Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership | Illinois

Photo Origin: Moby Games.com

Bruce Artwick: the Father of the Flight Simulator
By:  Lucas A. Cook (B.S. in Advertising, College of Media, Class of 2011)

Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, arguably the most successful flight simulation software of all time, was created almost thirty years ago by University of Illinois graduate Bruce Artwick. Originally from Norridge, Illinois, Artwick attended Triton Junior College in River Grove before he came to Illinois in 1973. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1975 and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering in 1976. In 1977, Artwick founded his first company, SubLOGIC. Based in Los Angeles, SubLOGIC specialized in selling computer graphics packages. Artwick returned to Champaign-Urbana and in 1980 launched Flight Simulator for the Apple II. By 1982, Flight Simulator was Apple’s top-selling computer software program. Through a collaboration with Microsoft and IBM, in late 1982 Flight Simulator became the first entertainment program available for the IBM PC, and soon a bestseller.

In 1988 Artwick left SubLOGIC to found the Bruce Artwick Organization (BAO). With BAO, Artwick developed software for tower control simulation, and a highly complex Space Simulator. He later sold the assets of BAO to Microsoft, and Sierra Entertainment, Inc. purchased SubLOGIC.  At present, Artwick resides in Urbana and continues his simulator and graphics work.