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Build Your Own Boeing 737 Simulator
crux6rind writes "This guy built his own Boeing 737-700 simulator in his garage. The simulator uses elements of a retired Continental B-737-100 along with other genuine Boeing 737 avionics and system components. The simulator will be of the fixed-base variety (no motion, just outside visuals), using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000, interfaced with R&R Electronics' EPIC system. This system allows you to interface switches, lights, buzzers, gauges, digital readouts with virtually any PC flight simulator out there."
Does the simulator keep track of how fast the virtual airline is burning up cash, and how long before they go bankrupt?
I know this is funny, but the interesting bit is that those airlines who have standardized on a single airframe type (say, the 737) are actually doing quite well. They only have one type of aircraft to train crews on, one type of aircraft to purchase parts for, one type of aircraft to pay gate fees for etc...etc...etc...
Now, I am no fan of flying on Southwest, but it does make for a compelling business model.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
- One from OZ built into a Ford chassis
- An F/A 18 Hornet simulator made from wood, also in OZ
- A Boeing 767 in London that "flies" around the world
- A "multi-mission simulator" by an avionics engineer in the US
- An F-15 in Washington
You're welcome.Let's try not to Slashdot 'em too badly.
Ever dream you could fly? Get up from the Flight Sim. I Fly
There are some 200 people (over a dozen using real aircraft fuselages) who are building home built simulators of aircraft and other things. I am helping to build a F-15C simulator, for more information see the July issue of "Smithsonian Air and Space". The task is really quite involved many of the people within the /. community would find that this is a very engaging hobby. One that involves every skill they ever learned and forces them to learn new skills as well. The very idea that these people are doing case mods that look like aircraft to run some of instruments would interest the /. community.
Instead of the lame little (even at 21inch) CRT, why not get a reasonable LCD projector and a screen a few feet in front of the beast and look out the windscreen at it? Like they do with some real simulators...
--
"we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.
Home-built 747 Simulator, and we all know that 747's are the real bad boys of the sky.
Tierce
Tierce
Who sponsors your feelings?
In my six years at Boeing (and I'm told that, given the layoffs, I did well to last that long), I was fortunate enough to be able to 'fly' the full-motion 747 sim, as well as the fixed-base 737 NextGen.
Although the full-motion is definitely what I'd class as a "wild ride" in terms of convincing one's senses (ever try to land a 747 on only two engines?), I found that (much to my surprise) the fixed-base sims can produce many of the same sensations, simply by the projected movement on the window displays.
In other words: When I went into a climb in the fixed-base unit, it still felt like I was tilting up despite the fact that there were no motion components to move the cab around. Same thing when I went into a turn. I caught myself leaning into it, and feeling like it was really happening, just as I did during my private pilot training.
While fixed-base may not provide the full experience, it most definitely provides enough to effectively fool the senses if it's done right. And it sounds like this fellow did it right.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
The solution to the hijacking and using the plane as a missile problem isn't to clamp down on general aviation or to impose stricter regulations on flight schools. The solution is to increase in-airport and in-aircraft security. You also assume that the terrorist has no previous flying skills. What if they recruit a disgruntled airline pilot? Then all the identity checks at flight schools in the world won't help you.
You can buy your own simulator here. The "Tropos" system even uses a custom ATI Chipset.