International Virtual Aviation Organisation

IVAO, or the International Virtual Aviation Organisation, is an Internet-based flight-simulation network.
Overview
IVAO provides flight-simulation enthusiasts with a network that allows them to either fly online with other people as pilots, or direct virtual air traffic as air traffic controllers using IVAO's own software "IvAC". Voice over IP and text messages are used to communicate among pilots and controllers. The actual flight simulation requires that a flight-simulation program such as Microsoft Flight Simulator or X-Plane is installed on the user's local computer. This flight-simulation program communicates with the IVAO servers network over the Internet using the free IVAO software IVAP (X-IVAP for X-Plane).
The organization places special emphasis on simulating aviation related procedures as realistically as possible, including proper airmanship and air traffic control using correct ICAO radio phraseology. Members can undergo optional training, but need to pass exams to obtain ratings that allow them to assume ATC positions with greater responsibilities.
Membership
IVAO membership has been claimed to be approximately 98,265 members as of January 30, 2009.. In 2005, membership was estimated to be about 38,000.
The membership covers almost all parts of the world, but most members originate from Europe. Local IVAO structures (called divisions) exist in various parts of the world, usually one division for each country. These divisions are managed by local members holding management, support, maintenance and training responsibilities for that local Region..
There are approximately 8000 connections per day, with peak numbers of simultaneous connections at 800-1100. The maximum number of simultaneous connections was 1944 on January 5, 2008.
History
The first steps for setting up flight simulation in a massively-multiplayer online role-playing environment (MMORG) were taken by Jason Grooms, James Willan, Joe Jurecka and Marty Bochane in the mid-1990s when they created the SquawkBox program (a Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 plugin) and ProController (an air traffic control radar screen simulation). These two programs were connected to FSD, a simple MMORG server, which enabled the arrangement to evolve from a one-to-one (one ATC and one plane) environment to a many-to-many environment.
Using these programs, SATCO (now VATSIM) was the first large network to create an online air traffic simulation environment. On December 16, 1998 IVAO was founded when a group of people left SATCO to form a new network after management conflicts developed within the organization.
The management of the IVAO.aero organization decided to officially register the organization as a non-profit organization. On April 25, 2007 this registration was finally accomplished by the publication of their statutes in the Belgian Official Journal.. Early in June 2007, IVAO.aero officially published a website documenting the NPO: http://association.ivao.aero/.
Software
Most of the Software used on the IVAO Network is programmed by the IVAO members/staff which provide the tools for the IVAO users. Exception is the software TeamSpeak, which is used for Voice Communications between Controllers and Pilots.

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