credibility.
• Search visibility. Unique, human-written text and original screenshots are what search engines reward. Two decades of inbound links point at this library; your listing rides on that authority from day one.
• Longevity. Curated listings are maintained, not abandoned. Files we published in 2005 still download and still rank.

We are not looking for perfection; we are looking for care. A release meets the bar when it:

• installs and works as described in the simulator it is made for;
• is your own work, or a repaint of a freeware model with the model author credited and, where required, their permission;
• is finished — not a placeholder, a stub, or something that needs the "next version" to be usable;
• is packaged properly, with a readme that covers installation and requirements;
• is something a simmer would be glad to have found.

A first repaint from a new painter qualifies. A sloppy re-pack of a well-known aircraft does not.

Submissions that are broken, incomplete, duplicates of a listing we already host, re-uploads of other people's work without permission, payware, demos, files that require a purchase elsewhere, and bulk-generated packs made without any human attention. We also decline work that uses third-party assets outside their licence.

When we decline something we tell you why, and in most cases what would change our mind. "Changes requested" is far more common than "not listed".

No. We are judging whether a simmer who downloads it will be glad they did. Scope, ambition and polish vary enormously across freeware and that is fine. A single clean livery that installs first time is a good listing. We are much harder on packaging and honesty than on artistry.

Your submission joins the editors' queue. An editor downloads the zip, installs it in the simulator, flies it, and checks it does what the description says. They write the listing and the Expert Overview, set the category and compatibility, and publish — with your screenshots. You get an email the moment it is live, or a note explaining what we need if something is missing. Adam, our library editor, then shoots a 4K in-sim set exclusive to Fly Away Simulation and adds it alongside yours.

Usually a few days. Large aircraft and scenery take longer because testing them properly takes longer. If a release is time-sensitive — a fix for a broken version that is already live — say so in the changelog and we prioritise it.

Three reasons. Every listing on the site is written in the same voice, so readers know what to expect and where to find things. Written listings are unique text, which is what keeps the library visible in search rather than duplicated across a dozen sites. And an editor who has just installed and flown your release can describe it with the detail a reader needs. Your own description is the brief we work from — the more you tell us about features, requirements and credits, the better the listing.

Both. Your listing goes live with your screenshots — what you chose to highlight is what people see — so at least 3 are required. Once published, the listing joins the queue for Adam, our library editor, who shoots a dedicated 4K in-sim set exclusive to Fly Away Simulation for every mod. His images are added alongside yours, not instead of them: they prove the mod was installed and works, give the library a consistent gallery, and are original images, which matters for search.

No. The zip you upload is distributed exactly as you packaged it, with one addition: a small text file and a shortcut that link back to the listing. We do not repack, re-encode or add our screenshots to the archive — those live on the listing page, so your download stays as small as you made it.

The editor found something that stops the release going live as submitted — a missing texture folder, a readme that references the wrong paths, a model dependency that is not mentioned, rights that need clarifying. The note on your submission says exactly what. Fix it, resubmit, and it goes straight back to the same editor.

Yes, any time before a decision. Withdraw it to a draft, make your changes and resubmit. Drafts you no longer want can be discarded; that deletes the uploaded zip and screenshots from our staging area.

You do, entirely. Listing with us is non-exclusive: publish the same release anywhere else, at the same time, under any licence you choose. We claim no rights to your files, your name or your artwork.

No. No listing fee, no revenue share, no "featured" upsell. Our optional PRO membership gives simmers faster download speeds; it never gates your work, and anyone can download any mod without an account.

Yes. Contact us with the link and we remove it. We ask that you give us a reason only so we can fix whatever caused it — a takedown is never questioned.

PayPal, Ko-fi / Buy Me a Coffee and Patreon links from your profile appear as buttons on every one of your listings and on your developer page. Payments go directly from the simmer to you. Fly Away Simulation takes nothing and never sees the transaction.

Developer profiles for many creators were set up during our outreach, before the portal existed. Use Forgot password with the email we have on file, or contact us and we connect your existing listings to a new account.

Open the mod under My mods and choose Update. Upload the new zip and write a changelog. The listing keeps its URL, ranking, download count, ratings and comments; only the file, version and the details you change are swapped.

Choose Edit instead. No file is needed — change the title, category, description, compatibility or website and an editor applies it to the live listing.

One at a time. Finish or withdraw the open one first; it keeps things unambiguous for the editor and for you.

Completed downloads of the file, lifetime and by day. The dashboard shows lifetime, 30-day and 7-day totals with a daily chart; My mods shows the same per listing. Figures are live, not estimates.

Comments left on your listings land in your Comments inbox and, if you want, a daily email digest. Reply from the portal and it posts publicly on the listing under your developer name, and the commenter is emailed. Simmers can see which replies come from the developer.

If you switch on direct messages in your profile, a form on your developer page delivers messages to your Messages inbox and your email. Your address is never shown; when you reply, the email goes out with your address as Reply-To so the conversation can continue normally. Messages are rate-limited and filtered for spam before they reach you.

Yes, but through us rather than the profile page, because every listing is credited to it and the public URL is built from it. Email us the new name and we change it everywhere.

A photo or logo, a short bio, a website if you have one, your donation links and any community links. The profile card appears on every listing you publish and on your developer page; the dashboard shows what is still missing.

Contact us. We remove the account and, if you ask, your listings. Comments you replied to keep the replies unless you ask for those to go too.

You are one of the first developers using it. Everything works, but you will find rough edges. Every bug report and every suggestion goes to ian.stephens@flyawaysimulation.com, is read by a person, and shapes what gets built next.