We are pleased to shine the spotlight on a member of the Microsoft Flight Simulator player community from South Korea: David Kang, who goes by Deekay online. In addition to being an Orbx partner, he is also a leader of Fly Together Korea, a community of nearly 4,500 Korean flight sim enthusiasts. When not flying together, members of the group make airport and scenery enhancements for Korea as well as create custom aircraft liveries.
On Saturday, May 7th, Deekay will be taking over the Official Xbox Twitch Channel for a special Microsoft Flight Simulator livestream in recognition of Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In advance of his streamer takeover, we caught up with Deekay and discussed his love of flight simming and his role as a leader in the Korean flight simulation community.
When did you get started in flight simulation?
I believe the first flight simulator I ever played was Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0 or Flight Simulator 5.0. I cannot remember exactly but it was my first flight sim experience, and it was just amazing! I know we cannot compare the graphics and the quality of those older versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator with the current version, but it was more than enough to make me a lifetime fan of aviation. It also led to me starting the Fly with DEEKAY channel.
What is the most interesting or unique thing you have done in Microsoft Flight Simulator?
The most interesting thing I’ve ever done was hosting a world tour in MSFS. It started October 2020 and ended in late September 2021. Every flight was done in real-time, and the whole Fly Together Korea community did it together. We had some severe weather when we were passing through Alaska, and I could not see the runway until I was actually right in front of the threshold. Also, I’ve met so many great people from all around the world because our formation was quite noticeable from the World Map. People from all over joined our World Tour.
Here’s a short video showing some of the highlights from the first stage of the Fly Together Korea World Tour:
During this tour, we visited every continent except Australia. Following the World Tour, we did a second tour just of Australia so we could cover the entire world.
As a leader of the Fly Together Korea group, what do you think is the value of playing Microsoft Flight Simulator online with other people?
Before the release of MSFS, I played another simulator that had no capability of playing online except going on the VATSIM network. At that time, I only had a handful of friends with the same interests. However, after the release of MSFS and its online multiplayer capabilities, now I fly with at least 30 or 40 people together. Sharing the common interest and doing something together in real time is more than just valuable. Especially during COVID pandemic, many people were grounded or worked from home. We could not travel as we used to and the world just stopped. But we were different. We traveled around the world every night. We met new people from many different countries. Most importantly, we all became friends.
Before signing off, Deekay also told us he has previously lived in Australia, he works in the education field, and his preferred planes to fly are modern aircraft with glass cockpits. If you’d like to fly along with Deekay on his future group flights, you can join him on his YouTube and Twitch channels. He hosts three Fly Together Korea community flights each week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1200-1600 UTC. Communication is in both Korean and English, and all are welcome!