The mysterious thing about the stucco suburban subdivisions that dot the landscape of the American West is that you never really know what might be going on within those homogenous exterior walls. From hydroponic marijuana farms to the rehearsal room of our next Mozart, the outsides of these ticky-tacky structures betray precious little about the wonders that might lie indoors.
In one such home in Las Vegas, for example, a gentleman built a full-scale Boeing 737 flight simulator in his living room. It's insanely detailed and 100 percent functional -- including full-motion graphics via a 24' curved projection screen, authentic audio effects, a working passenger-address system, live weather and airport feeds, and so much more...
The 737 sim is exacty like the real thing, but the residential setup offers some unique advantages; During long flights, for example, there's a heated pool you can use while the plane jets to your destination via autopilot:
The builder explains how he did it all in the video below. Watch, enjoy, and think about this next time you pass through Suburbanville USA:
Want to see how it looks when you put all the pieces together for a wintry flight from Buffalo, New York to Reagan National in Washington DC? Just stow your tray table, and leave the flying to your very capable sim-pilot:
Todd,
Great post! I have a co-worker here in Atlanta who is a real genius that is doing a similar project using real cockpit hardware and using the X-Plane software for an L-1011. He's blogging it here:
http://l1011project.blogspot.com/2010/10/avionics-bending-differential-resolver.html
Curd is even designing and building circuitry to make the avionics accurately portray and interface with the program. Amazing stuff!
Your pal,
Kevin
Posted by: Kevin Trotman | 29 October 2010 at 04:59 AM