As the sun sets on 2019 and rises on the year 2020 I want to wish everyone a very happy new year and best wishes for 2020. I think 2020 will be a great year in flight simulation with the launch of new content from the IL-2 and DCS World series, changes and upgrades for popular sims like X-Plane 11, and the likely launch of Microsoft’s new Flight Simulator. In the spirit of a new year I want to thank a whole bunch of people and organizations around the community for sharing in the simulator experience.

Thank you everyone

As a new year gets underway I wanted to start it out in what I hope is the best way by acknowledging some of the fantastic people that make up the community surrounding flight simulation and for everyone who supports this blog.

I want to thank the developers of many of the simulations that entertain us as much as they do. Specifically I want to call out people like Jason Williams, Lead Producer for IL-2 and the rest of the 1C Game Studios team that is building the IL-2: Great Battles Series. Thank you for the great, inspiring work and the support they have offered in providing some exclusive content and some fascinating Q&A sessions.

I also want to thank people like Matt Wagner and Nick Grey and the whole Eagle Dynamics team for the great work that they do with DCS World. It’s an incredible series!

The folks at Team Fusion Simulations who have done everything in their power to keep Cliffs of Dover alive and bring it into a new decade with new content and a new theatre coming up next year. Well done folks!

To Laminar Research, the creators of X-Plane, that I got into for the first time this year.

There are also all of the third party developers from Heatblur to RAZBAM and Leatherneck Simulations as well as Deka Ironwork Simulations, Yugra Media, Digital Forms and Aerobask. All of these companies (and many more) and have created incredible content that I’ve enjoyed over the course of 2019.

I want to thank the people who run the many servers out there in the community including folks like Zelly who help to make the Hoggit Georgia at War, Persian Gulf at War, and the Hoggit Training server a reality. Likewise there are the people who run KOTA, Combat Box, Jasta5, JG1, TAW, Berloga and WoL on the IL-2 side. All of you provide just some of the incredible services that are available to the DCS and IL-2 communities providing compelling multiplayer experiences.

I’ve done some great Q&A sessions this year with people like SYN_Haashashin as well as the very enthusiastic and dedicated members of the ACG (Woop, Kai Lae, Gromic, Thaine, Donkey thank you all for your time). Similarly I did a Q&A with the fine folks who run the KOTA server ( -[HRAF]Amergin, -[HRAF]Arrow19, -[HRAF]BubiHUN) and everyone chipped in their thoughts on IL-2 and running a multiplayer server community.

I want to thank people who put together incredible tutorials and have the patience to answer questions about aircraft with the kind of detail and knowledge that constantly amaze me. I’m talking about Requiem, Chuck_Owl, RedKite, Jabbers and The Grim Reapers who are just some of the tutorial builders out there that have all done incredible work helping us all learn how to fly the latest aircraft or go back to an old favourite and learn it all over again.

This year I had the opportunity to take part in a podcast with Magz and Deadmeat with their Unprofessionals podcast. Together they put together some incredible YouTube content as well as the podcast which was a lot of fun when I was on. Check them out! Speaking of incredible content, you should also check out the many channels out there who I have thoroughly enjoyed with their aviation and simulation related content. Wolfpack345, Growling Sidewinder, Laobi, Hellreign82, Spudknocker, Military Aviation History channel, The Grim Reapers (again – they do so much content!), Sheriff’s Sim Shack, Q8Pilot, BluGames, frooglesim, and so many more.

I want to thank VIRPIL Controls and Thrustmaster for working with me and sending me some hardware to review (see my WarBRD full review and T.16000M FCS flight pack full review) as well as making some great hardware. This year I also had the pleasure of interacting with the folks who put together the Delanclip headtracking packages as well as Foxx from Foxxmounts – more about products from both of them in 2020.

Another thank you I want to write is to the organizers of FSExpo who put on a fantastic expo. I look forward to 2020 in Las Vegas!

I want to thank the groups that I’ve started flying a lot of multiplayer with recently. Many have already been acknowledged here but I want to especially thank Jon Coughlin for inviting me into the group – his enthusiasm, knowledge and perspective on the development of flight simulation and flight simulation as a whole has been invaluable as have all of the fun times with him and everyone else. I’ve also had the pleasure of making the occasional guest appearance with some other members of the community in multiplayer including the Light Attack Squad. One of these days I also hope to participate in one of the mass r/WingmanFinder missions put on by Spudknocker. One of these days!

Finally, if I haven’t acknowledged you by name already (I hope I haven’t missed anyone), I want to generally put out a huge thanks to everyone out there reading this. I’ve heard from many of you how Stormbirds.blog is a frequent website destination and I’m very pleased to be of service. The blog has to be fun for me to do but it also has to be useful to others and I’m happy to be able to fill a niche in the community and so thank you all for making it a positive and worthwhile year.

Looking to 2020 on the blog

The end of 2019 has been a busy one for me personally and so some types of content that I wanted to do for the blog haven’t yet materialized, I am hoping to bring some new and interesting Community Q&A’s that I’ve wanted to do for a while, some hardware reviews, and of course bring all of the latest news and editorials on the world of flight simulation.

Here’s to 2020 everyone! May it be a great year!