Robert Cezar of Abbotsford loves to fly. There's just one problem, and that is he can't manually fly - at least not anymore.

After suffering an injury while away in Italy, Cezar had to give up actual flying, but his passion and joy for the experience combined with his ,years of technological expertise gave him an idea.

What if he could enhance Microsoft's Flight Simulator so that it could be controlled through voice activation?

It was an idea he got in 2004 when he built a system that allowed him to control actions around his house using voice technology. Cezar is not visually impaired, but the idea of creating a flight simulator controlled by voice rather than sight has given hope to thousands of people all across the globe who cannot see.

Fast forward to 2011. Cezar's program, It's Your Plane, has taken off and is now being used by people - not just the visually impaired - in 151 countries.

Cezar said it's rewarding to know people all around the globe have chosen his game to share the thrill of flying, which is something those who are visually impaired cannot enjoy through eyesight.

"Why shouldn't people be able to do this?" he said.

"Flying is such a great thing, and this allows people the opportunity to enjoy it even though they might not be able to ever see or do it in real life."

Users are in full control of the aircraft and can issue their commands to a virtual co-pilot, named either Michelle or Mike.

The co-pilot then takes those commands and navigates the virtual aircraft.

Cezar said people can stay on the simulator for hours, and all flights in the game are done in real time.

"If someone wants to fly, say from Vancouver to Calgary. . . it takes approximately one hour, the same as it would for someone to actually go from Vancouver to Calgary in a real aircraft," he said.

"The experience is very much like in real life. And people love it. They control it all. Sure, they can't drive but they can fly and this gives them the opportunity to do that."

Voice commands to the co-pilots can often have a humorous response, which Cezar said is important because people should be able to have fun and enjoy their experience.

"This is meant to be fun."

- For more information on It's Your Plane, visit www.itsyourplane.com.