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Man Builds 737 Simulator In a Garage
linuxwrangler writes "It started with a dream of building a full-sized jet flight simulator. Now, 20 years, $150,000 and one divorce later, James Price can walk to his garage and fly the 737 simulator he built built from the nose of a surplus 737. From the article: 'James Price had one must-have when looking for a new home -- the garage had to be able to hold the nose of a Boeing 737 jetliner.
"Once I realized I could get it in here, I was OK with the house," Price said.
In his spacious three-car garage Price has a well-traveled jetliner cockpit tucked in next to the family car.
Aviation experts say Price, 52, is one of only a handful of people in the world who have built their own flight simulator cockpit in an actual jet nose."
...was that guy who built a 737 simulator inside an actual 737.
He was arrested by the TSA.
... as they make sure that this sort of thing is not being used to train future terrorirsts.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
some guy somewhere is saying "WOW... Honey, look at what this guy built in his garage for $150,000" and his wife/girlfriend/significant other is yelling "AND ONE DIVORCE!!!!"
Aviation experts say Price, 52, is one of only a handful of people in the world who have built their own flight simulator cockpit in an actual jet nose.
Who would have guessed?
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20417444/flying-world-from-his-own-garage?source=most_viewed
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
As someone who works on a similar device; if he can afford to mod it with motion, then he probably wouldn't be hurting to find another house with a suitable outbuilding.
Just WOW! This is really impressive.
(I can't believe that among ~15 posters so far nobody said the one thing this article truly deserves, so I have to be the first one)
May Peace Prevail On Earth
As someone who works on a similar device; if he can afford to mod it with motion, then he probably wouldn't be hurting to find another house with a suitable outbuilding.
the joke is that he could have gotten pretty good motion for 150 000$ if he had ditched wanting to fit it in an actual 737 cockpit.
a cessna with motion would be a looooot cooler. or a faux mig-21, thinking about it. would be definitely more "man cave".
anyways(but considering the guy wants to fly a jetliner I suppose it's kinda cool, a lot of effort went to it anyways and rigging it, since he has a lot of the instruments there too as real dials..).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
...with a bunch of local high school students. Its a long running project that we recently started to build a simulator from a Beechcraft A90 cockpit. The students are doing pretty much all the work, while some of us at local engineering firms offer guidance and help. Right now, they are making their own switch panels and interfacing them with the simulator computers using Arduino boards. The whole simulator is driven by X-Plane. We have 3x55" 1920x1080 monitors wrapping around the windshield, and a real Garmin G1000 glass cockpit system. Check out our class page to learn more about our progress.
If you haven't read the article, they also point to a few more folks building realistic commercial aircraft simulators around the world...
For example,
this one http://web.me.com/mattford1/Site/Matts_Boeing_737_Flight_Sim.html
or this one http://www.hyway.com.au/747/747.html
Although it sounds like Mr. Price's is the first one with an actual nose from a real 737 (the some of the other ones merely use some fraction of the real cockpit equipment in a shell).
this guy, with a replica pan-am cabin in his garage. No word if he has stewardesses with 1970s-style bush.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Life lesson: Find a wife who either shares your passion or has one of her own. The latter might be better. You won't end up fighting over the details of your shared project. Someone who has her own pursuits won't depend on you to keep her entertained. And she'll understand what drives people to want to accomplish stuff.
Have gnu, will travel.
Oops. Should have put the link. Here is his old site from 2004
http://www.737simguy.com/OldSite/intro.htm
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
well, we don't know what happened. Maybe he pulled the money from their kids college? Or spent all his free time at work or in the garage. Or they just didn't get along.
IF my wife decided to build a simulator in the garage, I would be fine with that, if she drove us into poverty and refused to do anything else, I would have a problem with that.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
They may get tossed out. actually.
And most flight instrumentation only requires basic electronic skill to replace. If you have the book.
I used to repair aircraft instrumentation. Pretty boring and routine.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Before you get into the garage, you have to go through his TSA simulator. It's a rubber glove on an articulated arm.
No, it's an "aviation geek" achievement.
I'd really like to see a Millennium Falcon simulator. Full sized cockpit, attacking Star Destroyers, rescuing amputees from weather vanes, the whole nine yards. That would be impressive. Most impressive.