Skyward Flight Media: 6th Anniversary

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Ribbon-Blue's Thoughts

On a human level time is sometimes hard to fully grasp as you are living day to day life. You do not think too much about every little thing you have done day by day, week by week, month by month. It all just sort of happens, right? Only the big events make you stop and think. Milestones. 

Six years of Skyward Flight Media certainly is enough to make me pause and think. The staff and I took time off this week to celebrate and reflect. For me reflection was reading years worth of our written works and watching a few videos. It is interesting how you can watch the trajectory of an organization over a long period of time. 

As I reflect on six years of operations here at Skyward Flight Media I think of numbers. Things like over 6900 posts on social media and almost 540 releases about 126 games on our website. I wonder how many typed words that is, but let's not get lost in the sauce here. 

Just casually scrolling through our primary content page shows such a variety of established, upcoming and past flight titles, I found myself grinning at the juxtaposition. From bush flying in indie games to coverage about returning flight game series. From finding ways to constantly throw love toward gliders to our seemingly endless virtual reality adventures. With so many other flight experiences in between. 

I understand the value of consistency in content and how that can build a strong viewership. Still, amongst the long standing flight simulation news outlets and content creators of the world that has their content focused within a certain range of titles, I feel a proud fire within my chest when I see the eclectic Skyward Flight Media still burning just as bright. 

With that in mind I wanted to express my sincerest personal thanks to every reader, developer, manufacturer, flight community, content creator and fellow flight sim news facing entity. Whether its reading our content, watching our short videos, interacting with us on social media or working together with us, your energy is a part of why we are here today. 

I appreciate you. 

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Hue's Thoughts

It's hard to believe it's been six years - and that, somewhere in between playing flight simulators with friends and discussing Ace Combat lore, it's already been four years since I was invited to write an article for Skyward Flight Media. Back then, I could not have imagined that out of this little adventure would emerge some of my most cherished friendships, neither could I have dreamt that it would eventually give me the chance of seeing people fly and enjoy aircraft of my own design - even if only in virtual skies.

But those virtual skies are what brought us here - they're what brought you, the reader, here - and they are the fabric which binds all of us flight simulation enthusiasts together. And they are now more relevant than ever.

Between rising costs, a changing world, and the relentless march of autonomous systems, the dream of flying at the controls of an aircraft is one which may seem to be moving further and further away for many. Yet, the drive - to experience flight, to soar free through the skies; the drive which moved Lilienthal, the Wrights, Santos-Dumont, Blériot and so many others to extraordinary lengths back in their day - still persists at the core of our very beings. The spell which flight casts on humanity has been an inescapable one since the times of Daedalus.

Flight simulation games, far beyond being mere entertainment to be consumed, are to us the very means of experiencing and expressing this drive in a manner which is affordable in its cost and universal in its reach. Thanks to the effort and passion of developers, and to the gradual increase in availability of once novel technologies such as VR headsets, there are now more ways of experiencing flight in these virtual skies than ever before; and there have never been more spaces on which to share your love of aviation with others. To me, Skyward has been the space of choice for the past six years; and here's for many more to come.

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Cubeboy's Thoughts

When I look back at everything we have done so far, it is hard to even feel these past 6 years. We have done so many different things, with so many different people, and in so many different ways that I find it astonishing that it has really only been 6 years. In a world where short-form content reigns, and trends come and go faster than you can keep track off; Skyward stands strong against the insurmountable currents of the internet. We make content that would have been all the rage in the early 2000s, yet we still have a dedicated audience thatt comes back every week to read our content. That, to me, will never cease to amaze me to no believe.

Skyward means a lot to me, it is the flame that keeps my passion for aviation burning brighter than the sun in my heart. It is the source of some of my greatest achievements and the reason why I even have half the things I do in real life. Working on Hue's Dragonfly model is what got me my first 3D modeling gig with Mackerel over at At Skies' Edge; so to say that this website, this project, has changed my life for the better would be an understatement.

I cherish every single person that I have met through Skyward the same or more than I do most of my IRL friendships, and if it wasn't for Skyward I wouldn't have my best friends alongside me. I would have never met Aaron, Caio, Sean, Cody, Millie, Psy, Reason, Sour or any of the people that I consider the closest to me, and apologies for those that I didn't mention directly, you all know who you all are. And to our readers, I am extremely appreciative that you come around and read our articles every week. You are the reason why we keep pushing for better and better every time, and why we push against the current of slop and low quality gaming journamism. We will keep this website running, and the content coming, so keep tuning in. I am thankful to have your attention, let's look skyward and fill our hearts with ambition.