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Home-built 747 Simulator

James Morris writes: "This is a cool hack: some guy is building a 747 simulator in his backyard." This is one of the most impressive even while in progress, but the other projects linked from this site set a tough standard.

177 comments

  1. FBI visit by UnifiedTechs · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh yeah, this guy can expect a visit from the FBI any day now!

    1. Re:FBI visit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's kinda cold there this time of year, chief.

    2. Re:FBI visit by red5 · · Score: 2

      Yah leave it to the FBI to be out scooped by slashdot. :)

      --
      I know I'm going to hell, I'm just trying to get good seats.
    3. Re:FBI visit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He should be sued under the DMCA because he's creating a circumvention device that terrorists can use instead of paying a couple thousand to get real training and a pilot's licence.

    4. Re:FBI visit by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Funny

      I had no idea that the overuse of the tag was a federal offense in the US.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    5. Re:FBI visit by TheAlmightyQ · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, it is.
      If anyone uses the tag any other web developer within a 50 mile radius is required by law to come over to their house and kick their ass.

      If it's on Slashdot it must be true.

      --
      I hope you're not pretending to be evil while secretly being good. That would be dishonest.
  2. dead in 60 seconds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    *already slashed*

    Sydney, Australia

    UPDATED 15/04/2002

    WELCOME
    The approximate size of the simulator is 13ft wide x 11ft long and 9ft high.
    It will include every switch and panel in the 747-400
    Built to accept full motion and visuals at a later date.
    This is a Ten year project.

    6 years to go!

    Naturally it will be controlled in time by the one and only Precision Simulator

    by Aerowinx and Hardy Heinlin

    747 SIMULATOR MESSAGE BOARD

    PS1 747-400 & FS2000/98 RUNNING ON MY HOME SETUP

    PICTURES OF DESIGN

    CONSTRUCTION TIME TABLE

    FMC KEYBOARD

    PREVIOUS PICTURES

    THUMBNAILS All pictures so far

    LATEST PICTURES And NEWS 15/04/2002

    OTHER HOMEBUILT SIMULATORS

    LINKS TO OTHER SITES

    FLIGHT IN A REAL 747-400 SIMULATOR

    WORLD-FLIGHT AUSTRALIA IS A CHARITY EVENT TAKING PLACE IN NOVEMBER 2002

    Would you like to help?
    Simulator will be based in Sydney Australia
    If you have any skills or knowledge that you can share contact me.

    mailto:hyway@viper.net.au

    Perv - Skip - Next5 - Random - Next
    Add your site.

    If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me hyway@viper.net.au

    Date last updated

    15-Apr-2002 08:26

    You are Visitor No:

  3. Um... by bc90021 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...so how long until the Feds are also in this guy's backyard making sure that it's not used (or copied) for terrorist training?

    (Yes, I know he's in Australia, but when has that stopped them before?)

    1. Re:Um... by cliffy2000 · · Score: 1

      They already exist... they have complex simulators in their facilities, according to CNN's last report.

  4. Flight Sim by n4zgl · · Score: 1, Informative

    more links www.flightsim.com

  5. No FBI in Oz, mate. by Blaede · · Score: 2, Funny

    What's he gonna do, practice crashing into an Outback steakhouse?

    1. Re:No FBI in Oz, mate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      CIA sniper in the bushes near his house, some c4
      planted on the simulator and his house...

      or the AU govt will just disconnect his power and deprive him of a decent internet connection....oh wait, the internet screw job is somthing the govt would have to worry about, they just leave that to the apparently usless isp's

    2. Re:No FBI in Oz, mate. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The AFP (Australian Federal Police) are the equivilent of the FBI.

      ASIO (Australian Security Inteligence Agency) is like a combination of the CIA and NSA.

  6. perspective... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Guy In Bar: Yeah, so in my free time I'm building the city's largest collection of historical NFL material.
    Guy In Bar: Yeah, I'm doing something like that too -- I 'got a 747 simulator in my backyard, workin' on it for almost five years.
    Bartender: Sir, I think you've had a little too many. Shall I call a cab?

  7. So... by teslatug · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Who's calling John Ashcroft?

    1. Re:So... by ImaLamer · · Score: 2

      Who's calling John Ashcroft?

      Certainly not the head FBI office, they tend to ignore such things...

  8. Glad it's in Sydney by ltsmash · · Score: 2

    I wonder if this would get the same praise if the 747-simiulator were being built in say, Islamabad instead of Sydney.

    1. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by X-Lancer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Glad?! You're not saying that all people in Islamabad are terrorsits, are you? Nor are you saying that people there have less rights than people anywhere in the world?
      Please stop this racist hysteria.

    2. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      You're right. We shouldn't bother worrying at all, if we notice that someone in Islamabad has a 747 flight simulator.

    3. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by majiCk · · Score: 1

      You're not saying that all people in Islamabad are terrorsits, are you? [...] Please stop this racist hysteria.

      it may be racist to say that all people in Islamabad are terrorists, but surely chance has something to say about the probability of any random person in Islamabad being a terrorist, versus the probability of any random person in Sydney being a terrorist.

      similarly, one could make a (perhaps even more striking) statement about the probability of any random terrorist coming from Islamabad, versus the probability of any random terrorist coming from Sydney.

      statistics are a poor substitute for hard facts, but they're the only one we've found so far.

    4. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As a matter of fact.. I'm sure they DO have one. I mean there are airplanes there right?

    5. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      Not that it follows, exactly, that because they have an airport, that there are million dollar professional flight simulators there. They often train pilots elsewhere, mind you.

      But for the sake of the argument, assume they do have a few.

      You may not have noticed, but I was laying the sarcasm on there, rather thick. It should worry anyone with half a brain that they are where they are. I wonder how many citizens of Islamabad help the terrorists one way or another, and how high up they are before they stop aiding them? What, you think some janitor wouldn't feel obligated to let a few buddies into the building late at night, where they can practice for an hour unnoticed? Or hell, maybe even some airport official, in the middle of the day, so that it won't interfere with the 5 prayers.

      If you don't see it as a problem, then you aren't too bright.

    6. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why ?. The archives are interesting too..

    7. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It should worry anyone with half a brain that they are where they are. I wonder how many citizens of Islamabad help the terrorists one way or another

      You'd get an even better hit rate if you chose any US city. There the only citizens who give no support to terrorism are those who manage to evade paying any Federal taxes.
      That's before you even consider the likes of "Noraid"...

      and how high up they are before they stop aiding them?

      How does being "high up" stop people aiding terrorists. It certainly dosn't in the US, where, if anything, the "higher ups" are the lead offenders.

    8. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Would figure you're AC. Moron.

      Why don't you stop hiding, and make a real accusation, instead of name-calling and vague innuendo.

      Hmm?

    9. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Pike65 · · Score: 2

      I wonder how many citizens of Islamabad help the terrorists one way or another . . .

      Did you know that the IRA gets pretty much all of it's funding from America to blow up British people?

      Just a though.

      --
      "If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
    10. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      Well, there is actually an effort underway to curb that, as much as is legal to do so.

      Then, there is the point that those who contribute the most money, tend to be immigrants, or at least were immigrants from the UK at one point. You sent them over here first, after all.

      Add to that that we don't hate British people, and that we're sympathetic about the problem. And we may have even helped from time to time with it, when possible.

      So yes, I know. As far as that goes, there are probaly muslim US citizens that gave money to alquaeda. They're still all assholes, imo (muslim terrorists and IRA). It'd bother me if there were IRA training grounds in this country too, even though they wouldn't blow us up.

      Nice troll though.

    11. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by ipfwadm · · Score: 2

      As a matter of fact.. I'm sure they DO have one. I mean there are airplanes there right?

      Then why would the terrorists of 9/11 have travelled to the United States to train on flight simulators there, rather than just going to Islamabad to train, where it is much less likely that anything foil their plans?

    12. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Did you know that the IRA gets pretty much all of it's funding from America to blow up British people?

      Those ads all over telling people to invest in an IRA are for Individual Retirement Accounts.

      I can see a Brit getting concerned about the push for everyone to put thousands into the IRA.

    13. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by PrestoChango · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'll make a deal with you. When the Muslim nations stop teaching in elementary school that Americans should die a horrible death (as the news continually showed about 5 years ago), I'll stop worrying about whether or not they're going to kill me.

      It's not racism, its fear. If you've been feuding with a neighbor and he suddenly has a lawyer over for dinner every night for a week, what would be going through your head?

      Although, in all fairness, if a terrorist group wanted to build a flight sim, we'd never know about it.

    14. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I was in school here in the US some of my teachers were brainless racists, but that didn't make it an official governmental policy or anything like that. Don't put so much faith in TV news, they just put on whatever bizarro stuff they think will get a response.

    15. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by X-Lancer · · Score: 1

      Ok. But before we make any deals, I'll ask you not to beleive everything you see on the news. Instead, you can read a book like this one. I don't want to get into who controls the media here, and the US foreign policies, etc. The fact is, I got my elementary and prep school education in Saudi Arabia, and then my high school in Egypt. None taught me that Americans should die a horrible death. Even if people feel any injustice done to them, that doesn't mean they can kill other people.
      Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not transgressors. - Qur'an (Chapter 2, verse 190)

    16. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well it is not like G. Bush knows where the nation of Muslim, he could not find it on the spining globe on his desk. That might be why the US is having such a hard time in its war on terrorism and resorts to saying "Bad Arrarafaa Bad Bad Arraarr... What is his bloody name again?"

    17. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by PrestoChango · · Score: 1

      Of course I don't believe everything I see in the news. I consider myself to be a fairly openminded person, but you must admit, seeing a group of forth graders chanting "Death to Americans" kinda stays with you.

      The prejudices you referred to in the original post were not words of hate, but words of fear. I would be just as anxious if anyone who owned a "compound" here in the USA started buying up tanks and missles.

      I do not mean to attack you or your beliefs. If you feel I have, I'm sorry. My intention was to direct your (justified) annoyance with these comments to the correct location. As long as there is fear, there will be hatred and stereotypes. Attacking the fear will only worsen it, to overcome it we must attack those who would cause it.

    18. Re:Glad it's in Sydney by X-Lancer · · Score: 1

      I beleive you are as you consider yourself, fairly open-minded person. Thank you for being like that.
      But if you let me use your same logic. When American policies change in the ME and become fair to those people, they will definitely change their attitude.
      Notice that still, this attitude is mainly hatred against the American policies, and not the people. Ignorance then does what it does. Although to be fair, some educated people still blame the American public because America IS a democracy. So, what the government does, is what the people want, at least theoretically. The problem is the lobbyists have (some) effect both on the government and the public opinon.

  9. Not Quite by exphoria · · Score: 0

    NFL Collection: I pay $300 for a card with someone's picture! 747 Sim: I pay $300 to add more functionality to my sim by using my own expertise.

    1. Re:Not Quite by Blackneto · · Score: 0

      OK so they are both equally a waste of money.
      Was that your point?

      Who says a persons passions have to make since. If a person gets enjoyment out of it and has the ability to spend the money to do it, who cares.

      We may scratch our heads and say WTF????? but not everyone has a jones for the cerebral.

      In case your wondering, I "waste" money on Comic Books and odd bits of electronic matter.

      --
      Ursula Andress, Catherine Deneuve, and Charo, twice...
  10. Right.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How long until the Feds shut him down for operating a terrorist flight training center..

  11. already slashdotted by mansoft · · Score: 5, Informative
    --

    Engage!

    1. Re:already slashdotted by packeteer · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      i know this is offtopic so reply dont mod... anyway... whats up with the inconsistent modding of google cache link... someitmes its modded up sometimes down... even the first time its posted its posted as redundant??? can we please decide what we people to do??? thanks...

      --
      unzip; strip; touch; finger; mount; fsck; more; yes; unmount; sleep
    2. Re:already slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about only modding up an AC who posts it and modding non-ACs to oblivion for karma whoring?

    3. Re:already slashdotted by KFK+-+Wildcat · · Score: 1

      It rules, but not enough! I mean, am I the only who wants to see the pictures?

  12. TERRORISM by evi1b0b · · Score: 0

    TERRORISM! TERRORISM! T-E-R-R-O-R-I-S-M! aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. let teh eagle soar!

    1. Re:TERRORISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dear Evi1b0b,
      I think this is the greatest post ever.

  13. weather by tellurian · · Score: 0

    at least he can save money on simulating the weather

    --
    The Grid Report

  14. I don't understand... by ByteHog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's with all the comments so far about this being used for terrorist training?? Geeze.. that's like saying "Hey I'm building a computer! The FBI better watch out, I might hack into the DOD mainframe!!"

    --
    - This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
    1. Re:I don't understand... by teslatug · · Score: 1

      We are making feeble attempts at jokes...what you expect quality this late at night??

    2. Re:I don't understand... by ByteHog · · Score: 2

      True enough... I guess it's relatively early in my evening: before midnight (pst)

      Don't get me wrong, this is really cool, but the number of terrorist comments kinda suprised me.

      --
      - This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along, move along..
    3. Re:I don't understand... by cperciva · · Score: 2

      that's like saying "Hey I'm building a computer! The FBI better watch out, I might hack into the DOD mainframe!!"

      Not really. The number of people interested in having their own flight simulator is vastly lower than the number of people interesting in having their own computer.

      A better analogy would be to saying "Hey I'm building a teraflop cluster of systems designed specifically to factor large integers! The FBI better watch out, I might start cracking people's RSA keys!!"

    4. Re:I don't understand... by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

      Is it a supercomputer? Where's that FBI number?

      --
      If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    5. Re:I don't understand... by Jonny+290 · · Score: 4, Funny
      heh.

      May 2015: "I've finally cracked these emails. What do they contain?"
      FROM: audits@andersen.com
      TO: kennethlay@enron.com
      DATE: 15 Sep 2001

      Shred it, Ken. Shred it all.
      --
      Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
  15. interesting method of doing it by trelaneopn · · Score: 1

    I had a guy come in a few weeks ago building a simulator for some large airplane or other,and he was upgrading the system from CRT to flatpanel, we ended up helping him out of the store with 10k in flatpanels, and he said he'd let us test it out when he got it rigged up, (SCORE!) I had pictures of the setup, and it was pretty damn impressive, so I lost them, sorry all.

    --
    a bit more about me http://www.advogato.org/person/trelane/ or my private page http://trelane.net
  16. Everybody's doing it! by rjrjr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Google/DMOZ has a whole category for this guy and his peers. I especially liked Kev's cockpit, a little How To guide.

  17. Landing? by cybermage · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    When asked why his simulator lacked the ability to deploy landing gear, he replied "I don't really need it."

    "Hey Kev, Mr. bin Laden would like to know if he can come over and play"

  18. Nice by qslack · · Score: 3, Funny

    If he ever wanted to build a web server stress simulator, he's got one...

  19. not much on the page but is mirrored here by thogard · · Score: 4, Informative

    No use blowing some small Aussie ISP out of the water.

    mirror will be here for a few days

    1. Re:not much on the page but is mirrored here by thogard · · Score: 1

      The thing bombed out while tring to suck Telstra's cache dry so it only works up to about the middle of the "Thumbprints" so that might be a good place to stop looking.

      Stats so far:
      bytes: 178,368,616
      my bandwidth cost: us$00.66447487
      Oz bandwidth cost: au$34.0211

      So a poorly rated followup (it was 2 till very
      recently) to a /. story can
      suck more bandwidth in 25 minutes than all of
      my paying customers in a month.

      Welcome to the Information Super Outback!

  20. Blue Screen of Crashing into the Ocean. by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1

    This sounds so Zen. What's the difference?

  21. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by kawaichan · · Score: 2

    what's up with your trollish comments on MS FS

    Microsoft's flight simulator is one of the best simulator you could get right now, it's a decent product to say the least.

    so sick of you anti-ms trolls... but then again, it's /.

    --

    kawai
  22. MS market opportunity by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 1

    Leaked internal MS memo: "Note to Billg: Research surveys show a strong market for a Terrorist Flight Simulator. Make sure we build in software bugs, these customers WANT to see a 'blue screen of death to infidels'.

    1. Re:MS market opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then it should rather be the
      green screen of death to infidels.

  23. I don't wanna be the one to say it... by nsample · · Score: 2

    ...but I will. This guy is just looking for trouble!

    It'll be funny to see who contacts him first... the terrorists or the FBI...

    1. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not that I don't find the running joke here amusing, but the truth is, the terrorists won't bother trying that again. It was a one shot (successful) deal. Only the FBI is stupid enough to waste alot of effort "preventing" that sort of thing.

      Likely, the terrorists will resort to something else, perhaps derailing an Amtrak (like it needs alot of help *LOL*).

    2. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If we're lucky they'll screw up and derail Amway.

      *Ducks*

    3. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, he's in Australia, but if you check out the page with links to other similar projects, there are quite a few of these available.

    4. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by Dolly_Llama · · Score: 2
      I dunno about that. The destructive power of a commercial airliner is just too great in terms of kinetic energy + potential energy in fuel. It was highly effective and very dramatic. If i were a terrorist, I would be looking for the chance to do it again once security grew lax again. One might argue that the passengers would rise up against the attackers. A terrorist would then need to hijack a plane with fewer passengers or even better, a cargo plane.

      There's also a matter of the USAF being willing to shoot down hikacked planes. A terrorist would then have to crash near to the plane arrival or departure airport. This is quite possible if you consider metro airports, especiall Reagan Intl..

      --

      Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan

    5. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      I can't argue with your reasoning, but intuitively it doesn't seem right. I'd bet any amount of money the feds will be worrying about this or something like it, and the terrorists will slip through to do something entirely different. Derailing certain trains, whether they are passenger or cargo could be just as devastating in terms of lives lost or damage. Same with ships... sinking an oil tanker in some big port would really screw things up.

    6. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by Dolly_Llama · · Score: 2
      I agree with you, but trains or ships don't have the power to destroy large symbolic buildings. Also, despite what the Exxon Valdez might have shown, sinking, or even damaging a large ship is harder than you might think. An airplane otoh, takes a certain degree of skill to NOT damage or destroy.

      As an aside, I read somewhere that the target of the 4th plane was the white house. Can you imagine the shit that would have hit the fan had that happened? I think the "Let's Roll" guy, whose name I shamefully can't remember, is more a hero than we at first apppreciate.

      --

      Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan

    7. Re:I don't wanna be the one to say it... by Suidae · · Score: 2

      At this point it's not really necessary to damage large or symbolic structures (although it would be interesting to see what happens when a fully loaded, hijacked (pirated??) oil tanker would do to the golden gate bridge footings at full speed). Thats been done, now they could progress to a campaign to destroy the 'it can't happen here' attitude across the country. Not only is it logistically easier, its guarenteed to generate large amounts of panic.

      All one would need is a couple people (a team of 5-10 drivers would simplify things), some commercial explosives (easily available to regular joes in many states) some 10 day timers (trivial), and gas money. Load up your drivers each with about 30 or 40 small packages of explosive set to go off at the same time, and start off on cross-country drives. At each security-lax small or medium sized town, make a pit stop at a gas station, fast-food joint or overpass and leave a bomb somewhere unobtrusive. A week later when bombs go off simultaniously in 300 Anytown USA's, any remaining sense of security will be shattered.

      This kind of stuff would be very easy to pull off, and while I hesitate to post it publicly with our current law enforcment attitude toward security, its so obvious that any serious terrorist would undoubtedly concoct something even more henious. Heck, the majority of slashdot users could probably single-handidly design and execute an even more sophisticated attack (perhaps in conjunction with physical and cyber attacks on major internet trunks).

      Security is largely an illusion. An attacker would do well to attack the roots of the illusion.

  24. That's nothing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's nothing! I'm building a 747 simulator simulator. You get that genuine 747 simulator feeling without the need for an actual 747 simulator! Here's the way it works: I've got a whole bunch of Cessna 172 simulators (that's a small 4-seater) and I've hooked them up into a big Beowulf cluster. With the help of a little Perl script (gotta love Perl!) it simulates a 747 simulator. And not only that, it's a whole lot cheaper.

  25. Hope his simulator is better than his web server by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 1

    Or even better, his simulator wasn't running off the same server as the web server.

  26. Closer to the truth than it is a joke. by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

    Actually, you chose a really poor example there. We already did the same thing a week ago on that DRM article. Which is also probably alot closer to the truth than I want to think about.

  27. The nose of an actual jet... by kabir · · Score: 5, Informative

    The guy at http://www.737simguy.com/ (linked off the site in the article) actually built his sim in the severed nose of a real airliner. Now that's dedication to realism.

    Must be expensive though...

    --
    Behold the Power of Cheese!
  28. feh by ebmedia · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    26 comments and it's already slashed like a mother. High five, guys! :D

  29. I'll one up you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm designing a 747 passenger simulator. Basically, it's a set of six chairs crammed too close together with a yammering asshole mannequin in the seat by the window, a 'six-year-old' seat kicking mechanism, and a vague pilot intercom on the ceiling. It'll cost you $400 more than you expect, and pray that it's available to ride the day you show up.

    1. Re:I'll one up you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget the bad food, loss luggage, strip search etc...

  30. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Too bad it's not really theirs, isn't it? They bought that one way back, but the core code is still someone else's.

    Besides, he wasn't necessarily bashing the sim app, but rather the underlying OS (it bluescreened). It's hardly trolling, when it is so incredibly true, need I remind you. You're like those guys that paint flame decals on their Pinto, and then get pissed when people laugh. Just because you've deluded yourself into thinking M$ products are good or acceptable, doesn't mean that it's not obvious to us that the idea is ridiculous.

  31. Jesus people! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's 3:30 freaking a.m.... I can't believe this site's slash'ed already!! Get a life people. (Note to self: get a life)

  32. oh baby! simulators! by quonsar · · Score: 1

    there's a guy in the neighbor with a 767 simulator. on saturday afternoons he and the guy with the WTC simulator from the next block over are usually good for a few laughs.

  33. Yes, but... by Chief+Typist · · Score: 1

    A 747 in the backyard is pretty cool, but I'd much rather have the fighter jet with a beer holder.

  34. Picking up old aircraft by 1984 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My brother was visiting British Aerospace some years back and they had a bunch of Lightnings (old British supersonic fighters -- yes, such things existed :-) sat on an apron. He asked what they were for and was told that they were trade-ins from a sale of Tornadoes (European supersonic fighterish bombers) to Saudi Arabia.

    He asked what was going to happen to them, and was told that they were for sale... for one pound each. The condition was that you had to take it away within a week if you bought one. Did they fly? "Well they flew them in here, but they've had the weapons deactivated and they've been sat there rotting a few years." Apparently an ex-BAe fitter who had worked on Lightnings was among the purchasers of the one-pound fighters, and had reworked it so he could, if so inclined, start the engine.

    And one other point: this 747 sim is acool story. It's not "Microsoft is shit", nor about software patents or geeks in society. Just some cool borderline-crazy stuff some guy is getting up to. Reminds me of Slashdot in 1997. When I was a lad.

    1. Re:Picking up old aircraft by dagashi · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      When I was a lad.

      So you're a girl now?

  35. Fun will wear off quick? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why build a simulator for a Greyhound Bus when you could build one for a Ferrari?

  36. what about drone simulator by guest12 · · Score: 1

    the pilotless planes everyone's talking about, supposed ot replace all human pilots

  37. Better simulation software? by ThesQuid · · Score: 3, Informative

    It seems the Aerowinx software he's planning to use is based on empirical data from thousands of 747 flights.
    Perhaps he should consider X-Plane instead. It derives it's aerodynamics from first principles, and is quite accurate in simulating things that haven't been actually done. You can even get FAA certification from using X-Plane. It's already got the software hooks to drive a motion platform.
    Plus you can hack the hell out of it. There's a large community of users with interesting mods.

    1. Re:Better simulation software? by nadaou · · Score: 1

      Also see FlightGear for linux, SGI, Mac, and Windows.

      "The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License.

      The goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application. We are developing a sophisticated, open simulation framework that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing.

      There are many exciting possibilties for an open, free flight sim. We hope that this project will be interesting and useful to many people in many areas."

      --
      ~.~
      I'm a peripheral visionary.
    2. Re:Better simulation software? by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      X-plane has a better flight model, for sure.

      As for FAA approval....

      Fidelity Flight Simulation has obtained FAA approval (documented here) to train pilots towards their COMMERCIAL CERTIFICATE, INSTRUMENT RATING, and AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT CERTIFICATE. This training is done in a full-motion simulator, using X-Plane 6.12 as the simulator software!

      That's a particular simulator in a particular instance of X-Plane, and it's for insturment ratings and such, not flying.

      You can hack the hell out of MS Flight Sim as well. There is a full SDK.

      ANd MS Flight Sim has more terrain data I Believe.

    3. Re:Better simulation software? by topham · · Score: 2

      My father just purchased X-plane recently (last week). There is no way Flight SIm has more terrain, it MAY have more detailed terrain, but X-plane + Scenery has 90-100% of the world for terrain. And includes an editor to modify it if you want. (Note: the scenery portion is handled as an external project and many people around the world are updating the scenery to be more accurate where they fly, or live.).

      I am thoroughly impressed with the functionality and the attention to relevent detail in X-plane. And have to admire the developers intent.

      X-plane is inherently extensible too, supports UDP for updating/changing a large number of things so you can use multiple computers for interfacing with it.
      Microsoft hasn't a chance in the long run if X-plane continues to advance at it's current rate.

    4. Re:Better simulation software? by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      Perhaps it's the detail I meant. I know I could punch up my hometown in central British Columbia, and literally fly by sight, watching landmarks such as mountains and rivers.

    5. Re:Better simulation software? by topham · · Score: 2

      Try flying outside of the key cities that Microsoft designates as important and you'll quickly realize their city databases aren't any better than anyone elses.

      They are all getting significantly better on each release though.

    6. Re:Better simulation software? by mindstrm · · Score: 2

      Somehow I don't think my little hometown was "important".

      This was not 'flying in the city'. It was flying all over the interior of the province by landmarks alone, mountains, rivers, valleys, etc.

  38. Damnit! by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    Hey you stole my joke...I was gonna say something about stopping him from building his terrorist training device...

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  39. The FBI can be as interested as it likes... by waimate · · Score: 1

    Just to clarify, the FBI is a department within the US government. Australia is a country.

    1. Re:The FBI can be as interested as it likes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So I guess the U.S. can't arrest people in Afghanistan and imprison them in Cuba.

    2. Re:The FBI can be as interested as it likes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right.. And try telling that to Dmitry Sklyarov..

  40. In the Bat-cave somewhere in Afghanistan... by Yousef · · Score: 1

    Reports just in:
    Osama bin Ladin is training all new potential Suicide Bombers in-house/cave, with his new home made 747 training simulator.
    When asked how he made it, he replied that he found full instructions on the Internet along side the directions for creating your own Nuke, and home made Chemical and Biological Warfare Kit!

    --
    -- "To ask a question is to show ignorance; Not to ask a question means you'll remain ignorant."
  41. Alright. by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

    Does anyone have a mirror? The reason is obvious.

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
    1. Re:Alright. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what? your hair's a mess?

    2. Re:Alright. by Rhinobird · · Score: 1

      Why yes it is...how'd you know?

      --
      If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  42. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by arvindv · · Score: 1

    Can you suggest any 'acceptable' flight sim product that is actually better than FS2002 at simulating 747? Or is my mere asking of such a 'stupid' question ridiculous?

  43. YAY!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    now i can fly a 757 into the world trade towers as much as i want!

  44. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

    No I can't. Microsoft made a point to buy up most of the games/software studios that did that in the mid to late 80's. Not that the DOJ would ever go after them for being a "monopoly" in the flight sim market, but it seems they have habits that they just can't get rid of.

  45. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by Yousef · · Score: 1

    You could say that about ANY and EVERYthing! Your PC, Your Car, Your Washing and Cleaning liquids...
    Everything in the wrong hands CAN be used for evil. However, treating everyone as a terrorist is worse and is also impractical.
    A concerted effort to remove the causes of Terrorism is a far more constructive use of resources.

    --
    -- "To ask a question is to show ignorance; Not to ask a question means you'll remain ignorant."
  46. Simulating what? by Presence2 · · Score: 1

    I was building a "Grand theft auto 3" simulator, your honor. Honest.

  47. Glass Cockpit on Freshmeat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I noticed this on fm a couple of weeks ago. Looks interesting, and since instrumentation is going all glass anyway (crts or lcds or whatever), eventually one will be able to build a perfectly accurate cockpit using an LCD or three.

    http://a340gc.iradis.org/index_en.html

    From the site:
    The Glass Cockpit Library (libGC) is created for the Airbus A340 Glass Cockpit (a340gc) which is an Open Source project. The a340gc project is part of the Airbus A340 simulator project of the IRADIS Foundation. The goal of libGC and a340gc is to create a free framework that can be used to build a glass cockpit upon.

    Hmmm, that new Matrox card might come in handy.

  48. Oh the possibilites by galaga79 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why limit yourself to an 747 simulator when you could build your own X-Wing cockpit, load up an old copy of LucasArt's X-Wing or the more recent X-Wing Alliance and experience the closest thing to destroying the Death Star. For the complete experience you could even dress up as an X-Wing pilot.

    Surprisingly no one seems to have done this already, at least according to a quick Google search I did beforehand. You could also do something similiar in terms of a Pod Racer like the arcade game by Sega that was around a few years ago, as there is that Pod Racing game which Lucas Arts put out.

  49. hard core flight simmer by macpeep · · Score: 2

    Really? I'm a die-hard flightsim fan that has played Flight Simulator since FS2 on Apple IIe and every version since - the old SubLogic ones, ATP, the MS FS-series (=what the SubLogic ones were called after MS bought them), all of them. Throughout the years, there's been other sims; A320, Pro Pilot, Flight Unlimited, X-Plane, the Chuck Yeager sim (I forget the exact name) and Fly! come to mind. None of these have died because Microsoft would have bought them or used dirty tactics. Flight Simulator has always won on its own merits and continues to do so.

    Fly! comes relatively close in many aspects but the graphics engine in FS2002 is still WAY ahead. Even FS2000 beats the Fly! II graphics engine! Then there's the extensibility. MS gives out SDK's and tools for its sim so people can make their own planes, sceneries and add-ons for it - such as multiplayer systems like Squawkbox, GPS and FMS systems, flight planners, etc. Then there's scenery accuracy. Then there's flight model accuracy and just plain usability and playability. And quality. Sorry, but while Microsoft may be evil and is eating children and pissing in your cornflakes, you can't deny that Microsoft has produced a kick ass sim that is competing fair and square. To try to deny Microsoft the credit for it just because the really, really, really early versions were based on SubLogic's code is just retarded. So much has changed since then in the engine that there can't be ANYTHING left really.

    Then of course, there's the fact that being a monopoly isn't illegal, contrary to popular belief so the DOJ wouldn't go after them even if they DID have a monopoly in flight sims. Even theoretically.

    1. Re:hard core flight simmer by GigsVT · · Score: 1

      Well, I agree with you as far as MS flight sim being the best. (argh did I just say that?)

      But if you have a linux or IRIX box and inifnite patience, you might try FlightGear. It's Free(free). It's a bitch to install properly, but it does look like it has potential. It's a direct stab at MS flight sim type sims, with an open framework for expansion.

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
    2. Re:hard core flight simmer by macpeep · · Score: 2

      Thanks for the tip!

    3. Re:hard core flight simmer by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      "Then of course, there's the fact that being a monopoly isn't illegal, contrary to popular belief so the DOJ wouldn't go after them even if they DID have a monopoly in flight sims. Even theoretically."

      Even if said monopoly was a result of illegally leveraging an OS monopoly on a significant software market?

    4. Re:hard core flight simmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Even if said monopoly was a result of illegally leveraging an OS monopoly on a significant software market?"

      What YOU say is irrelevant. In REALITY, Microsoft has not leveraged the OS monopoly to be #1 in Flight Simulators. The sim is #1 because it's the best flight sim and people love it and buy it. That might be hard for you to accept.

    5. Re:hard core flight simmer by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      Yeh. It's also the #1 OS because it's the best and people love and buy it. *cough*BeOS*cough*OS/2*cough*

      And it's the #1 browser because it's the best and people love and buy it. *cough*netscape*cough*

      And NT is the #1 server OS because it's the best and companies love and buy it. *cough*Solaris*cough*IRIX*cough*netware*cough*VMS* cough*anything-at-all*cough*

      It is. So, so very very very hard for me to accept it, but it's true.

    6. Re:hard core flight simmer by Old+Wolf · · Score: 1

      You are forgetting the wonderful piece of work "PSION Flight Simulator" (published for the ZX Spectrum in 1982 AFAIK)

    7. Re:hard core flight simmer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you'll have no trouble naming an instance when Microsoft used bully tactics to promote their Flight Sim?

      Oh that's right, you probably didn't even know Microsoft had a flight sim until today. You're just here for mindless bashing. Go hunt some rodents for dinner or something.

  50. See the history by JohnHegarty · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you want to see the history of this project , and a non slashdotted version of the side , have a look at http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.hyway.com.au/747/ 747.htm

  51. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by GigsVT · · Score: 1

    A concerted effort to remove the causes of Terrorism is a far more constructive use of resources

    You don't get it. The government is losing the battle of public opinion over the drug war, so they need a new FUD machine to keep the people scared. No one wants to treat the causes in cases like these, their jobs depend on treating the symptoms, and never actually making any real headway, just like the drug war.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  52. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 0, Troll

    You are either dumb, or the most brilliant troll to grace slashdot's commentary. Honestly.

    You had for the first two lines, if I had had mod points, you would have been modded up before I read the third. How? Are you some kind of idiot savant, that can say something brilliant one moment, and then something utterly retarded the very next? Or was this some ingenious scheme of yours, to take the crown of trolldom?

    They're gonna mod me down to -1 on this, but it needs to be said.

    There is much rhetoric about how we should spend more money on "curing the disease and not the sympton". In general, such a principle sometimes means the person saying it is just a little less dim than the person next to him. But in this case, it is nothing more than a blatant case of cliche-mongering. Islamic terrorism (and by no means do I mean all muslims are terrorists, or that there are not other flavors of terrorism) is an incredibly complex social phenomena, hidden beneath layers and layers of political faction-meistering, diplomatic bullshit, and danger to human life. Very few researchers can even get near the subject, and those that do are threatened and/or ignored. But even then, there is something that is obvious to those who care to try understanding this.

    There is no single cause, nor small set of causes, that we might reduce or stifle, that could prevent terrorism in a meaningful way. Nada, nothing. It is like asking what truly causes a nice summer day... lots of things, is the answer. Insanely complex weather and climate patterns build up over periods of time going back to the birth of our planet, all interlocking, dependent on each other, and chaotic in a mathematical way. What can we do to prevent a nice summer day? Not much. No amount of money, effort or willpower will do it.

    But if I'm wrong, and there is some simple answer that my tiny little brain can't wrap itself around, why hasn't anyone ever said so in a public way? Why don't you?

    Wanna know how you can get rid of this sort of terrorism? I'll tell you how, but with one caveat. It's not something that I could do, or be part of. It's something that I would protest to the point of being thrown in prison for treason or something. And undoubtedly, it's something that you aren't even willing to read all the way through.

    We simply wipe them out.

    Not like Bush did, tossing a few smart bombs here and there. No, we nuke every living thing in Afghanistan. We bribe China, if necessary, so they don't get pissy about it. Then we move on down the line. Iran, Iraq. Egypt. Libya. And then, for a finale, we obliterate Saudi Arabia. We leave nothing alive. Especially Mecca. We make sure that only cockroaches can survive the pilgrimage. Of course, we'll have to send our own muslims to internment camps, but that's nothing we haven't done before. Maybe we'd even build them a "Mecca USA" and put political pressure on the religious leaders to start pitching that, or else. And of course, irradiated petroleum isn't very cool, so we'd have to have an alternative for it. But this, this would prevent terrorism.

    Terrorists, by their nature, are impossible to stop. There are no limiting factors to their behavior. Not even their own religion is a limiting factor, a mullah that would denounce terrorism and plead with them to not commit such, would be viewed as weak, and unwilling to do Allah's work. Even if Binladen did so himself, some miraculous change of heart, most of his followers would splinter off, and continue this.

    We, on the other hand, have many such limiting factors. For instance, we (hopefully) would never perform the actions I detailed above, that would fix the situation. We're susceptible to diplomatic pressures. We like our oil too much. We have ethical concerns. In other words, we're fucked.

    Please, if you have any grand insights, on how to remove the causes, reply to this. If nothing else, I'll find it entertaining.

  53. DMCA? by Peridriga · · Score: 2

    So where is the DMCA and the Patriot Act arguing that this is a danger to society?

    1. Re:DMCA? by Banjonardo · · Score: 1

      That's right! Those damn feds... always messing with our violations of copyri----wait, that was dumb!

      --

      -----

      Score 3? For what? Being wrong, at length? - smirkleton

  54. .... huh? by burtonator · · Score: 2

    This is a cool hack: some guy is building a 747 simulator in his backyard.

    Is he a terrorist?

  55. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  56. So where are the X-Wing and Tie-Fighter Cockpits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's what's really needed. New MM sims for them are in the pipeline.

  57. I find this rather of bad taste by dario_moreno · · Score: 1, Troll

    given what happened to the China Airlines
    747 yesterday. Or should I post a joke
    saying "does it include a random number generator
    sparking an explosion in the fuel tanks "?

    --
    Google passes Turing test : see my journal
    1. Re:I find this rather of bad taste by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      poor taste and this site seem to go hand-in-hand, sadly enough

  58. Top this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jacques Villeneuve has a complete F-1 (race car) simulator built into his yacht. Millions of Canadian dollars went into it. It features hydraulics that give the sensation of cornering, etc. It can replicate any F-1 circuit in the world and smells a lot like a PS2.

  59. mirror by manifested2 · · Score: 1
  60. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

    My workplace firewall is blocking this, so it has to wait til I go home.

    But, I have a sneaking suspicion that it's a "jews eat muslim babies, and the US bankrolls the dinner utensils" story. You'll have to do better than that.

  61. FBI - Go home by t_allardyce · · Score: 1

    If the US Gov./FBI come over there, the Australians/British will tell them to f*ck off. Well - maybe not the British seeing as Tony is in love with Bush.. well maybe in fact, seeing as Bush dumped him for that Russian guy.. yeah, i think Tony's pretty pissed off at the moment. Anyway, it sure is a good thing that other countries have nukes too, otherwise the USA _would_ be rulers of the world, and making 747-simulators in your back-yard would be illegal everywhere.

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
    1. Re:FBI - Go home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BS, your gov will bow to us. We own joo.
      You're just a bunch of criminals that haven't been allowed out of your island prison yet.

    2. Re:FBI - Go home by rat7307 · · Score: 1

      Just a question ...WTF have the British got to do with this???

      Australia has been an independant country since it was federated in 1901...

      That said, we'd probably bend over and let the FBI do what they wanted, our PM is loving the chance to sniff GWB's butt at the moment

      --
      Burma?
  62. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  63. Ingenuity is worth more than money by Hunter1776 · · Score: 1

    I think this kind of thing is great - showing people that "multi-million dollar technology" can be emulated at home is always something I've been interested in. Again, this proves a little ingenuity is worth a lot more than money. I eagerly await the backyard battleship and tank simulators :).

  64. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by mpe · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    You don't get it. The government is losing the battle of public opinion over the drug war, so they need a new FUD machine to keep the people scared.

    There are a few lined up. Consider the neat timing of discovering the body of Ms Levy, just as some embarrasing questions are asked of Mr Bush.

    No one wants to treat the causes in cases like these, their jobs depend on treating the symptoms, and never actually making any real headway, just like the drug war.

    Assuming the people supposedly opposing it are not actually involved in keeping it going. Which has certainly been the case in the "war on drugs".

  65. Flight Sim Cockpits by cr@ckwhore · · Score: 4, Informative

    Flight Sim Cockpits are becoming a popular thing among FS junkies. I admit, I'm one of "them".

    Most of the sim cockpits are of large jets. Many flight simmers fly these things, including military jets, because they're fun and they'll never have the opportunity to fly one in real life. With today's computing power, one can build an incredibly realistic simulation.

    I recently started thinking about building a full scale 737 cockpit after purchasing the Dreamfleet 737-400 for simulation. (www.dreamfleet2000.com). The DF737 is the most realistic 737 simulation available for flight sim. I located some good cockpit building information, and even a source of replica panels.

    www.a-g-t.com has replica panels of an F-16, F-18, Airbus A320, Airbus A340, Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 777.

    A good source of information is www.projectmagenta.com. Project Magenta was started in the interest of making "Glass Cockpits". In a modern big jet, there aren't likely to be guages for the primary flight instruments. These have been replaced with computer screens. Because glass cockpits are real, and computer screens are easily available to simmers, new modern jets become easy to simulate with 3 or 4 computer monitors embedded beneath the simulated flightdeck. Projectmagenta.com has pics illustrating what I'm talking about.

    The only thing keeping me from building my 737 cockpit is money. I'm about to dump a bunch of money into a kit plane and go flying for real. Perhaps the 737 simulator will come afterward.

    Even with real flight, I'll stick around in flight sim (as many pilots do) because I love the big jets!

    --
    Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
  66. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by cr@ckwhore · · Score: 2

    The original "flight simulator" was created by a guy named Bruce Artwick under the name SubLOGIC in 1979. In the early 1980's, Microsoft picked up flight simulator from SubLOGIC and released it for the XT. (The original was intended for TRS-80, Apple II).

    If you think that today's Flight Simulator 2002, with very advanced 3d graphics and advanced flight simulation still has original code in it... you're wrong. Not only would XT code be of no use today, they re-wrote the whole thing between FS4 and FS5 anyway.

    --
    Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
  67. While it's definitely overkill, it's cool... by connorbd · · Score: 2

    Hey, we all have our mishegoss. I decided to start a cooking show because I like to cook.

    That said, I can't really see doing this myself; it's far too much work. But the technical expertise involved makes this a very cool, if somewhat monomaniacal, toy. What's really interesting is the links; there are clearly plenty of people who like this idea. The only downside is that it's anything other than a weekend project (which is really about the limit of what it would be worth, construction-wise, for me to build one...) and that it's brutally expensive...

    /Brian

  68. What about the terrorism aspect? by sean23007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does this make anyone else think of September 11th and training to fly a commercial airliner? If he actually manages to get it working, the current administration may well send some goons over to check out the situation. This is also probably a pretty good way to get a really big FBI file on yourself.

    That's not to say that I don't think he should be allowed to do this, in fact I wish I had one of these things.

    --

    Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
    1. Re:What about the terrorism aspect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dude... come on...

      if you want to learn how to fly a 747 just buy a fucking Flight Simulator that costs 20 bucks or go to a local book seller and buy one of the many books that explain how to fly that damn thing... come on, the guy is doing that cause he likes it, dont be a fucking paranoid thinking everbody that sits on an airplane wants to throw it into a building...

    2. Re:What about the terrorism aspect? by sean23007 · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I know that, but the good ol' gov't may not know that. A giant cockpit in someone's backyard may seem just a little more sinister than a $50 program sitting on the shelf at Best Buy. If you know what I mean.

      --

      Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
  69. Are you sure it's a 747? by BMonger · · Score: 4, Funny

    All I could seem to find was a 404 simulator...





    AH-HAHAHAHAHA! (Laughs since nobody else should)

  70. Oh yes there is! by ZigMonty · · Score: 2
    From the Australian Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002 before parliment:
    101.4 Possessing things connected with terrorist acts

    (1) A person commits an offence if

    (a) the person possesses a thing; and

    (b) the thing is connected with preparation for, the engagement of a person in, or assistance in a terrorist act.

    Penalty: Imprisonment for life.

    (2) Absolute liability applies to paragraph (1)(b).

    (3) A person commits an offence under subsection (1) even if the terrorist act does not occur.

    (4) Subsection (1) does not apply if the person proves that he or she was not reckless with respect to the circumstance in paragraph (1)(b).

    Note: A defendant bears a legal burden in relation to the matter in subsection (4) (see section 13.4).

    (5) Section 15.4 (extended geographical jurisdiction--category D) applies to an offence against subsection (1).

    That's just one subsection of a very draconian bill. I urge all Aussies to get a copy and read it. Looks like fun, doesn't it? Especially the bit about being guilty until you prove your innocence. Yes, it's not called the FBI in Australia. It's called ASIO and if the legislation gets passed it'll be just as dangerous.

    Note: I don't think this guy has much to worry about though. It's the possibility that's frightening.

  71. Al Qaeda? by foobrain · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Is him from Al Qaeda? :P

  72. cache also already slashdotted by page404 · · Score: 1

    Seems the Google chache is gettin' slashdotted aswell...

    1. Re:cache also already slashdotted by egreB · · Score: 1

      No, but Google doesn't cache images.

    2. Re:cache also already slashdotted by page404 · · Score: 1

      then how does it's image search manage to show images that arn't there anymore?
      -- I have not failed, I have merely found a million ways that won't work...

    3. Re:cache also already slashdotted by egreB · · Score: 1

      That's something else. Google Image Search caches a small version of the image in question. The regular Google web search does not, AFAIK.

  73. a 747 simulator would need... by Daltorak · · Score: 1


    a flight-attendant simulator, too. You know, like, a hot red-head with pretty eyes, who brings you free food and alcohol.

  74. Yeah. by mindstrm · · Score: 2

    Nice to see nobody mentioning "MS is shit" for a change.

    I mean, okay, MS is shit.. except their flight sim.

    For those that don't recall, MS Flight Sim predates just about everything else they make, including windows. Fligh Sim is a niche product... it's nice to see it not as bunged up as the rest of their stuff.

    1. Re:Yeah. by rat7307 · · Score: 1

      Was originally not a MS product IIRC..

      Didn't it get released by Bruce Artwick Organisation or summat like that?? (Version 1 and/or 2) I don't remember seeing the MS label for a few versions.

      correct me someone if I am wrong...

      --
      Burma?
    2. Re:Yeah. by morbid · · Score: 0

      You're right. They bought it from someone, just like they bought Autoroute.

      --
      I'm out of my tree just now but please feel free to leave a banana.
    3. Re:Yeah. by tyen · · Score: 1

      Flight Simulator was originally developed by SubLOGIC Corporation in 1979. Complete history available, as well as other stuff like Artwick's history (as far as I can tell, he works for Microsoft these days, ever since selling Bruce Artwick Organization to Microsoft). All the box designs are also available. Man, I was hooked on that Apple ][ version.

  75. Wow. by mindstrm · · Score: 2

    You paranoid freaks make it out like it's virtually impossible to learn to fly a 747.

    Guess what, if you want to take flight training for a 747, YOU CAN. Even if you wear a rag on your head. Even if you are a Muslim.

    This guy is in AUSTRALIA. The FBI has no bloody jurisdiction in Australia. Why should an Australian care if the FBI is interested in him?

    For that matter, the FBI deals in domestic matters. Perhaps you mean the CIA?

    1. Re:Wow. by sean23007 · · Score: 2

      People who are not American citizens have had large FBI files. And I resent the implication that I am paranoid. I think it's great that he's building this, and was only pointing out that he should be careful lest he draw attention to himself that might possibly cause trouble with the local/national/international law enforcement.

      --

      Lack of eloquence does not denote lack of intelligence, though they often coincide.
  76. Pointless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why this guy is spending so much time and money on a project like this is far beyond me. 10 YEARS?? He could become and airline pilot in 10 years. The amount of money that he's going to spend on this thing could have been spent on getting his real pilot's license. As cool as his simulator may be, it won't ever hold a candle to the real thing.

  77. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by brianber · · Score: 1

    I have a sneaking suspicion that it's a "jews eat muslim babies, and the US bankrolls the dinner utensils" story.

    And you would be correct, it's the website of a group called "The National Alliance." Basically it's Aryan Nation bullshit. The main page includes a link to every Nazi's wet dream: "Ethnic Cleansing: The Game." ("No, you can't shoot those pesky sub-humans in real life -- but you can in Ethnic Cleansing: The Game! Enter the virtual race war!) They also appear to try to link Commies and Jews in a conspiracy or some such bullshit. ("BOLSHEVISM FROM MOSES TO LENIN") There's a few other links to still more Nazi propaganda BS.

    I can't believe some people actually still believe in this bullshit. I think this pretty much explains the firewall blocking access. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to load up Wolfenstien and blast some Nazi MFSOB's to the stone age.

  78. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    workplace firewall????and you with no linux box at your house running ssh to forward port 3128 to your work box(en)????

  79. Real Simulators by Cyclone66 · · Score: 1

    Check it out here

  80. A new project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He should work on a new web server as a project...

  81. Try an F-15C on for size.... by TSpec · · Score: 1

    http://www.f15sim.com
    747s are practically commonplace compared to this little jewel. *g*

    Check out http://www.simpits.org for a whole organization of people into building homebuilt simulators.

  82. Go away troll. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    MS Flight Sim has always been and still is one of the best pieces of flight simulation software on the market.

    And for the record, Microsoft has owned it for 20 years. So, if you want to claim that MS is using someone else's 20 year old core code, you may go ahead, but anyone with a brain will know that you're full of crap.

    "In 1982, Microsoft released Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.01, having purchased the license from SubLOGIC"

  83. Re:Flight Sim to the extreme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the %&!@? If you knew anything about the flight sim scene you would realize that up until recently (the past few years) there existed no real competition in the non-specialized flight sim genre, because Microsoft Flight Sim has always simply been the best, hands down. They have never bought out any competing Flight Sims.

  84. Here is why, and it's a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because those games are so simple and not simulators. I would kill for a good, detailed, hard as hell space fighter sim with realisitc newtonian physics. You could then go crazy and build very cool cocpits like these super simulators to your own tastes but along the same multi-display and EPIC control standards.

  85. Or maybe it's because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... you are so bad at IT in general and can't manage to keep an OS running at peak stability and efficiency. I have XP at home (pro) and it has not crashed ONCE! I do hardware reviews for a major online site, and game like mad on this computer... on average I am loading and unloading drivers and apps on the order of five or six a week.

    I also manage a small work network of Win2K servers and WinXP Pro workstations. None have crashed in three months! Not even the exchange server... you just actually need to know what you are doing, how to set them up, how to monitor for and fix problems proactively, and how to keep them secure.

    1. Re:Or maybe it's because... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      Uh, yeh. Security is simple, don't network them, and lock them in a fortress. Stability? Whatever. That you choose candyass XP instead of 2k says alot, imo. I mean what can you say? Have fun in your dreamworld. Come see me, when you want to see something real.

  86. Already done! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Building? He already built it. He was featured on the Aussie TODAY show ~6 months ago. Bloody impressive. He said he's had visitors who have played on it, but nobody with a bohmb strapped to them. Interview was a month after SEP11, and interviewer asked him as such. BTW the software he's running is MS Flite Sim.

  87. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by Yousef · · Score: 1

    I guess that your way to solve crime would be kill everyone without a job (since they have the potential to commit crime to improve their status), Kill all the Blacks and Hispanics (Like who needs a reason for that), oh yeah, and get all the Italians since they're all potential Godfathers too!!!
    I guess we could Nuke Harlem and South Central LA while you're at it - Atlanta might might be good too!
    To ignore the causes and refuse to attempt to cure them, is to allow the problem to fester and grow. How many ppl do you want to wipe out. How many rights are you going to give up to create your Perfect Fascist world.
    Sure you should arrest, try, then Hang the Guilty, however, why should everyone be treated as criminal?

    --
    -- "To ask a question is to show ignorance; Not to ask a question means you'll remain ignorant."
  88. Not a "beer holder" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's actually a CDROM drive.

  89. Re:TERRORIST TRAINER by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

    And I get modded -1, Troll. How fitting.

    Two of my friends are black. It would be insulting to be called a fascist by anyone but you, however, you're just too stupid for me to worry about it.

    Comparing 9/11 to the petty crimes that might happen in Harlem is sick. I don't have to lay awake at night wondering if some pimp from South Central LA is trying to build nuclear weapons.

    And *AGAIN* you refuse to name even one of these causes. Since you are too stupid to name one of them, allow me to do so for you.

    In 1200 AD such and such a muslim was there.
    In 1350 AD such and such a christian was here.
    Then in 1360 2 muslims were here, and a christian there. Etc.

    Sure, we could eliminate the causes, just build me a time machine.

    Your bold refusal to see reality just makes things worse. Most of these disgustingly twisted terrorists will never even see a hangman's noose... they choose to die in the attack. And if only 20 terrorists die for every 3000 they murder, they consider it a victory. In a way, I suppose it is... because at that rate, everyone in the US would be dead before every terrorist was.

    So, I'm not treating everyone as a criminal. I don't have the power to. I'm just not being blinded by all the bullshit like you.

  90. Uh-ho by Snover · · Score: 1

    He must be a terrorist.

    --

    [insert witty comment here]