My other Air related passion is using Air Traffic Control It doesn't get better than this one. Brad Davis is the creator of the program and it has the best tech support going. Click the graphic tovisit the site.
Helicopter Flight Deck
The Right side panel is a 8x10 photo with a thin sheet of plexi-glass mounted over it. Holes drilled and switches mounted . The second monitor displays Plan-G (Flight Map tool, GPS, or whatever I need) The Desktop frame is from Roger Dodger Aviation and is marketed as a General Aircraft unit. I've modified it a little to be more suitable for helicopters.
Click on the picture for more information.
Click on the picture for more information.
From Roger Dodger Aviation - DIY Floor unit with Center Control Stand
http://www.rogerdodger.net/diyflightsims.html.
Thanks to Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation for the plans for these great frames to make the sim more immersive!
Click on the picture for more information.
Thanks to Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation for the plans for these great frames to make the sim more immersive!
Click on the picture for more information.
Modified Keyboard
This a closeup of the keyboard. Mostly functions that wouldn't work on the side panels.
Radio Panel for Helo
The Radio unit is from Saitek and the bottom switch panel is a photo trimmed and mounted behind behind a sheet of plexi-glass. Holes drilled and switches mounted. This display on the radio panel is set up with the top section to Comm One and the bottom showing on the left the Altimeter and the right to the transponder setting,
Electrical Panel for Helo
Not 100% accurate, but 100% functional.
The collective
The collective was made from an old joystick that I had laying around the flight deck. Took the circuit boards out and mounted them in a Radio Shack project box, then used graphics of the DodoSim collective handle, The graphics were printed at Wal-Mart as 4x7 photos which I mounted on some project board and opened the areas where I wanted the switches. Not picture perfect, but very operational.
Aircraft Flight Deck as of July 2011
GoFlight MCP Pro, GoFlight T8, P8, GF166, RP48, GF46 and LGT modules. Added the Go Flight MESM to the left of the radio Saitek Backlit Information Panel, and the Saitek Display Panel. What looks like a GPS unit near the front is actually a 7 inch touch screen monitor that I purchased for $125 from www.short-circuit.com.
The computer is a Dell I7 3.2 GHZ with: 16GB Ram, 1 GB Video Card
2 TB Hard Drive. Matrox Double head to Go with 2 20" monitors. Below is CH Pedals for the Rudder.
Click on the picture for more information.
The computer is a Dell I7 3.2 GHZ with: 16GB Ram, 1 GB Video Card
2 TB Hard Drive. Matrox Double head to Go with 2 20" monitors. Below is CH Pedals for the Rudder.
Click on the picture for more information.
What I'd really like to have!!
$1295. See the details here: Click the picture for more info
Close up of the Throttle Quad modification
I wanted to make the throttle handles a bit more realistic, so I found some 3/4 inch PVC Pipe couplers at the hardware store and attached the GoFlight throttle handles to them. This makes the handles a little bigger to better replicate the 737. Although the GoFlight 737 Throttle Quadrant is much more accurate, it also nearly $300 to upgrade. Hoping to get the JetMax Throttle quadrant.
Closeup of the 7" Touch screen monitor
In this screen I'm seeting up for approach into EDDF (Frankfort, Germany. Operation is straight forward. Where you would click on buttons with the mouse, now it's a simple tap with the finger to do the same thing. Overall, I use the mouse mostly to get the flight started, then everything is done with my controls
The overhead panel
This the upper panel with the 20 Single-Pole, Single throw switches
mounted. The engine start section is the guts from an old joystick that I removed the push buttons from and then wired them to the panel. The rotary knobs are just dummies glued to the Plexi-Glass. The
electronics are connected to a USB interface board. Thanks to the good
folks at DESKTOP AVIATIOR for the USB interface board and the advice
they provided in this project. You can visit them here:
www.DesktopAviator.com
Real early version of flight deck
This is around the spring of 2007 when I first got started with the idea of expanding the flight deck.
