Dateline: Ohio
They call themselves "simmers", but to a hyper-alert and reclusive group, the name is not a joke. It's a deadly serious business. "We don't talk about what we do very much, because there's a natural concern about being made fun of or shoved in to lockers" said "777UAL" (not his real name). "But we're a pretty tight group, and we're deadly serious about aircraft tracking". "787DreamLinerz" agreed: "Yeah, I mean, there's a certain stigma about sitting in the basement all day long, coming up only for Little Debbies and pizza, but when you get a hit on an aircraft that might, possibly be in some kind of minor trouble, like...their HF has failed and they're trying to relay through other aircraft... it's all worth it. I don't think normal people understand, but it's a rush that you just can't explain."
It's a world that most people don't get access to, but on this very special edition of Dateline, we take you INSIDE the dark, mysterious world of Aviation Geeks. <cut to INTERIOR of dank basement with PICTURES of airline cockpits interspersed with suicide-girl pin-ups, etc. Gleaming, giant desktop COMPUTER hums with complex arrangement of fans, etc. In the background, 5 or 6 high quality monitors glow, some with pr0n (tastefully edited), some with heavily-modded FS2010 graphics, some with aircraft-tracking data. "It's a calling, really. You don't find it, it finds you" explains "747-8004EVR". "At first, my parents didn't really like it, but eventually they decided that, you know, at least it keeps me off the streets". And it does. In fact, it keeps "747" not only off the streets, but essentially out of the sun entirely. "Yeah, I don't think I'm in any danger of getting skin-cancer any time soon!" he quips, with a toothy, wan smile...
