Flight simulation has changed enormously over the last 30 years.
Aircraft have become more sophisticated, scenery more realistic and home simulator hardware has reached a level that would once have been unimaginable. Today, you can sit at a desk at home and operate an aircraft recreated in extraordinary detail, fly alongside people from around the world and become part of a community that stretches far beyond the simulator itself.
But while the hobby has evolved, it can still sometimes feel surprisingly fragmented.
We buy our hardware from one place, download add-ons from another, watch our favourite creators somewhere else, join communities on Discord and social media, search for technical help across forums and videos, and often discover the people and organisations behind the hobby almost by accident.
That was the starting point for AvGeekHangar.
AvGeekHangar.com was created with a simple ambition: to build a home for flight simulation and aviation where more of the things we know and love can exist under one roof.
Yes, AvGeekHangar has a store.
But we never wanted to build just another flight simulation store.
Retail is one part of a much bigger idea.
We want AvGeekHangar to be somewhere you visit because you want to see what’s happening in the community, discover something new, learn something, find your next piece of equipment, read an interesting story or simply spend some time immersed in a hobby you love.
That’s why the platform has been built around several different areas.
The Hangar is our community and content home; somewhere for news, features, reviews, guides, opinions and stories from across flight simulation and aviation.
The Technical Hangar is about helping people get more from the hobby, whether that’s choosing their first piece of hardware, solving a problem or improving an existing setup.
Then there’s Hangar Exchange.
Flight simulation equipment isn’t cheap, and many of us gradually upgrade our setups over time. Hangar Exchange has been created around a simple idea: Upgrade. Trade. Fly.
We want to make it easier for simmers to move on equipment they no longer need while helping other members of the community access quality flight simulation hardware for less.
And through Hangar Miles, we want to reward people for being part of AvGeekHangar; not simply for buying something.
You’ll see us use the words community first a lot.
For us, they need to mean something.
AvGeekHangar isn’t being built around the idea that every visitor needs to become a customer. We’d much rather somebody visited because an article helped them solve a problem, they discovered a new creator, found an event they wanted to attend or simply enjoyed being part of the community.
If they eventually buy something from us too, fantastic.
But that’s not the only measure of whether AvGeekHangar is working.
We want to use the platform to showcase creators, developers, community groups, organisations and individuals doing interesting things across flight simulation and aviation.
And we want the community itself to help shape what AvGeekHangar becomes.
One of the most exciting things about flight simulation is its connection with real-world aviation.
For some people, simulation is simply a hobby. For others, it sparks an interest in aviation that eventually becomes a career. And for many of us, the fascination with aircraft exists just as strongly outside the simulator as it does inside it.
That’s why aviation is deliberately part of AvGeekHangar too.
We want to explore those connections and create opportunities for the flight simulation and aviation communities to meet, learn from each other and share their enthusiasm.
Our relationships with organisations such as The Air League and our role as Official Community Partner of FSimUK 2026 are early examples of what that can look like.
At FSimUK this October, we’re not simply turning up with an AvGeekHangar stand.
We’ll be working alongside the organisers, supporting the event and creating the Community Hub – Powered by AvGeekHangar.com: a dedicated place for visitors to relax, meet other people, discover members of the community and engage with creators.
It’s exactly the sort of thing we want AvGeekHangar to represent away from the website as well as on it.
Another important step has been bringing more people into AvGeekHangar itself.
Bryan Field, known to many as Practically Geek, and James Rodgers, NI Pilot, have joined AvGeekHangar as Founding Partners, with Dan The Flight Director bringing his creative expertise to ensure we are always looking fresh!.
Alongside them, EasyJetSimPilot is working with AvGeekHangar as our Content & Community Partner.
Each brings different experience, ideas and perspectives to the project.
We’re also working with other community members to bring blogs and articles based on their own opinions and experiences.
That’s important because AvGeekHangar shouldn’t be shaped by one person’s view of what the flight simulation community needs.
It should evolve through conversations, ideas, feedback and involvement from the people who are actually part of that community.
For me personally, AvGeekHangar comes from around 30 years of enjoying flight simulation.
I’ve watched the hobby change beyond recognition, but the thing that has always kept me interested isn’t just the technology.
It’s the fascination with aviation.
It’s learning something new.
It’s spending far too long perfecting a simulator setup.
It’s discovering a new aircraft or piece of hardware.
And increasingly, it’s the people you meet because you share the same slightly obsessive interest in aeroplanes.
AvGeekHangar is an attempt to bring more of those things together.
We’re launching with plenty of ideas, but we’re certainly not pretending we’ve finished building it.
In many ways, launch is where the real work begins.
We’ll listen to the community, try things, undoubtedly change things and continue adding new ideas as AvGeekHangar develops.
Because ultimately, we don’t just want to build a website for the flight simulation and aviation community.
We want to build it with them.
Welcome to AvGeekHangar.
The UK’s home for flight simulation and aviation.
