Another new guy

[Hifastlowslo]

Greetings. I’m getting up there in years, will be retiring in less than three from an airline job. I own a Bonanza And a Kitfox, and am a high time 757/767 guy.:pilot: Years ago, I built a full scale mockup of a 757/767 cockpit around a simple desktop PC. This was a shared activity with Civil Air Patrol cadets, and it served as a great recruiting device. We grew our membership from 20 to 85+. We hid a joystick below the console and used pulleys and cables to create two working yokes. We also disassembled that 12 button joystick and placed the switches in various locations . The throttle rheostat was successfully moved to a throttle quadrant, and the twist feature of that stick for rudder was relocated to work with rudder pedals. Mostly used stuff for cheap. It could be noisy and creaky, but never disappointed as a first impression.

I moved and left it behind. One ground-pounder quickly chopped it up for kindling:mad:. Things I would like to do:

- Build something similar, but better

- Make it mobile to introduce flying at grade schools and such

- Find the resources to learn the domain of possibilities

- Test fly the creations of others

- Other definite ideas that you all would tell me impossible or waste of time.

- Find an enthusiast local to me near Nashville to talk some sense into me.

 

 

This site looks like a good starting point, but there is a learning curve.

[Jim Hall]

Welcome New Guy. I think your impressive CV has impressed our many very qualified forum members and your request found to be daunting in its complexity. I confess, however, that I am not one of the gifted and qualified members and wouldn’t presume to give you advice. Except. Do learn everything you can about the new 2020 Microsoft Flight Simulator and its potential effect on your hardware, software, and goals as that will no doubt be your flight simulator. Else, the only parity between us is our age and enthusiasm. Best of luck!