Armchair Air Controllers

While the air controllers’ strike drags on like an endless wait in a holding pattern at a busy airport, some people are trying their own hand at guiding planes to a landing. No cause for alarm. They are playing one of two video games that have become popular since the start of the strike. The games: Air Traffic Controller ($11.95) and Flight Path ($9.95).

Both products provide amazingly realistic scenes of life in a control tower. With Air Traffic Controller, a radar-like air map on the video screen displays two airports and two navigational reference points. Off to one side, the speed, altitude and destination of incoming traffic are recorded. The player is supposed to shepherd 26 planes, while constantly watching to make certain that no two planes collide. He has between 16 and 99 min.to guide all the aircraft to safety. If he makes a fatal mistake, the dreaded word “conflict” flashes on the screen.

David Ahl, president of Creative Computing, the maker of Air Traffic Controller, thinks that his game’s popularity is due to a growing public interest in simulating real-life situations. Says he: “The games allow people to ask what-if questions without serious consequences.” Ahl says that sales of another game, Sterl, are also doing well. Players of that one fight off an ecological disaster—like an infestation of Mediterranean fruit flies.