The "story" of the crack peaked when disgruntled pirates began posting on official support forums, complaining that their 767 was "buggy" and "unflyable."

As users took to the virtual skies with the pirated version, strange things began to happen: The Mid-Air Blackout:

For months, the software remained untouched. However, in the dark corners of simulation forums and torrent sites, a "cracked" version finally appeared. A group of crackers had managed to bypass the initial activation screen, allowing users to load the plane into the simulator without a valid license key.

that required a constant "handshake" with the developers' servers. The "Crack" Emerges

To the pirates, it seemed like a victory. They could fly a $70+ aircraft for free. But they didn't realize that the developers had built in a "Trojan Horse." The "Anti-Piracy" Fail-Safes FlightFactor had implemented silent DRM (Digital Rights Management)