Ultimate Flight Sim
Check out this flight simulator.
In addition to looking awesomely cool, it can help you get your pilot’s license. The FAA has reportedly said that you can use it for up to 2.5 hours of actual stick time toward your license. Unfortunately, the $100/hour or so that you save is more than offset by the $17,250 pricetag of the simulator. When I was getting my license I bought a copy of MS Flight Sim and ran it on my roommate Patrick’s PC. I used the very basic keyboard and joystick controls to run pattern and landing procedures, and even simulated a couple of flights. I couldn’t log the time, but just practicing the procedures at home allowed me to easily save the $40 in flight time that the program cost me. A very good investment.
I think that I could easily build something like this, using just this picture. I’d have to use a preexisting computer (which I have), and buy some monitors and other gear, but I think it’d be easily possible to make this for under a couple grand.
Hmm.
Monitors: 3 Dell 22″ LCD’s $750
Computer: exising
Software: $50
Chair: $200?
Tubing and infrastructure: $200?
Instrumentation: Ooo.. this looks like it’d be the expensive part. Probably cost a couple grand to outfit a full suite of instrumentation. Luckily, most of it seems to be built on a standard interface protocol so it could plug into MS Flight Sim or X-Plane.
So for a “mere” $3500-$4000 outlay you could have a killer homemade flight sim- and ’save’ $12,000!
Okay, it’s not cheap, but what a fun project to undertake for someone. I’d bet you could easily sell it for more that the cost of parts (though not the time invested).
Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
*UPDATE* For a righteous Moon plug-in for your flight sim, check out Terrabuilder’s site. Their software allows you to change the Earth terrain maps to a lunar map, then fly around in their landers. Awesome screenshots.