Kabukiflying with MSFS 2020 – A JetStar Flight Between Theater and Reality
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2025 1:58 amWho doesn’t know this? You plan a relaxed flight, look forward to the virtual adventure – and then Microsoft Flight Simulator suddenly puts on its own theater show. What started as a simple radio connection turns into a Kafkaesque farce, making “Kabukiflying” the perfect word to describe it.
What is “Kabukiflying”?
“Kabukiflying” is a new term for a well-known experience: when servers fail, ATC suddenly speaks a strange mix of English, French, and Mickey Mouse voices, and you have to use VPN tricks to get through the radio chaos. Flying that feels more like a stage performance than a simulation.
The story of my flight
I took off at sunrise from St. Maarten in a heavy JetStar, climbed carefully to 30,000 feet, then later with less fuel up to 43,000 feet. The first hour went smoothly until the internet connection dropped near Santo Domingo Center – not my internet, but Microsoft’s servers.
Radio silence followed, the sim went quiet. For fun, I turned on my VPN – and Santo Domingo came back… briefly. Then a weird Pidgin English-French-Mickey Mouse ATC voice joined the cockpit – Kabukiflying at its finest.
I muted the annoying chatter, switched to VFR, and carried on – eventually landing smoothly on runway 28R at Fort Lauderdale.
Conclusion
MSFS 2020 delivers stunning visuals and great flying experience, but sometimes flying itself turns into a theatrical performance. “Kabukiflying” perfectly describes the gap between reality and digital drama.
What is Kabuki? Kabuki is an old Japanese theater known for its stylized, dramatic, and artificial style – full of drama and show, but often less reality. That’s exactly how Kabukiflying feels: a lot of theater in the sim when servers fail, ATC glitches, or connection drops.
Still: it’s a cool flight nonetheless.
Call to the Community
Have you had similar experiences? What do you call it when MSFS acts up like that? Let’s make “Kabukiflying” a thing!
What is “Kabukiflying”?
“Kabukiflying” is a new term for a well-known experience: when servers fail, ATC suddenly speaks a strange mix of English, French, and Mickey Mouse voices, and you have to use VPN tricks to get through the radio chaos. Flying that feels more like a stage performance than a simulation.
The story of my flight
I took off at sunrise from St. Maarten in a heavy JetStar, climbed carefully to 30,000 feet, then later with less fuel up to 43,000 feet. The first hour went smoothly until the internet connection dropped near Santo Domingo Center – not my internet, but Microsoft’s servers.
Radio silence followed, the sim went quiet. For fun, I turned on my VPN – and Santo Domingo came back… briefly. Then a weird Pidgin English-French-Mickey Mouse ATC voice joined the cockpit – Kabukiflying at its finest.
I muted the annoying chatter, switched to VFR, and carried on – eventually landing smoothly on runway 28R at Fort Lauderdale.
Conclusion
MSFS 2020 delivers stunning visuals and great flying experience, but sometimes flying itself turns into a theatrical performance. “Kabukiflying” perfectly describes the gap between reality and digital drama.
What is Kabuki? Kabuki is an old Japanese theater known for its stylized, dramatic, and artificial style – full of drama and show, but often less reality. That’s exactly how Kabukiflying feels: a lot of theater in the sim when servers fail, ATC glitches, or connection drops.
Still: it’s a cool flight nonetheless.
Call to the Community
Have you had similar experiences? What do you call it when MSFS acts up like that? Let’s make “Kabukiflying” a thing!