A video was released on the internet showing the view from the cockpit of a passenger plane flying along the busy waterway, and the captain informs passengers that “this is where most of our world trade and cargo ships come through.”
The 200,000-ton cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week may be free, but if you want a firsthand look at how the Ever Given caused a global shipping crisis, all you need is a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and a couple of free mods.
Microsoft Flight Simulator takes advantage of technology enhancements including use of Bing Maps’ global imagery and the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, along with artificial intelligence tech that enables live traffic and real-time weather.
The captain then spots the stuck ship and tells passengers to buckle up for a fly around. “It appears they have a big problem,” he says.
Flight Simulator offers near photo-realistic views of Earth from the cockpits of more than two dozen planes, but blocked canals and maritime traffic jams aren't part of the base game. For that, you'll need to pick up the free Suez Traffic Jam mod from Flightsim.to, as well as the Global AI Ship Traffic and Dave's Crooked Library mods. Add all three to your game, and you'll be able to fly over the maritime shipping crisis for yourself, complete with a ship representing the stuck Ever Given, all the ships parked in the Suez Gulf waiting for it to get unstuck and even the excavators trying to clear the canal.