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Find your way into flight simulator cockpit construction

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1. Examples

 

In this section you will find examples of flight simulator cockpits. The overview is by no means complete but gives an impression of the types of flight simulator cockpits that are around. In section 2 (Links to other cockpit builders) you will find links to more examples ordered by aircraft type. If after that you are still in need for more examples, a search sweep over the Internet will give you no doubt more examples.

 

The use of real aircraft cockpits

There is a relative small group of flight simulator cockpit builders that have a complete segment (cockpit) of an aircraft fuselage in their garage / backyard. On Project B737ng a nice overview is given of the salvaging of a B737-200 flight deck and the transformation into a B737- 800 Next Generation flight simulator cockpit. Heavily documented is 737 flightsim, where it is impressive to see how the cockpit section salvaged from an ex United Airlines Boeing 737- 222 is turned in to a flight simulator cockpit for the Boeing B737-700. Similar impressive examples can be found at: 737 sim,  737 simguy. On Project 727 the cockpit section and part of the hull is used in order to create a "complete commercial airliner experience". They don"t have to be large ... On Randy Eskow's site you can find a Lockheed Jetstar. A breath taking story about a Cessna cockpit can be found on CessnaSim. Other examples are Small GA, Pietila, and OY- SIM. A very impressive flight simulator cockpit of a Mirage F1-CZ fighter can be found on the Dooley's site. An other fighter example is F15 sim. Great helicopter sites are R22 Project and Bell JetRanger.

 

Replicas of aircraft cockpits

A large group of flight simulator cockpit builders build their own cockpit from scratch using wood / MDF or even metal structures. The ambition levels vary from the construction of an exact replica to the construction of a more generic setup of a flight simulator cockpit. When space is an issue or when you want to follow a lower ambition level, there is the option of building an open cockpit structure. The layout is as in the original aircraft, but there is no enclosing construction.

On some sites you will find detailed documentation about the construction enabling you to do the same (examples are Flight Level- 8, virtual 737, Nico Kaan, 737 Cockpit). On other sites a more pictorial overview is given, but are still very illustrative when you want to build your own flight simulator cockpit (examples are Pod Systems, Norbert Bosch, Project 747-400, A320 Home Cockpit). In general Boeing and Airbus aircrafts seem to be popular, but there is also an significant group of military cockpits where the F-16 is the favorite (F-16 sim, Hans Krohn, Phaser's F16, dooley's, Eagle 9 Flight Systems,  F16 Block 52). Note that many of the (f16) fighter flight simulator cockpits follow a Falcon based approach. There are not that many sites around about building replica cockpits of small civil aircrafts like the Cessna. Examples are: flight simulator cockpit Design, Lear Jet and VIR's cockpit.

Special attention for a fellow DC-3 cockpit builder: Dakota Static Flight Simulator Project.

A flight simulator cockpit is not limited to aircrafts, helicopters are also an option as can be seen at HeliProp.

Really out of the box is the 1940 Flight Simulator, and absolutely amazing is Simhardware.

 

Desktop arrangements

The largest group of flight simulator cockpit builders arrange their flight equipment around their computer screen. What are the bounds of definition here? Is a PC with a yoke, a pedals and 2 monitors a flight simulator cockpit or do you need additional equipment? To me this is not relevant, "fun" is the main issue here and some people are willing to share this with us. A very nice example of a modest but effective home cockpit is given on the site My Own Home-Built Cockpit. There is still some wood work applied, but in the simple variant you can leave it away. An other example is Serafimov. It is also possible to use multiple monitors as is shown on this site or on the site of Frank Bond. When you only have temporary space for a cockpit or want to take it with you to different places there is a transportable cockpit on the site of Akers-Barnes. It contains very detailed building instructions. A high-end solution for desktop arrangements is DuoPanel.

 

Full motion cockpits

The dream of a lot of flight simulator cockpit builders is a full motion cockpit. They seemed to be out of reach for the average flight simulator cockpit builder, but as you will see later on in this text times are changing. There are not many sites yet showing motion simulators. Examples are MPS for a generic small GA, Jims Page where a Cessna cockpit is build, Simprojects for a generic small GA, ClassicSim for a Beech 18 and Matthews Sheil for a B747-400.

 

Space

And finally some extra ordinary examples. They are not really within the scope of the Microsoft Flight Simulator, but great fun to watch. If it has your interest it may even be a source of inspiration. There is the construction of a space shuttle cockpit at University School and on ShuttleSim. You can find SFI type cockpits in Star Ship and unistellar.com. A more arcade based approach can be found on Iceman.