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Learning To Fly, With a Full-Size Cockpit Simulator

Posted by timothy on from the good-show dept.

Make Zine features the story of Aidan Fay, a 17-year-old San Diego student who has constructed a full-size Cessna 172 cockpit simulator in his bedroom, controlled by Arduinos and using scavenged game-controller parts. Because the display Fay is using is an Oculus Rift headset, the visual similarity to an actual plane's interior (not to mention the view) isn't as great as some simulators', but the hardware makes it nonetheless more realistic for a headset-wearing pilot than some simulators that might look prettier: he's got actual rudder pedals, and a force-feedback system on a yoke (also real). Fay's interest is more than as a flight simulator enthusiast, though: he's built this system primarily as an educational tool, as he works to get around a medical problem that's delayed his quest for a pilot's license.

77 comments

  1. Wait until he finds out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's all autopilot. Pilots don't even fly the plane anymore.

    1. Re:Wait until he finds out by jonwil · · Score: 3, Informative

      I can assure you there are plenty of people out there who own Cessna 172s (the plane this simulator replicates) that dont even HAVE an autopilot function.

    2. Re:Wait until he finds out by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Well, after my last flying experience in the US . . .

      I can assure you there are plenty of people out there who own Cessna 172s (the plane this simulator replicates) that dont even HAVE an autopilot function.

      I can assure you there are plenty of people out there who own Cessna 172s (the plane this simulator replicates) that dont even HAVE a licensed pilot behind the throttle.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re:Wait until he finds out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure I can assure you that he was trying to be funny...

    4. Re:Wait until he finds out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings. Coming down is the hardest thing.

    5. Re:Wait until he finds out by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      Coming down is easy. It's the ground that's hard.

  2. We Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work an aerospace company in simulation and it's taken us $500k to build pretty much the same thing as this kid for no other reason but inefficiency. We suck so bad, why do I work here?

    1. Re:We Suck by TWX · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I work an aerospace company in simulation and it's taken us $500k to build pretty much the same thing as this kid for no other reason but inefficiency. We suck so bad, why do I work here?

      There are other reasons. One of them is accuracy- you need your commercial simulator to operate the faux control surfaces with the exact same positioning, speed, resisting pressure, and variations thereof in all different conditions to make the simulator worthwhile to the commercial customer.

      When I was in junior high school we had a yoke thing for the Macintosh LCII that interfaced to the mouse to control the software yoke in Microsoft Flight Simulator. It was crappy and was probably about as realistic as its pricepoint could justify. It got out of calibration extremely easily.

      This simulator sounds like the halfway point. Much better than the crappy toy, but not quite as realistic or accurate as the commercial product.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:We Suck by sosume · · Score: 2

      When you build this on your own, there is no need to explain every step in the way to someone else, give regular demos, document, and process input and reviews from many sources. Besides, everyone involved needs to get paid, and they work only 40 hours a week max where this kid can pull 100 hours a week for free if he's dedicated. 500k may even be cheap for a one off.

    3. Re:We Suck by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I wonder if he'll sell it and teach me how to use it - load new maps, maybe use real time data, etc... That looks like a game I'd finally be interested in playing. It needn't be 100% accurate for me - just something 'close enough' to keep me occupied, learning, and entertained. It'd be awesome to play with - I presume. I wonder how much he'd want for it? I'd also need to be able to swap in new parts easily. Hopefully it does stuff like let you land on dirt runways, even wide enough highways, etc... It'd be fun to have your own environment or even real time data.

      Something like this makes me think that VR might be fun for me. I've not played any game, with any seriousness, since Fallout 2. I've bought some flight sims but I just can't get immersed in them. I don't like city sims because they're not realistic. So, yeah... Something like this seems to be nice. He probably won't sell it, though. Heh... Maybe I can ship him parts and money and he can build me one. :D

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    4. Re:We Suck by Kjella · · Score: 1

      There are other reasons. One of them is accuracy- you need your commercial simulator to operate the faux control surfaces with the exact same positioning, speed, resisting pressure, and variations thereof in all different conditions to make the simulator worthwhile to the commercial customer.

      Well, if you are an aerospace manufacturer you just take the panels and all the knobs/dials/sliders/pedals etc. from the production line, just add force feedback where necessary. If that was $500k to create an accurate simulator - that is, software that calculates the flight state given inputs and outputs that doesn't seem unlikely. If it's $500k for the actual hardware that's crazy, considering the whole plane costs something like $300k off the assembly line and you can take away 98%, add a bit of force feedback and an Occulus Rift. That said, they might think the only people that care for perfect accuracy are flight schools and there's not going to be many sales, so the simulator is really $5k hardware and $495k for making a simulation they promise is exactly like flying the real thing.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:We Suck by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      That said, they might think the only people that care for perfect accuracy are flight schools

      They'd be wrong. Everyone cares about more accuracy. They just don't care enough to shell out five grand. If they gamified their engine they could monetize it by selling it to the masses... as a game.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:We Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hopefully you deliver mail or clean the shitters. Because if a moron like you in anywhere near the engineering group, that company is fucked.

    7. Re:We Suck by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      As someone who was in similar boots (doing something as part of a hobby project and at work, not at the same time but still...), I think I can explain this.

      When working for yourself, you set the specs. And as with everything in the industry, this is the usual 80/20 game (though often more a 90/10 game): 90% of the work take 10% of the resources. The other 10% take 90%.

      And when you work for yourself, you stick with the 90%.

      There is no need to redo something 10 times because it's off by a fraction of an inch. It's good enough. There is no need to replace the plywood mockup with stainless steel. You can still do that should for some odd reason the plywood crack, even though you noticed in the tests that the steel casing is by no means necessary since there is no force ever going to get to it.

      Then there's the areas that tend to be expensive that you can simply cut entirely in your private project, or that are at the very least entirely up to you. Security. Safety. Comfort. That guy here is using a lawn chair as the pilot's seat. Try that in your commercial simulator!

      And finally in a private project you do not pay for the most expensive part of the bill in a commercial project: Work hours. Do you think his project would still be affordable if you only put 20 bucks on every hour he spent working on it? Private projects tend to be VERY heavy in time because you usually have little in the form of money available, while commercial projects usually try to go the opposite route because time IS what costs the most.

      No commercial project could ever beat a private one on cost. No chance.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    8. Re:We Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very well said. I've gone the DIY route on Machining, Engineering, Electrical, and Software. I can do a "full-stack" development project with psuedo-professional quality at every layer(I've done 3/4 things for a living) and when I'm doing one-offs the idea of "interchangeable parts"(and the high tolerances required to pull it off) go out the window.

      Here on Slashdot: a more familiar analogy may be the ease of hacking out a demonstration "Proof of Concept" if it doesn't have to be maintainable or robust against fuzzing the user inputs.

      When YOU are the customer, you can eliminate price inefficiencies at every level because you simply aren't willing to do things that are more expensive than you're willing to pay for. There is also never any conflict over the presumption of bad faith when a mistake or delay happens. Everyone is on the same team when it's just you & your own head.

      If the engineering profession has that sort of communication efficiency with customer's requirements then there would be a lot fewer failed projects!

    9. Re: We Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you do.

    10. Re:We Suck by TWX · · Score: 1

      I don't think that it's entirely inaccurate to think of this in terms of the Enigma and the various bomba/bombe machines built to break it, when thinking of complexity and cost of a simulator. The original machine has to simply function in its environment as it naturally would, while the simulator must not only provide the function of the original machine, but of the environment itself. Obviously there are tradeoffs in how much environment it will attempt to recreate, but either way, the task of designing a truly faithful simulator that works correctly with all manner of environmental variables is not an easy or inexpensive task. It is not as simple as taking an off-the-shelf video game and using different inputs from custom-built pedals, rudders, throttles, and the like.

      Another thing to consider is the cost of goods based on quality or luxury. Consider an exponential curve. Assign quality to the X axis and cost to the Y axis. For the early portion of the curve, a large increase in quality is achieved through a small increase in cost. Slowly the cost rate increases relative to quality, and soon fairly significant cost increases are associated with a reduced increase in the rate of quality. Eventually massive cost increases become associated with adding the smallest iota of additional quality. That last portion of the curve described is where commercial simulators that must mimic real machines in real conditions sit. The calibration of the controls, the accounting for all conceivable environmental conditions, and all of the extensive testing, program tweaking, verification, and documentation are what make it expensive. It's not the hardware, that's relatively cheap and can be sourced from any of a number of aircraft junkyards for less than the cost of a cheap used car; it's all the work that goes into making it behave correctly.

      The quality/cost curve is why I don't usually pursue luxury goods. There's not usually enough quality gains to justify the added expense to me over a very decently built utilitarian version of the same kind of product. For the few times that I do pursue the luxury item it's either because I've found a deal that is less expensive than it should be or because I've chosen to indulge.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    All this knowledge is suspicious. Probably a terrorist.

    1. Re: Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's all safeâ¦he's white.

    2. Re: Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      White supremacist, then. The only thing worse than an Old White Person is a Young White Person. Why is it that in the enlightened age of the GREAT OBAMA are snowhites still allowed to breed? Arrest! Deport! Interrogate! Execute! In the name of Social Justice! Fap fap fap to self-righteousness!

    3. Re:Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't panic, it wasn't a clock.

    4. Re:Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But there's a clock in the Cessna cockpit!!!

    5. Re:Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God I hope he doesn't show his bedroom to any of his 'other' teachers then...

    6. Re: Arrest him! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, everyday I read about white people getting shot by cops in the street, Obama sure made it worse for white people, LOL. I'm surprised you were able to get all that straw together to build that huge strawman.

  4. Terrorist in training by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He might fly a plane into a building. Arrest him and waterboard him before he gets a chance!

    *sarcasm, but maybe not too far off from the truth...

  5. "cockpit" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Something Slashdotters will never see in person.

    1. Re: "cockpit" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No human sees it in person. Its controlled by O.D.I.N. you insensitive clod. However, i'm not sure if all slashdotters are fully human...

  6. Private sector is cheaper? no surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What a difference government contracts make. Forcing you to use certain contractors at ridiculous rates, all sorts of ridiculous redundancies, red tape everywhere, trying to contract someone gets you transferred to at least three different offices per call, and of course paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork.

    Welcome to bureaucracy.

    1. Re:Private sector is cheaper? no surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We are private sector selling to private sector, I'm yet to see a government want to purchase a single-engine type-specific low-category flight simulator.

    2. Re:Private sector is cheaper? no surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where did you get that "information"? From your diseased Koch Brothers propagandized mind?

  7. Not new. by kuzb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hobbyists have been building home cockpits for years now. I don't know why this is suddenly groundbreaking news. Anyone with about $5000 and a lot of free time can do this.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    1. Re:Not new. by redcliffe · · Score: 2

      Slashdot isn't exclusively groundbreaking news.

      I'd be quite interested to see how the combination of real world controls and the VR headset works in practice. How do you align their position in the sim to the position you have to reach with your hands.

    2. Re:Not new. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, I think it is news. Most of "those meddling kids today" spend all their time looking at crap on Facebook and YourBoobs. This kid actually went out and constructed something! I can see my mom know:

      Mom: "Kid, what are you building in your bedroom?"

      Me: "It's just a flight simulator, Mom."

      Mom: "Ok . . . as long as you are not using it to cook crack or smuggle in weed from Mexico, we are fine with that."

      Anyway, Slashdot is not about reading the news . . . it's about reading about what other geeks think about the news. I wouldn't mind a story being posted here about the various sizes of Kardashians' asses. Someone would post that he just completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the mathematical models of pseudo celebrity asses.

      This guy would be trumped by someone claiming to have earned his doctorate on the physical motion of ass cracks.

      . . . and then, the "Lone Liberal Arts Major" would chime in about the esthetics of ass antlers . . .

      To summarize, you don't read Slashdot for the news . . . you read it for the wacky commentary about it.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re:Not new. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't mind a story being posted here about the various sizes of Kardashians' asses. Someone would post that he just completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the mathematical models of pseudo celebrity asses.

      I have, to the best of my knowledge, never seen this ass or this person but I hear about her or, more accurately, read about her. I know some fluid dynamics and have some modeling skills. We can do this. Someone did try to link a picture of her for my benefit but I refused to click on it. I find it comforting to know that I don't know. I'd break that rule just to see what we could come up with.

      It might give me motivation to finally learn how to use this:
      http://www.cgal.org/

      Which, by the way, looks awesome.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    4. Re:Not new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was wondering that as well. Could be that it gets within a few cm and is "good enough" to then use finger tip feel to locate. I noticed they are quite well separated, possibly for that reason?

    5. Re:Not new. by tomhath · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing it's a followup to another story from a couple of weeks ago. Next we'll be reading "Hey Aidan, cool simulator. Want to bring it over to my place?"

    6. Re:Not new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hobbyists have been building home cockpits for years now. I don't know why this is suddenly groundbreaking news.

      Because you didn't read the headlines carefully enough.

      It's groundbreaking news because instead of replicating a physical cockpit in its entirety - displays, window views and all - it only has the physical controls. The rest of it is all VR inside the Oculus.

    7. Re:Not new. by chihowa · · Score: 1

      I'm game. My dissertation concerned modeling light propagation at the surface of fatty tissues, which seems pretty relevant here.

      I've also refused to discover who these people are on principle, but this seems like a good reason to make an exception.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    8. Re:Not new. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      It does sound tempting, sadly. However, do you know how much time we'd waste for naught? It does sound like fun. I presume we'll need some measurements. We should be able to get those fairly accurately from images if we know the dimensions of the items around her. I'm not going to participate in scanning. I do have my limits.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    9. Re:Not new. by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Well,let's see... Kardashian's asses.... Kanye looks to be about 200 pounds or so, does that count?

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    10. Re:Not new. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I don't actually know what you're talking about at this point. Is Kanya a kid, boyfriend, father, mother, dog, miniature pony? I refuse to Google. So you can say it's a moose and I'll just take your word for it.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    11. Re:Not new. by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Lucky you. Kanye West... the rapper. Her boyfriend. A total ass.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    12. Re:Not new. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      He will be forever known as a 200 pound moose in my head. So, there's that. I simply refuse to Google this stuff. I don't mind being ignorant. I'm okay with that.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    13. Re:Not new. by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      Can be done cheaper then that. Those in the Digital Combat simulator http://www.digitalcombatsimula... and xPlane http://www.x-plane.com/desktop... community have been building stuff like this for years. With extensive instructions on how to use everything from MFD's to rifts to io boards for all the buttons and switches. With all age groups and budgets.

      This individual is probably a user on one of those very forums. The blogger who wrote the article just saw something cool. Did no research and blogged about this awesome thing this kid did that no one "to him" has done before

    14. Re:Not new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is not groundbreaking. This is just plugging a rift in to a computer you moron. More than that, it's a terrible fucking idea because then you can't actually see the physical controls you're trying to manipulate. I'm guessing you're one of these idiots that thinks everything in a car should be a touchscreen.

      What's next? I used a keyboard and a mouse, so I should get to the front page? Fuck off.

    15. Re:Not new. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.

      News for Nerds.

      NEWS.

      This isn't that.

    16. Re:Not new. by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      Here you go. hundreds of pages on users of the rift in aircraft sims. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthr...

      Of what is considered to be the best sim right now. DCS https://www.digitalcombatsimul...

    17. Re:Not new. by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      here you go. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthr...

    18. Re:Not new. by advocate_one · · Score: 1

      Occulus Rift VR headset rig?

      --
      Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
  8. Because Occulus Rift by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2

    For whatever reason anything that gets done using one of those is somehow "news". Doesn't matter if it is the same sort of thing does all the time, if you use a Rift to do it that somehow makes it newsworthy. Most likely because Facebook hypes it.

    1. Re:Because Occulus Rift by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      Sadly the guy who wrote the article is a couple years late and a dollar short. Us in the simming community have been using the rift since day 1

  9. Does anyone else have the same truncated tab text? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Learning To Fly, With a Full-Size Cock"

  10. pfft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    /r/hoggit would like to have a word with OP. This isn't news, even for 17yo slashdot readers.

  11. Re:Does anyone else have the same truncated tab te by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Indeed - this is absolute and conclusive proof of the hidden homosexual agenda of Dice and Slashdot! That or premarital sex. Whichever is worse for audience.

  12. Here is an interesting factoid by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

    This may have changed in the 20 years since I knew it to be a factoid. But in the world of simulators there were classes. I forget how they classed but let's assume that 1 is pretty much the instructor sitting behind you in a chair while you both made brruuum brrrumm noises and class 4 is one that moves and carefully simulates a plane.

    Well for airline pilots who couldn't exactly go out in the 747 and so spins and stalls the class 4 simulator was legally considered to be flying.

    Thus, in theory, a student could start on an airline simulator and get their private pilot's licence without ever leaving the ground. Maybe the DOT (at the time in Canada) might have insisted that the flight test be taken in a real plane. So that would be the first time they actually took off.

    But quite possibly, if the DOT cooperated, someone could go from non-pilot to airline pilot without ever leaving the ground. Then they could build up a pile of hours until they qualified to be the pilot in command or Captain. Thus it might have been possible for that person to just walk into the cockpit pick up the mike and say, "This is Captain EOC and I will be your pilot today. We will be flying at an altitude of 32,000 feet for a flight time of 6 hours. I thank you for flying Oceanic Airways and by the way you might be interested to know that this is not only my first time flying a real airplane but amazingly is the first time I have actually ever been in an airplane."

    Where it could get weird is that during a normal flight test you must have things like a first aid kit onboard, have checked the oil, done a walkaround, etc. So I guess you could have a first aid kid, check the hydraulic fluids, and walk around the room that contains the flight simulator.

    1. Re:Here is an interesting factoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thus, in theory, a student could start on an airline simulator and get their private pilot's licence without ever leaving the ground. Maybe the DOT (at the time in Canada) might have insisted that the flight test be taken in a real plane. So that would be the first time they actually took off.

      I can't speak to Canada, but in the U.S., the FARs absolutely require actual flight time, under a variety of conditions (a certain amount of solo time, solo cross-country time, night flying, simulated or actual instrument conditions (flight by reference solely to instruments), etc., 40+ hours of it, for a private pilot's license. Simulator time absolutely does not count towards this requirement.

      Source: I hold a private pilot license in the U.S. (Airplane, Single Englne, Land).

    2. Re:Here is an interesting factoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always enjoy your posts, EOC. Keep it up.

    3. Re:Here is an interesting factoid by turbidostato · · Score: 1

      "for airline pilots who couldn't exactly go out in the 747 and so spins and stalls the class 4 simulator was legally considered to be flying."

      Yes, but only if you already were certified for that plane.

      "Thus, in theory, a student could start on an airline simulator and get their private pilot's licence without ever leaving the ground."

      No, in theory, he can't. Flight licenses are interdependant. In order for you to legally fly your 747, that means (roughly): single engine visual -> s.e. instrumental -> multi engine -> commercial -> passengers -> 747. AFAIK it was only the certified-for-a-given-plane step the one that allowed to sum up hours in the simulator. Don't know if that changed nowadays.

    4. Re:Here is an interesting factoid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is completely false. You cannot advance to any license by flying simulators alone.

      The US (I know you're talking about Canada, but I seriously doubt it's much different) allows:

      0 simulator hours count towards your 40 hour minimum for a Private Pilot License. None. Simulators don't count for anything here.
      30 simulator hours count towards your 40 hour minimum cross country in IMC for an instrument rating, if you go to a part 142 school, otherwise only 20 hours.
      0 simulator hours count towards your 250 hour minimum for a Commercial certificate.
      100 simulator hours maximum can count towards the 1500 hour minimum for a Airline Transport Pilot certificate.

      The scenario presented is ridiculous and impossible.

      Source Code of Federal Regulations Title 14 Chapter 1 Subchapter D Part 61

    5. Re:Here is an interesting factoid by EmperorOfCanada · · Score: 1

      I was talking about 20 years ago when the only access to great simulators would be airline pilots. I suspect the changed the rules as soon as a valid simulator became available to a "regular" pilot. The key being that buying time on the good simulators was something running into the many many thousands per hour.

      I have been in modern simulators but never for a little plane. There are many things that I would wonder if they would get right. For instance the trim wheel is slightly easier to trim when the trim isn't fighting what the plane wants to do. But the more you trim the harder it gets. So if you trimmed one way, and pushed the yoke to compensate, both become harder and harder. So when trimming the plane you need less and less input on the yoke.

      Then there are the sounds. For instance many planes make a very specific sound as they are about to go into a spin. Often the metal in the tail kind of makes a pop-can bending sound just as the spin starts.

      And taxiways, they are kind of bumpy and can move you around. Also when landing on wet runways the paint is much slippier than the runway. This is very important when practising short landings. To put it on the paint could cost you 100 or more feet and be very hard to control.

      I suspect that modern flight schools can make great use of a simulator but the real thing is hard to beat in many ways. Except that around 20 years ago there may have been a tiny window when you, in theory only, could have skipped that whole annoying leaving the ground part.

  13. mirror by Tomahawk · · Score: 1

    Anyone have a mirror for this site - the images aren't loading (perhaps due to the slashdot effect?).

    Reading about it, it's impressive what he accomplished. It would be nice to see it, though.

    1. Re:mirror by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

      But he did not really accomplish anything amazing. He most likely read the forums at DCS http://www.digitalcombatsimula... and or xPlane http://www.x-plane.com/desktop...

      Doing what many others have done already. The rift has been used in sims since it came out. With extensive instructions on how to simulate every detail of a cockpit from a simple 172 to 777 to an F-18. How to get all of that working on a PC. As a simmer myself. Much of it is simple stuff.

      Looking at his build, it is cool. But in no way amazing.

  14. Re:Does anyone else have the same truncated tab te by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What has a rooster got to do with homosexuals and premarital sex?

    *confused*

  15. Medical condition? try sailplanes instead by bkmoore · · Score: 1

    FTA, not sure what his medical condition is that's holding him up, but he may be able to get a glider pilots license instead. The medical requirements are not as stringent. As opposed to a simulator, glider flying would teach good stick and rudder skills, energy management, reading weather conditions, and sound decision making. On top of that, soaring is a great hobby.

    1. Re:Medical condition? try sailplanes instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And then for some, who do not consider flying without an engine flying: It is like comparing a motorboat and a sailing boat (different entities on their own).

    2. Re:Medical condition? try sailplanes instead by bkmoore · · Score: 1

      And then for some, who do not consider flying without an engine flying....

      My point was if a medical condition is keeping him from flying powered airplanes, then sailplanes might be a good alternative. Certainly better than the alternative, not flying at all.

    3. Re:Medical condition? try sailplanes instead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm guessing mental health. He probably took antidepressants because his classmates were morons and his school didn't want to deal with a gifted student's needs.

  16. noticed one for sale on kijiji ... only 40k CAd by justJones · · Score: 1

    Of all the things you can find on Kijiji / Craigslist... here's a fancy 747 Simulator including a few Boeing parts - but not the ones that get you in the air ;) . Built for a TV show???

    http://www.kijiji.ca/v-desktop-computers/edmonton/flight-simulator-boeing-737-everyone-can-fly/1108118705

  17. You want to impress the slash crowd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He should have 3D printed it, or built a spaceship simulator. a Cessna is Luddite.

  18. For 18k-25k, you can buy an actual 172 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and skip the simulation part.

  19. Teen Simulator "Maker" by cstacy · · Score: 1

    Are you sure he didn't just take a fully assembled cockpit,
    pry it out of a working Cessna, put it in his bedroom,
    and claim that it was one of his precocious "inventions"?

    When is he going to be invited to visit MIT and the White House?

  20. Full simulators are overrated by aberglas · · Score: 1

    People are pretty good at abstracting from a simple display to the real thing. There is a short period when learning to fly when working the actual controls has to be mastered, and an accurate simulator would be helpful. But soon that becomes second nature and the real learning begins.

    Most of the time is learning procedures, navigation, etc. And that can be done on a very ordinary simulator.

  21. Why is this news by Garybaldy · · Score: 1

    Simers in the DCS http://www.digitalcombatsimula... and xplane http://www.x-plane.com/desktop... community have been using the rift since day 1. With home simpit builds that put this "news worthy pit to shame.

  22. We Built Three by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Our school built three simulators for $5000 each. They have dual Nvidia cards running three projectors. The controls are Saitek. We run X Plane on Windows with dual SSDs and an I7 processor.

    The students designed and built them. We opted to forgo force feedback due to the amperage each machine was pulling.

  23. Why is this posted here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does this make it to slashdot? This is far from the first or the best homemade flight sim. There is nothing special, novel, or new about this and he's not the only teenager engrossed in flight sim. What made this appear to be newsworthy to somebody? I was 18 when I took my first discovery flight in a C172, but the papers weren't lining up at my doorstep to get the exclusive for "Teenager learns to fly in full-sized airplane." The fuck, slashdot.

    This place has become real shit over the last decade.