Welcome Chromehead! Yes, there are still many people flying online, although, if you go to play online, you will probably find the message 'no servers available at this time'. Chances are, there are people online, but they are in a game. You will still get the message that there's nobody on, when in fact, there could be 10-20 people online playing.
The only time you'll see servers is when players are in the lobby, waiting for everybody to ready up and go back in the game.
Best way to get online is to add people (from this thread) to your friends list, that way, you'll be able to see what they're playing at the time and wait until a game becomes available (or a current game finishes, etc).
You'll find there's a few 'oldies' online that play, myself included (about 5-6 years younger than you) and feel free to add me to your friends list - send me a friends request and i'll add you. I think I have about 2-3 spaces left LOL. I mostly play realistic but do dabble in simulation mode from time to time.
Oh yeah, the best times to get online are anywhere from 4pm-midnite pacific, so probably 7pm-1am Eastern although you'll find some people from overseas playing just about all the time.
Hope to see you online sometime.
