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FScockpit.
com
Find your way into flight simulator cockpit construction
What’s new ?
Build your own flight simulator cockpit
While you are spending hours behind your flight simulator flying long legs, hopping from field to field or
flying thrilling missions, you sometimes imagine yourself sitting in your own cockpit.
With a deep sigh and a pull on your joystick or yoke you try to get back to reality.
visitors since 2004/10/15
You consider this one of those illusions out of reach: too difficult, too expensive, no time ...
The goal of www.FScockpit.com is to give you an overview on how to build your own flight simulator
cockpit including lots of links to relevant sources.
http://www.fscockpit.com/ (1 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:10 PM]

FScockpit.com
Section 1 As a starter examples will be given of flight simulator cockpits to get a
feeling of what this is all about.
Section 2 In order to get an impression of the flight simulator cockpit community
this section gives an overview of the Microsoft Flight Simulator market,
user groups and forums related to flight simulator cockpit building.
Additionally links are provided to fellow cockpit builders and available
suppliers.
Section 3 By this time you should be ready for a basic introduction on how to get
started. This section should provide you a mental structure to handle the
concept of a flight simulator cockpit.

FScockpit.com focuses for flight simulator specific issues on the Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Sections 4 to 7 In these sections in sequential order the various components of a flight
simulator cockpit will be discussed. The objective is not to reproduce all

Start your quest for your own flight simulator cockpit ... You can do it, it's no rocket science !
the information and knowledge available, but to create an overview of the
options available and point you the way by means of included links. Read
it all with an open mind and make your own choices, based on your own
situation, knowledge and budget.
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Downloads for Flight Simulator
X, FS2004. Also features
bustling forums, flight
simulation news, reviews and
much more.
flyawaysimulation.com
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Start your networked 737NG
panel now or create your
panel with generic gauges.
Realistic sby instruments: 737
dual Alti/ASI
www.flyware.nl
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The first military true fly-by-
wire add-on with the
sophistication and realism of a
high-end transport! NOW
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FScockpit.com
What’s new ?
Build your own flight simulator cockpit
While you are spending hours behind your flight simulator flying long legs, hopping from field to field or
flying thrilling missions, you sometimes imagine yourself sitting in your own cockpit.
With a deep sigh and a pull on your joystick or yoke you try to get back to reality.
visitors since 2004/10/15
You consider this one of those illusions out of reach: too difficult, too expensive, no time ...
The goal of www.FScockpit.com is to give you an overview on how to build your own flight simulator
cockpit including lots of links to relevant sources.
http://www.fscockpit.com/index.html (1 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:15 PM]

FScockpit.com
Section 1 As a starter examples will be given of flight simulator cockpits to get a
feeling of what this is all about.
Section 2 In order to get an impression of the flight simulator cockpit community
this section gives an overview of the Microsoft Flight Simulator market,
user groups and forums related to flight simulator cockpit building.
Additionally links are provided to fellow cockpit builders and available
suppliers.
Section 3 By this time you should be ready for a basic introduction on how to get
started. This section should provide you a mental structure to handle the
concept of a flight simulator cockpit.

FScockpit.com focuses for flight simulator specific issues on the Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Sections 4 to 7 In these sections in sequential order the various components of a flight
simulator cockpit will be discussed. The objective is not to reproduce all

Start your quest for your own flight simulator cockpit ... You can do it, it's no rocket science !
the information and knowledge available, but to create an overview of the
options available and point you the way by means of included links. Read
it all with an open mind and make your own choices, based on your own
situation, knowledge and budget.
Powered by
AVSIM SimWords

FScockpit.com
Fly Away Simulation

Downloads for Flight Simulator
X, FS2004. Also features
bustling forums, flight
simulation news, reviews and
much more.
flyawaysimulation.com
Advertise on AVSIM!
Advertising on AVSIM just got
easier and less expensive.
Place your ad here today!
www.avsim.com
FS desktop control panel

Now you can get quick access
to all of yourcontrol functions
with the push of one button!!!
http://combatconsole.com
Make Money with

SimWords!
Join the ranks of websites
earning an income from
SimWords. Become a
Publisher today!
www.avsim.com
FsXPand PFD/ND & EICAS

Start your networked 737NG
panel now or create your
panel with generic gauges.
Realistic sby instruments: 737
dual Alti/ASI
www.flyware.nl
VRS F/A18E SUPER HORNET

The first military true fly-by-
wire add-on with the
sophistication and realism of a
high-end transport! NOW
SHIPPING FOR FS9!
www.vrsimulations.com
Become a SimWord
Publisher and earn today!

FScockpit.com
SimPits International
>>
© WebRing Inc.
Search
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>>
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What's new ?
What’s new ?
What's new ?
All updates are listed in the RSS feed. Subscribe to the RSS feed to stay informed.
Below an overview of the major updates.
Latest major update: 2008/01/20 - v4.0
- Migration to new software facilitating more frequent updates.
- Following this change a new look and feel
- Checked text and links on continued relevance.
- Added new information and details (including new links)
Other major updates where:

● 2007/02/15 - v3.0 Integral update and alignment with MS FSX. Following the large number of
requests of readers, the integral text of this site in book became available on www.lulu.com.
● 2005/12/17 - v2.2 Year-end holiday update.
● 2005/10/24 - v2.1 New look due to migration to new software.
● 2005/08/26 - v2.0 Major new release. Refreshing / reordering of content and new a section
structure for example sites and suppliers.
● 2005/03/28 - v1.0 Refocus on priorities in order to have more time to build my own flight
simulator cockpit, resulted in a move away from the broad concept of DC3experience.com. The
new formula will be FScockpit.com, a site dedicated to flight simulator cockpit
building. Besides a new look you will find new content in various sections.
http://www.fscockpit.com/whatsnew.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:18 PM]

What's new ?
● 2001/12/27 ... 2005/03/28 - DC3experience.com was the predecessor of FSCockpit.com. The

objective of DC- 3 experience was to give information on flight simulator cockpit building, the
Douglas DC-3 and the building of my own cockpit.

What's new ?

What's new ?

What's new ?

What's new ?

What's new ?

What's new ?

What's new ?

Examples
What’s new ?
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

http://www.fscockpit.com/examples.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:21 PM]
Examples
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-

Examples
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.

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Examples

Flight simulator cockpit community
What’s new ?
2. flight simulator cockpit community
So with whom do you share your interest ? In this section an overview of the Microsoft Flight Simulator
community is given.
http://www.fscockpit.com/flightsimulatorcockpitcommunity.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:24 PM]









An impression
What’s new ?
2.1 An impression
With respect to flight simulator specific issues the scope of FScockpit.com is the Microsoft Flight
Simulator. (A more general perspective on the Microsoft Flight Simulator and its development is given
on Flight Simulator History.) Other flight simulators that "know" active groups of flight simulator cockpit
builders are Falcon, X- plane and FlightGear.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator has been there since the very beginning of the PC era. It is one of the
oldest products of Microsoft, introduced shortly after MS-DOS and BASIC. It all began around 1975 with
Bruce Artwick, a student engineer at the University of Illinois with a high interested in aviation. He wrote
a paper with the title "Visual Flight Displays for Aircraft Simulations Using Minicomputers" and proved
that on a system 6800 one could run a three dimensional flight simulation. In 1977 Bruce Artwick
founded SubLogic and began the development of graphics software. In 1981 SubLogic introduced the
Flight Simulator on the Apple II. In the same year Microsoft and SubLogic agreed to develop the flight
simulator for MS-DOS. At that time "gaming" on it self was not the only objective. This type of software
was considered very advanced and high-tech with respect to graphic capacity and calculation. It would
be a "show-off" of the possibilities of the PC & MS-DOS.
Version 1.0 of the Microsoft Flight Simulator was launched in November 1982. It was one of the first
games for PC and one of the most demanding applications for PC at that time. The Flight Simulator
quickly became a reference, it was used as a test for IBM PC compatibility. An interesting side step is
that in 1983, Bruce Artwick helped Compaq to develop the first clone of the IBM PC. The Microsoft Flight
http://www.fscockpit.com/animpression.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:27 PM]
An impression
Simulator was used to eliminate the errors from development of the BIOS. Resulting in what is said a
first Compaq that was actually more reliable than an IBM PC.
In 1984 Version 2.0 was introduced and could be used with both a mouse and joystick. During this
period also a special version for Cessna was developed, used as a teaser for sales. In this version the
plane would not crash in order not to frighten potential buyers.
Starting from version 3.0 (launched in 1988) it became a solid Microsoft PC-based game.
Subsequent versions where:
Version 4.0 / 1989: This version made a major leap with respect to scenery (roads, bridges and
buildings).
Version 5.0 / 1993: From this version it is public that it required more than 30,000 hours of
development. It was the first version to have a scenery data base covering the whole world and
to simulate seasons and time of day.
Version 5.1 / 1995: Included more enhancements including weather effects as storms, clouds
and fog.
Version 6 / 1996: (Windows 95) Two new planes where introduced, the Boeing 737 and the
Extra 300. Also more support for first time users was introduced.
Version 6.1 / 1997: (Flight Simulator 98) The 15 year milestone. Support for higher resolution
and the first true helicopter simulation (Bell JetRanger)
Version 7.0 / 1999: (Flight Simulator 2000) Improvements on terrain and textures. Included all
world airports and a navaids database. New aircrafts where Boeing 747, Mooney, King Air and
Concorde.
Version 7.1 / 2000: Update for Flight Simulator 2000.
Version 8.0 / 2001: (Flight simulator 2002) Automatic generated buildings and trees.
Introduction of the virtual cockpit with working instruments. Advanced air traffic at airports and in
the air and "live" ATC.
Version 9.0 / 2003: (Flight Simulator Century of Flight) More improvements on weather, and

An impression
scenery. Introduction of more aircraft types.
Version 9.1 / 2004: Update for Flight Simulator Century of Flight.
Version 10.0 / 2006: (Flight Simulator X) More improvements on scenery. The addition of a
“game” element by means of missions. SimConnect as an open interface for add- on developers.
More new aircrafts.
In 1989 Bruce Artwick left SubLogic and started the company BAO from which he continued to develop
the Flight Simulator for Microsoft. In 1995 he sold BAO (and the rights for the Flight Simulator) to
Microsoft.
Starting from version 3 (1988) commercial add-on developers produced additional software for the
Microsoft Flight Simulator. At around the same time devoted and highly technical hobbyists started to
develop “freeware” add-ons and flight simulator cockpits. In 1989 a development tool Aircraft & Scenery
designer became available, in 1996 the Scenery Enhancement Editor. By 1997 there is a large
community of both active users and developers. A considerable set of Microsoft flight Simulator
development tools (commercial & freeware) is available. More advanced users start to use joysticks,
yokes and pedals. The community of flight simulator cockpit builders starts to grow.
At this moment there is a huge group of owners of the Microsoft Flight Simulator, it is one of the if not
the best- selling PC games of all times. In 1997 over an accumulated number of 4.5 million copies of the
Microsoft Flight Simulator where sold world wide. This increased to over 21 million copies in 1999
according to Guinness World Records: "MS Flight Simulator was released by Microsoft in April
1982 and had sold a total of 21 million units by June 1999. Aircraft available for
simulation in Flight Simulator 2000 include Concorde, the Boeing 737-400 and 777- 300,
the Learjet 45, the Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter and the Stopwith Camel.". No official
records of sales after 1999 could be found, but they must be good considering the top 10 ratings of new
releases of the Microsoft Flight Simulator on sites like gamespot.
The rise of internet gave a large contribution to the international Flight Simulator community. Initially by

An impression
facilitating forums like "Gamers" on CompuServe. In the period around 1995 dedicated sites like AVSIM
or Microwings started to appear. From then on the online presence of the Flight Simulator community is
growing year by year. Country specific portals appear, virtual (international) teams are hosting sites and
publish add- ons, and an increasing number of private individuals create there own sites and publish
their own add-ons.
But perhaps evenly important is the increasing professional use of the Microsoft Flight Simulator. On
more and more flight schools a Microsoft Flight Simulator based trainer can be found. A highlighted
example is the US Navy that issues a customized version of the Microsoft Flight Simulator to all student
pilots enrolled in Naval Training Courses. An extensive study on the training value of PC based flight
simulators found that students who use it during early flight training tend to have higher scores (NAVAL
Education). A different example is MIT where the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical
Engineering initiated a major curriculum transformation to support active learning and simulation. The
Microsoft Flight Simulator is integrated into nearly every course in the department. The faculty created
modeling and analysis tools closely coupled to the Microsoft Flight Simulator so that students can
simulate flying aircraft of their own design. The objective is to engage students in rich experiential
learning and improve their real-world knowledge.
In total (also in the perspective of its open architecture) one can state that the Microsoft Flight
Simulator facilitates more than an average game, it facilitates besides plain fun for a lot of users a
serious hobby and for a considerable group even serious business.
As can be seen on regular online surveys on various sites the vast majority of users are male and over
20 years old. Estimations (2005) are that between 2 and 3 million people fly the Microsoft Flight
Simulator on a regular basis. Well over 130.000 fly regular online by means of VATSIM, IVAO or local
variants. There is an impressive amount of activity on the web. On a monthly basis there are in total
millions of downloads activated from add-ons from portals like AVSIM, Flightsim and Simviation, special
sites like Project Opensky, PMDG, Premaircraft and Project Fokker and the many variants around. It is
hard to get figures about the commercial market for add-on suppliers like Aerosoft, Flight1 or ABACUS
and all the other mostly web-based suppliers. Based on publications over the years and since they

An impression
almost all have growing offerings, it is save to say that there are tens-of-thousand of copies of flight
simulator add-ons sold world wide per year.
The development of add-ons by users themselves is directly influenced by the open SDK (Software
Development Kit) policy around the Microsoft Flight Simulator. There is some interesting research based
on a relative large online survey (Henkel & Thies). It shows that (1) this policy allows fulfilling specific
customer needs at lower cost and a higher degree of satisfaction, (2) the toolkit itself can be considered
as an attractive product feature and (3) the resulting user innovations can be a valuable source of new
product concepts for the manufacturer and/or other users. The Microsoft Flight Simulator seems to
provide the right environment: all that is required is a PC and the SDK (and for several SDK's an
additional programming environment), the add-ons are relatively loosely coupled and require compared
to an average open source software environment less high level expertise. This gives a setting where
resulting user developments / innovations –being software (or program definitions)– can be passed on
easily between, facilitated by the large amount of Microsoft Flight Simulator dedicated sites and portals.
The survey shows that 70% of the developers is older than 25. One of interesting results of this study is
that 25% of the add- on developers share their work with others. Looking at the number of
downloads available on the various sites, this implies a huge community of users that create extensions
to the Microsoft Flight Simulator. The developers in general present as a primary drive: joy, expression
of creativity, create an own "world" and improvement of development skills. Basically these drives may
be translated as "the limit is your own imagination". Finally the survey shows that the potential
regarding add-on development is much greater, because there is a large group that would like to get
involved, but are hold back by the steep learning curve of technology and documentation. When one has
the ability to make add-on development more transparent and understandable, then this is undeniable
an area with high potential for book writers and toolkit developers. To be able to be submerged into a
computer game with your own products of creativity is a temptation that at the end most game players
can not / will not withstand.
So how large is the sub-community of flight simulator cockpit builders? Project Magenta claimed in an
interview at Berrygelderblom (2005) that they have several thousand customers all over the world. In
general it is difficult to get a clear picture. Over-all the supplier side shows over 100 (and growing)
An impression
suppliers of cockpit parts. Although not all of these ventures give the impression that selling parts
provides a 100% source of income, there is a growing number that does and also introduces new
products on a regular basis. This is only possible if they sell a reasonable amount of products.
Additionally one can see competition, resulting in the need to explore new technologies in order to
survive and/or distinguish from competitors. As a customer we benefit by lowering prices and increasing
functionality. From a more overall perspective one can see that the market is shifting from high price to
moderate price for ready build Microsoft Flight Simulator based cockpits. This brings these type of
devices in reach of a large potential market consisting of every serious airfield / flight club / flight school
around the world and in reach of the high end of the private market. For home build (parts based) flight
simulator cockpit development the market is shifting from high expertise/price to average/low expertise/
price with suppliers around that try to compete on the "plug-and-play" level of the products they sell.
Everyone who is able to connect some cables and do some basic configuration is in reach of some sort
of setup of a flight simulator cockpit.

An impression

An impression

An impression

User groups and forums
What’s new ?
2.2 User groups and forums
Community sites
- CockpitSolutions
- Flightdeck Builder
- Frappr maps Flightdeckbuilders
- HSB Registry
- Israel Cockpit Builders Association
- MyCockpit.org
- Mikes Flight Deck
- OpenCockpits
- OpenCockpits (German user group)
- Simbuilders Wiki (and forum)
- Simpits and their mailing list
WebRing SimPits
- SimSpares
Forums
- 747 cockpit builders forum
- AVSIM cockpit builders forum
- Check-Six! cockpit builders forum
- Fighter Ops cockpit builders forum

http://www.fscockpit.com/usergroupsandforums.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:30 PM]
- FlightSim cockpit builders forum
- FlightXpress cockpit builders forum
- Frugal's world cockpit builders forum
- FS Forum cockpit builders forum
- FS Magazine cockpit builders forum
- Hovercontrol cockpit builders forum
- Polish VATSIM cockpit builders forum
- SimFlight Network cockpit builders forum
- Simviation cockpit builders forum
- ThaiFlight cockpit builders forum
- ViperPit cockpit builders forum
- VATIL cockpit builders forum
- Worlds Serious Pilots cockpit builders forum
- Usenet (regular items on flight simulator cockpits)
+ rec.aviation.simulators
+ comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim
- Yahoo
+ Construccion de Cabinas cockpit builders forum








Links to other cockpit builders
What’s new ?
2.3 Links to other cockpit builders
On the Internet there are a large number of personal sites dedicated to building a flight simulator
cockpit. An overview of the sites that I have found you will find below.
new # aircraft name
1 A-4k Sean Galbraith site: homepages.paradise.net.nz...
2 Airbus 300 Steve Masson site: www.airbusa300sim.co.uk/
3 Airbus 310 - site: www.bogysim.com/
4 Michael Krege site: www.east-air.de/flugsimul...
5 Airbus 320 Maciej Hatta site: a320macs.8m.com/
6 Paulo Reis site: airbuscockpit.com.sapo.pt...
7 - site: members.fortunecity.com/d...
http://www.fscockpit.com/linkstoothercockpitbuilders.html (1 of 14) [3/15/2009 7:55:42 PM]
8 Marco Serrano site: montengrao.no.sapo.pt/sim...
!! 9 Gaillard site: simua320.fr
10 Renaud Emont site: www.a320.fr/
11 Joao Vitoria site: www.a320cockpit.net
!! 12 Jesper + Mario site: www.a320flightdeck.de.vu/
13 Andreas Maurer site: www.a320ftd.info/
14 Ralf Anderseck site: www.a320homecockpit.de/
15 Peter Cos site: www.a320project.com/
16 Steve Merillat site: www.a320sim.ch/
17 Alexander Laut site: www.airbus160.net/
18 Gerald Maritschnegg site: www.cockpitsimulator.com
19 Mathias Wohlrab site: www.fdpa320.com/home/home...
20 Florian Praxmarer site: www.fshw.itgo.com/
21 Xavier Bofill site: www.simcockpits.com/a320/...
22 Angel Amado site: www.simucoruna.org/320/
23 Darren Sugden site: www.sugden.karoo.net/
24 Airbus 320-200 Horst Maron site: www.a320-200.de.vu/
25 Airbus 320-232 Stefan site: a320projekt.deutschepilot...
26 Airbus 330-300 Trevor Hale site: www.fsflightservice.com/
27 Airbus 340 Matt O. site: www.a340project.us
28 Goran Lund site: www.freewebs.com/airbus34...
29 Huseyin Sen site: www.iradis.org/
Peter Otto
30 site: www.podsystems.ch/
Dickenmann
31 Erhard site: www.wallentins.com/cockpi...

32 Airbus 380 Andras site: pocket380.info/
33 Beech 18 Kyle site: www.classicsim.com
34 Beech 1900D - site: www.geocities.com/keenbug...
!! 35 Beech Baron 58 Craig site: homepages.woosh.co.nz/cwa...
36 Beechcraft Wim site: www.wimweb.eu/fscockpit/c...
37 Beechcraft 1900D M.Verschaeren site: users.pandora.be/theporta...
38 Beechcraft B200 Ran Mayron site: www.mayron.net.nz/?My_Fli...
39 Beechcraft Baron 58 Scott Hendry site: home.exetel.com.au/flight...
40 Dash site: www.baron58.com
Beechcraft Queenair
41 Dean Nandy site: homepage.ntlworld.com/d.n...
65-B80
42 Dean Nandy site: simflight.fotopic.net/
43 Bell 206B JetRanger Jess site: www.computerrepairs.ca/Si...
44 Boeing 707 Daron Clinesmith site: www.707sim.com/index.html...
45 Boeing 727 Dave site: www.727cockpit.com/
46 Joe Maldonado site: www.xsn.net/project727/
47 Boeing 727-200 Thomas Binz site: www.pcflight.ch
48 Boeing 737 Olle Ramsberg site: 737.ramsberg.nu/
49 Israel Roth site: 737.rwy12.com
50 Kester Meijer site: fly.ekezz.com/
51 Peter site: users.skynet.be/peterhome...
52 Terry O'Brien site: www.737cockpit.ausflight....
53 Wolf Plassmann site: www.737cockpit.de
54 Ian site: www.737ng.co.uk/
55 Robert site: www.b737simulator.de.ki/

56 Dirk Vincent site: www.boeing737flightsim.co...
57 Dean Nandy site: www.geocities.com/boeing7...
58 Ezra Powell site: www.geocities.com/the_737...
59 Christian Haupt site: www.handy4less.com/simu/
60 Fabrizio De Napoli site: www.home-cockpit.com/civi...
61 Rafael Carmona site: www.homecockpit.net
62 Bob site: www.projectmagenta.com/si...
63 Chris Whitley site: www.virtual737.com/
64 Boeing 737 BBJ Michael Leavy site: www.737bbj2sim.com/
65 Boeing 737 NG - site: 737sim.beechboys.dk/
66 Jacek site: members.chello.pl/j.miaze...
67 Wout Annink site: members.home.nl/w.annink
68 Chris site: oal260.blogspot.com/
69 - site: pages.videotron.com/b737n...
70 Juan Cordon site: users.skynet.be/jcordon/c...
71 Peter Deneve site: users.skynet.be/peterhome...
72 Ole Almenningen site: www.737cockpit.no
73 Pierre site: www.b737.ch/
74 Sam Verhoeven site: www.b737ng.be/
75 Ralf Mauch site: www.b737ng.de/
76 Robert Kossakowski site: www.b737simulator.de.ki/
77 Peter Buttler site: www.blumax.net/simulator/...
78 Oscar Florian site: www.cockpit737ng.com
79 Den site: www.flightdeck737.com/
80 Mauro Ramalho site: www.flyintv.com/737/

81 Martin site: www.freewebs.com/boeing73...
82 Fabio site: www.freewebs.com/fabio_ip...
83 Borja Perera site: www.geocities.com/iberiav...
84 Nick site: www.insitesolutions.com.a...
85 Johnny Kreis site: www.laserfire.com/hanger3...
86 Mark site: www.markuspilot.com/
87 Carlos Lopez site: www.micabinadevuelo.com/
88 Gert van der Winden site: www.ng737sim.nl
89 Chuck Moore site: www.projectb737ng.com/ind...
90 Jacques Meyer site: www.thebigboss.ch/
91 Boeing 737 NG 900 Stef site: www.boeing737ng.com/
92 Boeing 737-200 Mario Aguirre site: geocities.com/marioadd/
93 Alan Dyer site: pages.sbcglobal.net/aland...
94 Thomas Binz site: www.737.ch
95 Boeing 737-300 Francisco Gago site: personal.telefonica.terra...
96 Boeing 737-700 Jacques Roca site: b737700jr.monsite.wanadoo...
97 Andras site: web.axelero.hu/andkozma/c...
98 David Allen site: www.737flightsim.com/
99 Matt Ford site: www.737sim.com/
!! 100 Santiago Legnani site: www.asgtraining.com/
101 Jan Pemoller site: www.cityvox.de/b737/index...
102 Stamatis Vellis site: www.schiratti.com/cockpit...
103 Boeing 737-800 Gwyn Perrett site: aerosimsolutions.googlepa...
104 - site: kozak74.extra.hu/
105 Pascal Vonsy site: www.737-800.com/

Andreas
!! 106 site: www.737ng.de
Assenmacher
107 James Price site: www.737simguy.com/
108 J.M. Galan site: www.arroyomolinos.com/737...
109 Enrique Hernandez site: www.b737-800.net/
110 Stefano and Roberto site: www.ottavian.it
!! 111 Patrick Messerschmitt site: www.patricksflightdeck.co...
!! 112 Boeing 737-800NG Georg Schneider site: www.flusifan-bw.de/
!! 113 Boeing 737-NG Mariano Bistuer site: www.mbistuer.com
114 Boeing 747 John Wojnaroski site: flightgear.org/Projects/7...
115 Fred site: jumbo747.blogspot.com/
116 Pierre Theillere site: pierre.theillere.free.fr/...
!! 117 Boeing 747-100 Emanuele Carboni site: www.webalice.it/blenheim/
118 Boeing 747-200 Alkit Chan site: www.alkit.net
119 Mike Belmonte site: www.projectmagenta.com/wi...
120 Boeing 747-400 Marcel van der Wal site: home.wanadoo.nl/d.s.van.b...
121 Jean Luc Boinet site: perso.orange.fr/b747proje...
122 A. Medina site: personal.telefonica.terra...
123 Michel Vandaele site: users.pandora.be/michel.v...
124 Pascal Vonsey site: www.747-400.com/
125 Ettore Mele site: www.747-400.it/
126 David Misha site: www.747cockpit.rwy12.com/
127 - site: www.b747-400.com/
128 Jonas Frazier site: www.geocities.com/dc10747...
129 Matthews Sheil site: www.hyway.com.au/747/747....

130 Junji Hirayama site: www.projectj747.com/
131 Boeing 747-402 Carlos Torres site: personal.telefonica.terra...
132 Boeing 747-X Romek Delimata site: homepage.eircom.net/~rome...
133 Boeing 757 Richie site: www.geocities.com/prob757...
134 Boeing 757-200 Max Vargas site: www.geocities.com/Researc...
135 Boeing 767 Michael Lehkamp site: avsim.com/project757/
136 - site: www.geocities.com/delta76...
137 Boeing 767-300 Nico Kaan site: home.planet.nl/~nwkaan/
138 - site: www.geocities.com/dodiano...
139 - site: www.simpit.de/b767cockpit...
140 Boeing 767-300ER Jeroen op den Akker site: home.hccnet.nl/jwopdenakk...
141 Boeing 777 Zollaki site: flight.zollaki.de
142 Julian Smith site: home.comcast.net/%7Ejulia...
143 Norbert Bosch site: home.wanadoo.nl/norbert.b...
144 Srini site: projectsri777.blogspot.co...
145 Chris Mueller site: student.dpg.devry.edu/sho...
146 Matthew site: www.777flightsim.com/
147 Thomas site: www.777project.com/
148 Matthias Spahrmann site: www.777sim.spahrmann.de/
149 Robert Prather site: www.777Simulator.com/
150 - site: www.btinternet.com/%7Esim...
151 - site: www.fs21.com/fs-e.htm
152 Chris W. Balmer site: www.pitbuilder.com
153 Klaus Troemer site: www.project777.com/
154 Larry Vandivier site: www.project777.net/

155 Joe Searcy site: www.projectbluesky777.com...
156 Lambis site: www.projectmagenta.com/la...
157 Claude Kieffer site: www.simucockpit.com
158 Boeing 777-200 David Tremoleda site: www.simcockpits.com
159 Boeing 787 Badger site: www.sim787.com/
160 Boeing 927 Patrice Bonnefoi site: www.b927.com/
161 Boeing B-17 Daniel Tegelen site: www.dutch-mountains.com
162 C-130 Hercules Dan Relfe site: www.c130sim.com
163 C160-Transall Cptn Joe site: www.transallsim.de/
164 Cessna - site: www.fmw.dk/cockpit/
165 Cessna 172 Bart van Sloun site: cessna172sim.blogspot.com...
166 Rhydian site: cessnasim.blogspot.com/
167 Scott Forsha site: home.houston.rr.com/penci...
168 Monica Valeriani site: www.amicivolovirtuale.it
169 Eric Rosebrock site: www.cessnasim.com/
170 Phill Sawdust site: www.geocities.com/a_h_saw...
171 O-P Pietila site: www.lentosimulaattori.1g....
172 Rory Gillies site: www.shetland.flyer.co.uk/
Cessna 172 Skyhawk

!! 173 O-P Pietilä site: www.lentosimulaattori.1g....
II
174 Cessna 172 SP Loup Cedric site: www.stumbles.ch/
175 Cessna 174 Rob de Vries site: home.hccnet.nl/pa7rm/
!! 176 Cessna 182 rg Mauro site: www.flightemotion.it
Carl-Gustaf
177 Cessna 182 RG site: www.microspace.se/
Thornstrom
178 Cessna Citation Christopher Knizeski site: www.citationsim.com/

179 Corsair Fu4-1D Huyghebaert Jeroen site: www.freewebs.com/clubfish...
180 CRJ Adino Martina site: www.freewebs.com/crjsim/i...
181 CRJ 200 - site: people.mags.net/tgroup/de...
182 CRJ 700 Holger site: www.crj700projekt.de/
183 DeHavilland Dash 8 Tim site: projectdash8.gildersleeve...
184 Hans van Beilen site: www.geocities.com/dhc8sim...
DeHavilland Dash 8-
!! 185 Daniel Boulay site: bathursted.ccnb.nb.ca/sac...
300
!! 186 Dornier Alphajet Ron site: home.comcast.net/~bimmer4...
187 Douglass DC-10 Jan Fjeld site: home.no.net/dcsimuk/
188 Douglass DC-3 Jan Verley site: home.versateladsl.be/verl...
189 Art Gutschow site: www.dc3airways.com/cockpi...
190 Trev Morson site: www.douglasdc3.com/dc3com...
191 Douglass DC-8 - site: dc8cockpit.catisp.com/
192 Douglass MD-11 Thomas Kleindopp site: members.surfeu.de/thomas_...
193 Embraer ERJ-145 - site: www.erj145.com/
194 Eurocopter G. Krijgsman site: s88.photobucket.com/album...
195 F-104 Douwe-jan de Boer site: www.viperflight.nl/djdb/d...
196 F-111 Rod Dale site: cust.idl.com.au/029700012...
197 Picornell site: www.picornell.net/simhome...
!! 198 F-15 Graham site: www.comeflywithmecreation...
199 Gene Buckle site: www.f15sim.com/index.html...
200 F-16 Andreas Fransson site: hem.fyristorg.com/valhall...
201 Allen Buffington site: hoodoo.sofast.net/index.h...
202 Shrek site: journals.aol.co.uk/no9shr...

203 Chris van Lierop site: members.brabant.chello.nl...
204 John Martin site: members.cox.net/martin1ja...
205 Johan Nauwa site: members.tripod.com/fcsimu...
206 Rien Heideveld site: ourworld.cs.com/f16simula...
207 Jean-Yves site: perso.wanadoo.fr/surfer.m...
208 Breytie site: uk.geocities.com/a_breyti...
209 G. Cropp site: users.totalspeed.net/gcom...
210 Pete site: www.angelfire.com/falcon/...
211 Robin site: www.bingo-ev.de/~bh1024/s...
212 Buzz Gruen site: www.cris.com/%7Ekrohl/tbr...
213 Erwin Neyt site: www.eagle9.nl/
214 Joseph Bosnjak site: www.f16sim.com
215 Michi site: www.f16simulator.net/
216 Davide site: www.geocities.com/fox_two...
217 Jeff Heeszels site: www.geocities.com/Madison...
218 Highlander site: www.geocities.com/simpilo...
219 Greg site: www.habu2.net/sims/pc_pit...
220 Hans Krohn site: www.hanskrohn.com
221 Catuogno Paolo site: www.home-cockpit.com/mili...
222 Dieter Salzburg site: www.phaser-dbs.de/
223 Jerry Bielsma site: www.viperflight.nl/
224 Rob Slagt site: www.viperflight.nl/
225 Craig site: www.virtualf16.20m.com/in...
226 Martin Schmitt site: www.xflight.de
227 F-18 Steve Olic site: www.geocities.com/hangar_...

228 F-4 - site: www.geocities.com/cap17.g...
229 Fokker 100 John Havrilla site: home.nc.rr.com/jrhavrilla...
230 Aart Vos site: www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~a...
231 Fokker 50 Philippe Vanagt site: users.skynet.be/plipke/PF...
232 Fokker 70 Andreas Harrer site: www.fokker70.at.tf/
233 Jetstream Rob Taylor site: www.jetstream-club.org/ ...
234 King Air C-90/200 Dave site: hometown.aol.com/n867530/...
!! 235 LearJet 45 Mark Tosiello site: builder1.wordpress.com
236 Mark site: builder1.wordpress.com/
237 Alexander Lawrence site: excitingsimulations.com/c...
238 Eric Tomlin site: www.flightlevel180.org
Lockheed C-121C / L-
!! 239 Christian Mueller site: conniesim.blogspot.com/
1049F
240 Lockheed Jetstar Randy Eskow site: www.geocities.com/jetstar...
241 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Enrico Azzini site: www.ruotenelvento.it/cock...
Messerschmitt Bf
242 Edbert site: www.edbert.net/109pit.htm
109
243 Mig 21 Tino Fischer site: www.mig21mf.de/
244 Mirage Dooley site: www.dooley.co.za/
RnoAF project
245 NH 90 site: www.sim90.net/
members
Airforce Museum
246 Pilatus P-3 site: www.ju-air.com/d/02flieg/...
Duebendorf
247 Pilatus PC12 Ken Brand site: www.kennair.com/
!! 248 Pilatus PC-9M Fritz Weinrebe site: www.avcocalc.net/simulato...
249 Piper PA-28 Fut site: hjem.get2net.dk/visualies...

250 Robbinson 22 Frank Riedel site: www.24244169.dk
251 Scott Myers site: www.r22project.tk
252 Saab 105 Bengt Palsson site: fly.to/saab105
Johan Nauwelaertz
253 Saab Viggen site: www.novelair.com/
de Age
254 Spitfire Alex Wiebe site: www.flyinglow.ca/
255 Dave Scott site: www.simhardware.org
!! 256 T-37 Tweet Lee Williams site: www.californiaaerospacete...
!! 257 Non specific Manuel e Iván Rubio site: cabinavirtualtfe.iespana....
!! 258 Johnnie Poole site: www.knology.net/~sailboss
!! 259 Thanos site: www.motionflightsim.eu.tp...
!! 260 Tore E. Larsen site: www.retromagazin.com/flig...
!! 261 Mike site: www.solvengineer.com/simu...
262 Non specific Jason Williams site: 777avg.com/cockpit/
263 Alvaro Alea site: aleasoft.iespana.es/fs/vc...
264 - site: digilander.libero.it/torn...
Eldad Rubin and Tal

265 site: gamc.atspace.com/default....
Eliasi
266 Douwe Jippes site: home.hccnet.nl/henk.heijd...
267 Nico site: home.hccnet.nl/stichthoev...
268 Valentin site: homecockpit.blogspot.com/
269 Pat Cleary site: homepage.eircom.net/~patc...
270 Matt site: members.aol.com/wietlpach...
271 Rob van der Wiele site: members.chello.nl/~r.vand...
272 Jari Mikkila site: mikkila.wabbits.org/fsbus...
273 Ed Henderson site: mywebpages.comcast.net/ha...

274 - site: perso.wanadoo.fr/frenchco...
275 Pete site: users.tpg.com.au/adsljvly...
276 - site: vintagehandhelds.bravehos...
277 Moto site: web1.kcn.jp/soujukan_koub...
278 Fighting Falcons site: www.62ndfightingfalcons.a...
279 Marcus Kabele site: www.cockpit.at
280 Markus R. site: www.compumark.at.tf/
281 Garcia Garrido site: www.ctv.es/USERS/matradi/...
282 Dave Kent site: www.davekent.fsnet.co.uk/...
283 Doc Holloway site: www.flightcontrolsimulato...
284 Thomas Holtschi site: www.flightsimulation.ch/i...
285 Frank Bond site: www.frankbond.com/simulat...
286 Dennis Lander site: www.freewebs.com/dlander/...
287 Chris site: www.freewebs.com/simpitco...
288 Ed Nixon site: www.geocities.com/bhcdus/...
289 Peter Ayache site: www.geocities.com/peter_a...
290 Christian Schluter site: www.harraeus.de/flugsim/i...
291 Christopher Hauser site: www.haus-air.at
292 Willy Weiss site: www.heliprop.de/
293 Travis site: www.innocentskies.com/
294 Jim site: www.jimspage.co.nz/
295 Marcus Bauer site: www.msimulation.de/
Johan Nauwelaertz
296 site: www.novelair.com
de Age
297 Philipp site: www.pilotlounge.de.vu/
298 Rich Anderson site: www.reeoch.8k.com/index.h...

299 Rob van Dijk site: www.rvdijk.nl/
300 Eskadrilya Serafimov site: www.serafimov.com/articul...
301 Roland van Roy site: www.simprojects.nl/
302 Steve Harding site: www.steveharding.com/page...
303 Valentin Kaufmann site: www.tino.net/flightsim/ho...
304 Space Henk Gooijen site: home.hetnet.nl/~tshaj/ncc...
305 John Pultorak site: klabs.org/history/build_a...
306 University School site: pages.us.edu/mission/june...
307 Firebird site: www.angelfire.com/planet/...
308 Iceman site: www.cryogenesys.com/sim/
309 Toine Mercier site: www.shuttlesim.be/
310 Jason Reskin site: www.unistellar.com/

Links to suppliers
What’s new ?
2.4 Links to suppliers
There is a considerable number of companies that provide parts for a flight simulator cockpit an
overview is listed below. The products they sell vary from parts to assemble a flight simulator cockpit to
complete flight simulator cockpits. In the table below an overview given and an indication of their
offerings. We live in a dynamic world, so please visit the sites for a current overview of their products.
Actually ... explore (!) these sites, you will be amazed ...
flight mechanical crt various hardware software various panel cockpit display vibrations motion
controls gauges gauges panel interface interface parts template construction system
elements
3 1 3D Flightsim ds
Advanced
A 2 Simulation vpe hi vp cc ds m
Systems
Aerodeck
3 fc pt cc
Engineering
AIMSWORTH
4 vpe vp pt cc
simulation
http://www.fscockpit.com/linkstosuppliers.html (1 of 7) [3/15/2009 7:55:47 PM]

Links to suppliers
Aircraft
5 Simulation cg si
Techology
Aircraft
6 vp pt
Simulators
7 Aircraft Spruce vp
8 Air-Crafts mg
9 Airplane Stuff fc hi vp pt
10 AITI mg cg hi
BETA
B 11 hi si
Innovations
12 BR Simulations vpe hi vp pt cc
C 13 CH Products fc
14 Classic Flight cc m
15 Cockpit Sonic fc vpe hi vp pt cc
16 CockpitWare cg
Command
17 vpe hi vp pt
Fliteware
Cool Plane
18 vp cc
Sims
19 CP Flight vpe hi
CSI Cockpit
20 cg vpe hi vp pt
Simulations
21 Cyber Seat m
22 Cyberdome vpe vp cc ds
D 23 Daken Skys vp pt
Desktop
24 vpe hi
Aviator
25 Dessert Air vp
Effects In
E 26 m
Motion
27 ELITE fc vpe
Ellie Systems.
28 cg
com
F 29 F-16 simulator cc
30 Flight & Motion cc m

Flight Control
31 m
Simulator
32 Flight Illusion mg hi
33 Flight Link fc vpe cc

Links to suppliers
Flightdeck
34 fc hi vp pt
Solutions
Flightdeck
35 hi vp
Technology
36 FlightPanels vpe pt
Flightsimulator
37 fc vpe hi vp pt m
CH
38 Fly by night fc hi
39 Fly engravity vp pt
40 Flyware cg
41 FSHW hi si
G 42 Geo Sim cc
43 Go Flight fc vpe hi vp
H 44 H.E. Simpanels vpe
45 Heli-kit fc
46 HeloSims fc vpe pt ds m
High Rev
47 vp pt cc
Simulators
48 Hispapanels vp pt
49 HomeSim mg vpe hi si vp
In Motion
I 50 m
Simulation
51 ITRA cg vpe hi vp
J 52 Joy Rider m
K 53 KwikPit pt
Lausitz
L 54 vp pt
Aviation
55 Logitech fc
M 56 Majestic fc cg vpe hi
57 Mason vp
Microspace
58 cc
Flightware
Montreal
59 vpe cc
AeroPlus
Moto Tech
60 vpe hi si vp pt cc
Cockpits
61 MRVC fc
O 62 Open GC cg

Links to suppliers
Pacific
P 63 vpe hi si cc
Simulators
64 Plug 'n Fly cg vpe hi pt
65 POLDRAGONET fc vp pt cc
Precision
66 fc vpe hi vp pt cc ds
Flight Controls
67 Pro MFD cg
Project
68 cg si
Magenta
Q 69 Quickshot fc vpe
Raven
R 70 cc
Cockpits.co.uk
71 Real Simulator fc vpe hi vp pt cc
72 Reality XP cg
73 Realsims fc vpe hi cc ds m
74 Routech fc
S 75 Saitek fc
76 Sea Gull mg hi
SEG Motion
77 m
Tech
Sim Cockpit
78 vp cc
System
79 Sim Control fc
80 Sim Hard fc
81 Sim Werx cg vpe vp pt
82 SimCraft cc m
83 Simelations fc vp
SIM-
84 mg vpe hi pt cc
Instruments
85 SIMKITS fc mg vpe hi si vp pt ds v
86 Simparts vp pt
87 SimPit cc
Simulated
88 Aircraft mg
Instruments
89 Simzation vp
Thai Flight
T 90 vp pt
Simulator
The Real
91 cc ds m
Cockpit

Links to suppliers
92 Thrustmaster fc
Two Plane
93 vp
Guys
U 94 Universal Flight fc v
Van den
V 95 fc vp
broeck
96 VFlight m
97 VFR-Cockpit pt
98 Viper-pits fc mg cg vpe vp pt cc
VistamareSoft
99 m
(Xesa)
VKB Flightsim
100 fc vpe hi
Controls
X 101 Xmotion m

Links to suppliers

Links to suppliers

How to get started
What’s new ?
3. How to get started
Read how to start your own quest for your own flight simulator cockpit. First an overview is given of the
building blocks. Then based on 5 questions a high level roadmap is given. The remaining of this chapter
will help you to make a start with your specifications.
http://www.fscockpit.com/howtogetstarted.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:50 PM]

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

How to get started

Building blocks of a flight simulator cockpit
What’s new ?
3.1 Building blocks of a flight simulator cockpit
In this section an overview of the building blocks of a flight simulator cockpit is given. When browsing
through all the links included in this text you will notice that there are many variations on this topic.
There is no single correct configuration of building blocks. At the end the configuration used is
determined by ambition, technical knowledge, programming knowledge, available budget and available
time.
http://www.fscockpit.com/buildingblocksofaflightsimulatorcockpit.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:53 PM]

Figure: The basic components of a flight simulator cockpit design
A flight simulator cockpit consists in general out of three areas (see figure above):
The game PC: This is the main PC that runs the Microsoft Flight Simulator. The Microsoft Flight
Simulator comes with an open interface, making it possible to fine tune and /or develop many aspects
ranging from the flight model of your aircraft to the scenery you fly in. The most relevant interfaces for
a flight simulator cockpit are the flight model, sound definitions, panel definitions and SimConnect. The
flight model (a configuration file that describes the (handling) characteristics of the aircraft) allows you
to fine tune the characteristics of your aircraft in considerable detail or even make your own flight
model. Also it is possible to define your own sound definitions for optimal environmental audio effects in
your cockpit. By means of the panel definitions you can use / develop digital gauges for your panel or
develop additional simulation effects for your aircraft. SimConnect allows you to read data from and
write data to the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Before FSX the most used interface software was FSUIPC
from Peter Dowson. In some cases you might want to use add-ons to the flight simulator that only
facilitate a mouse interface. By using mouse simulation you can connect a sequence of mouse actions to
a key click which you in turn can link to a actual switch or (numeric) keyboard in your cockpit.
In section 4 you will find a systematic overview.
The cockpit interface: Depending on your setup the cockpit interface handles for instance switches,
control lights, motors that drive analogue gauges or even whole flight computers. As you will see in the
remainder of this text there are various ways to process information between "the game PC" and "the
cockpit". In almost all more larger setups for a flight simulator cockpit there is a keyboard emulator that
transforms the signal from switches to keyboard input. There are a number of special hardware interface
solutions on the market the oldest being the EPIC interface board. There are also generic PC-based
interface solutions that can be used, for instance a wide range of USB driven PC interfaces such as IO-
cards. In more advanced cases additional "controllers" are used for interfacing the flight simulator
cockpit. This may be a for this purpose dedicated PC, but this can also be a micro controller (a -
compared to a PC- low cost computer). When using additional controllers data communication with the
game PC becomes an extra issue to be solved.
In section 5 you will find a systematic overview.
The cockpit: As stated in the introduction a cockpit can vary from arranging some extra devices around
the computer screen to the use of a cockpit section of a real aircraft. A large group of flight simulator
cockpit builders build their own cockpit hull using materials as wood, polyester and Plexiglas.
Additionally they use multiple displays or a beamer to display the outside world. Some modify real
gauges, others build gauges with servo motors from scratch or buy ready made simulator gauges from a

supplier. With respect to digital gauges (screens) there is a whole range of commercial, shareware and
freeware gauges that can be connected to the game PC with extra screens (on the same PC) or via extra
PC's (in a network). Cockpit controls like yokes, pedals and throttles can be home made or obtained
from a supplier. As you can see in the figure above, there is a whole range of additional cockpit
elements that can be added.
The remainder of the chapter will give you a start with the cockpit structure (and aircraft selection), in
section 6 you will find a systematic overview of the cockpit elements.






The 5 questions to ask
What’s new ?
3.2 The 5 questions to ask
First you need to get a grasp of the basic components a flight simulator cockpit consists of. Then it is
time to have a big look around on internet to get acquainted with the various approaches you can
follow. Browse through sites of cockpit builders, read their stories, visit the various cockpit builders
communities and resources on internet and visit the many sites of suppliers. Invest some time; it will
pay off because you get a basic feeling of the options and their implications.
By then you are heading for some crossroads:
1. What are your skills and do you want to develop new skills ? Are you going for ready made
components, or are you going to develop components yourself from scratch or by using parts
or half fabricates ?
If you want to build a flight simulator cockpit based on ready made components, you are
limited to either the specific aircraft types offered by the suppliers or a more generic cockpit
setup. If you want to move more into the area of the actual construction of components there
is a much larger range of aircrafts you can select. If you additionally have or are willing to
develop some programming skills there is basically no limitation to the aircraft you can select
or level of realism you can achieve. In all of these dimensions available budget and/or
available time plays an important role.
2. What is your time line ?
In what time do you want to fly in the first version of your own flight simulator cockpit? For
your own satisfaction and motivation it is better to follow small steps and make sure you can
fly in your own cockpit setup (under development) at almost any given moment in time.
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3. What is the space you have for your cockpit setup ?

Some have a corner in a study they share with other family members, some have a corner in
their bedroom and others have a dedicated room or attic.
4. What is the overall ambition ?
What level of realism do you want to achieve, at the start and at the end ? How many PC’s do
you want to use ? What is the budget you want to spend ?
5. And finally, what aircraft do you want to fly ?
Some do not want to make a choice and choose for a more generic cockpit of an airliner, small
aircraft, etc. If you want to build a flight simulator cockpit based on ready made components,
you are limited to the specific aircraft types offered by the suppliers. If you are in for building
the cockpit parts yourself you can choose from aircrafts that are supported standard within the
Microsoft Flight Simulator or are offered by commercial or freeware add-on suppliers and that
you trust to be around long enough.








Cockpit specifications
What’s new ?
3.3 Cockpit specifications
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When the objective is to develop a flight simulator cockpit based on a real aircraft one of the first steps
is to work out the correct specifications. An important step in creating a cockpit structure with a realistic
interior (and possibly exterior) is to obtain a blueprint and/or manuals. Finding good materials is not
always easy and often requires significant search efforts (on Internet). Besides e-Bay possible sources
to start are:
- AircraftCADPages
- Aerotec Data
- Avsoft
- AvTrainingSolutions
- BobsAirDoc
- eFlightManuals
- EsscoAircraft
- FlightManualsOnCD
- MeriWeather
- NewportAero
- OldManuals
- RareAviation
- Simviation
A very interesting approach for creating a blue print based on pictures is described by Joe Bosnjak at
F16Sim in the section "Concepts" behind the tab "Hull drawing". The approach is based on the use of a
raster to vector conversion tool called WinTopo.
Other sources of information are:
- The A340 project site in the file section

- AV Training Solutions
- The boeing 737 technical site
- B737 MRG
- B767 dimensions
- B777 dimensions
- Unofficial Airbus Study Site
- F-16.net
- The "Pictures of design" section at 747 Simulator
- Look for "Dimensions" and "DXF" on Todd Ferrante's Simulation Cockpit Page
An overview of free CAD drawing programs can for instance be found at FreeByte. Keep however in
mind that making detailed construction drawings is not a "must". It is very well possible to build your
cockpit based on very global hand drawn sketches. What ever fits you best.







Panels
What’s new ?
3.4 Panels
Just in case: the term "panel" is used for the boards in the cockpit that hold the gauges and switches.
With respect to for instance cutting and engraving the formal "term" for a panel is "front plate".
3.4.1 Panel dimensions
When constructing a panel the first step is to define the layout. If you are in to modeling a real aircraft
the issue is to find quality documentation about the panel layout (the shape of the panel and sub-panels
and the type of gauges and switches needed including their locations). Since you will spend a
considerable amount of time on the panel some additional effort in this area will pay off. The best start
is to see if you can find an original manual. See the section “Cockpit specifications” for links.
In general manuals do give detailed information about the lay-out, however it is often hard to deduce
the exact dimensions of the cockpit from these manuals. Additional sources are often needed, in many
cases they are much harder to find. Examples are Varxec and Pietila. Browse also the builder sites in
section 2. It is also possible to deduce sizes by using the size op a cockpit element you know the size of
as a reference. On for instance eBay it is possible to get dimensions for single cockpit elements out of
the product description, if needed you can even ask the seller a question about dimensions.
Instead of designing the panel by your self, it is also possible to buy ready made templates for panels.
Simple to even very advanced panels can be obtained from suppliers like VFR-cockpit, Hispapanels,
http://www.fscockpit.com/panels.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:03 PM]
Panels
Flightdeck Solutions, Cockpit Sonic, Engravity and many others as you can find in the suppliers listing
(section 2).
3.4.2 Cutting, engraving and lettering
The standard way of cutting and engraving a panel requires special equipment. One option is to look for
a local supplier. An interesting alternative is a company that provides free front panel design software
(Front Panel Designer) and facilitates the online ordering of the design you made. This is a very
advanced service allowing you to make professional panels: FrontPanelExpress (for North America) and
Schaeffer AG (for Europe). Some cockpit builders develop their own CNC machine (e.g. 737 Basement
Simulator, Norbert Bosch) a good general starting point is CNC zone. You can also check for local
suppliers that make panels based on CAD files made by you.
Instead of engraving a panel one can use adhesive materials for lettering. An example is the Computer
Imprintable Label of 3M ScotchMark (DIN A 4 sheets for laser print applications in white matte
polyester, transparent matte polyester and silver matte polyester). Also Dyna Laser provides some very
attractive special purpose adhesive materials for use with inkjet or laser printer to produce front plates.
An other approach is to use printable overhead sheets or paper and put them behind a perspex sheet.
An example can be found at ChrisB in the flight simulator project section. A similar approach is followed
on the Boeing Cockpit Project.
When cutting the panel yourself, the making of the holes for gauges is a special issue. Be aware that
there are special devices (hole saws) that you can mount on your drill to get larger holes with clean
edges.
3.4.3 Back-lit panels
A special area of attention are back-lit panels. The principle is that the lettering lights-up when the panel

Panels
lights are turned on. It is not really possible to copy a professional back-lit panel construction without
special equipment and material, there are however very good alternative approaches. Examples can be
found on the site F16Simulator, Biggles, Hans Krohn and on xFlight/F16 in the section "Simulator /
Panels".
3.4.4 Fixing of panels
The panels have to be mounted on some sort of frame. Such a frame can be self made of wood on
which you screw the panels. There are also very professional approaches like DZUS or Skybolt which
can be obtained on the web or via local suppliers.

Panels

Panels

Panels

Panels

Panels

Panels

Hull construction
What’s new ?
3.5 Hull construction
There are many variants on how to build the hull of your flight simulator cockpit. However, the more
enclosed the design is, the more a flying experience will be obtained. Other things to consider are: easy
breakdown for transport (not only the ability to break it down in to parts, but also the fact that the parts
fit through the door / go down the stairs), accessibility (and also comfortability) and easy modification of
(panel) parts (as you will develop advancing ambitions). If your final goal is a motion based cockpit, the
structure should have enough strength of its own.
All kinds of materials can be used to get the effects needed. For instance specific metal structures can
very well be copied using MDF, hard board, rounded nails for rivets and a layered (and sanded) multi
colored paint job. Sometimes (related to your level of ambition) more advanced methods are needed to
construct parts. At eMachineShop you can design your own parts and have them custom- made. If you
need multiple
Real cockpitcopies you can useThe
segment material like
start for theAlumilite Casting
flight simulator Resins.
cockpit is the cockpit section of a real aircraft:
- WV838
It is also possible to buy real aircraft parts. Example sites (besides sites like eBay) for buying real
- Alan Dyer's site
aircraft parts are: BoneYard2U, Desert Air Spares, Sim Spares, OnceAloft, Scroggins Aviation, Warbird
Parts and Konfederate Klassiks.
There are various options for cockpit construction, in the table below the basic principles and some
examples are listed. For more examples see the links of builders and suppliers in section 2.
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Hull construction
Hull-cockpit structures Wanting to have also an aircraft impression on the outside some flight
simulator cockpit builders build part of the hull structure:
- F16Sim
- SimHardware
Cockpit structures The objective is to have a look-a-like effect on only the inside of the cockpit:
- Pascal Vonsey
- Nixon & Thomas
A very good introduction on how to construct a cockpit hull can be found at F16Sim in the sections
"Cockpit Tub"
Portable and structures
cockpit "Cockpit Hull" or
Forat Flightdeck
those that can Project inclaim
or will not the section “Construction
permanent "footprint" fordiary”.
their flight
simulator cockpit there is the option to develop a potable cockpit structure:
InstantCockpit (simulator hardware) comes half

- xFlight/F16 way between
(SimLight section) a kit and a self made flight simulator
cockpit. It is created to replicate the seating position and control configuration of a general aviation
aircraft and designed for use with the Yokes and Rudder Pedals from CH Products. Besides using it as-
Advanced desktop structures There is not always enough room, ambition or time to create a complete
is, it can be the skeleton of your "real" flight simulator cockpit.
cockpit structure. The alternative is and an advanced desktop structure.
- Francisco Garcia Garrido

For the real Boeing 737 cockpit builders Project Magenta is offering a range of cockpit devices,
- The V-Pit(cockpit in a closet)
varying from a complete hull to seats.
- Monitor Canopy
There are not many sites with details on building cockpit interiors (not being panels, throttles, etc.).
For Desktop
fighter cockpit builders there A
structures is desktop++
a very nice introduction
is shown on: on how to build your own ACESII Ejection
Seat. - Frank Bond
The final touch on your home built flight simulator cockpit is the lettering and graphics that warn the
crew, serve as a reminder, give directions or promote an aircraft brand. Using online services like
SpeedGraphics and Custom Decals you can order custom made computer-cut vinyl graphics. Note
that the use of computer-cut vinyl graphics is relatively wide spread, so the chances are high that
there is a local supplier in your area. It is also possible to print decals yourself, see for example
DecalPaper for the materials needed.

Hull construction

Hull construction

Hull construction

Hull construction

Hull construction

Hull construction

Hull construction

Game PC
What’s new ?
4. Game PC
In this section in sequential order the various relevant components of the game PC will be discussed.
The objective is not to reproduce all the information / knowledge available, but to create an overview of
the options available and point you the way by means of included links.
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Game PC
The "Game PC" runs the Microsoft Flight Simulator and interfacing software to drive the "Cockpit
interface", the "Cockpit" or both. The choice you make here depends on the architecture you choose for
your total cockpit setup. For now we will leave this choice open. After reading this article you should be
able to determine your own starting point.

Game PC

Game PC

Game PC

Game PC

Game PC

Game PC

Game PC

Microsoft Flight Simulator
What’s new ?
4.1 Microsoft Flight Simulator
The Microsoft Flight Simulator consists of an open architecture (a combination of editable configuration
files and a SDK: Software Development Kit) that enables the addition of third party add- ons, the
addition of your own developed aircraft / written software or the fine tuning of the aircraft you fly.
Basically this means that from within the flight simulator (so from within operating a simulated aircraft)
you can:
1: Generate output in order to operate a cockpit
2: Process input generated from the cockpit in order to operate the simulated aircraft
These are the 2 basic requirements to develop a real working flight simulator cockpit.
Starting with FSX the SDK's including detailed documentation are included with the deluxe edition.
Regular updates will be provided at FSinsider. Behind every SDK is a world of its own. If you perform a
search on the Internet you will find many examples of people specialized in 1 or more SDK's. To a
certain extent the boundaries of what you can make are determined by you own imagination (in
combination with "time"). The download libraries on AVSIM or FlightSim but also commercial suppliers
likeDC-3
Aerosoft and Flight1 give
experience an impression
<directory name> of what can be achieved. In the remainder of this section
we will concentrate on the issues most relevant to building a flight simulator cockpit.
The definitions for the aircrafts within Microsoft Flight Simulator can be found in the "SimObjects
\Airplanes" directory in the Microsoft Flight Simulator main directory (e.g "C:\Program Files\Microsoft
Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X" for a typical installation). (Before you really start editing it is
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model <dir> Directory with the 3-d model of the aircraft. If there are several
recommended you make a backup of original files and take notice of the Microsoft Flight Simulator documentation.) In
versions of the aircraft you will see multiple directories "model.x",
principle you will find 1 directory with all related files per aircraft. If the name of the aircraft would be
"DC- 3 experience" you would find the following where

directory structure:
"x" is a number or name.
panel <dir> Directory with the panel definition file "panel.cfg" and the bitmaps
used to display the panel. The gauges are included in this
directory or in the "gauges" directory at the same level as the
"aircraft" directory.
sound <dir> Directory with the sound definition file "sound.cfg" and the aircraft
Chances are you will find more directories and/or files, but the above are the most important ones.
specific sound files (*.wav). The general sound files are included in
4.1.1 Flight model the "sound" directory at the same level as the "aircraft" directory.
When your objective with building

texture <dir> a flight simulator cockpit
Directory fortextures
with the a specific aircraft
that are is on
mapped "asthe
real
3-d as it can
model in get"
than tuning the flight model (the aircraft.cfg file)the

will play an important role. Certainly when you have
"model" directory. If there are several versions of the aircraft
acquired specific documentation / manuals on aircraft operations, performance and construction. The
you will see multiple directories "texture.x", where "x" is a number
formal documentation on this subject can be found in the SDK directory "SimObject Container
or name.
System". Starting with FSX the SDK's including detailed documentation are included with the deluxe
edition.
aicraft.cfg <file> Definitions of the aircraft
The aircraft.cfg file can be edited by hand. Additionally there is the "<aircraft_name>.air" file, which can
not be formally
DC-3 edited. The<file>
experience.air content of the .air file is not communicated
Definitions of the aircraft by Microsoft because it seems to
contains sensitive / copy righted information obtained by them from the manufactures of the aircrafts
that are included with Microsoft Flight Simulator. The expectation is however that within the future
releases of Microsoft Flight Simulator the user will be more and more able to exactly configurate their
aircraft.
ForceWithin the Microsoft Flight Simulator
feedback community
Within the force (by
feedback means
section it isof reverse
possible engineering)
to fine software
tune the "touch" of
has been developed to edit the .air file. Places to start are AirEd , MudPond, "Bob's Flight Dynamic
your aircraft by defining the forces generated in the force feedback joystick.
Tutorial" downloadable from Simviation and Herve Sors. Of special interest is AvHistory, this group

shares the methods of creating flight models that fly within 1% of the performance of their real world
Flight tuning In this section one can control the sensitivity / behavior of the aircraft with
counterparts.
respect to flight control, stability, lift and drag. Examples of parameters are
elevator_effectiveness or roll_stability. The default values of all these

The aircraft.cfg file for Microsoft Flight Simulator allows you to specify a large number of characteristics
parameters is 1.0, you can influence them by an increase or decrease in
of the aircraft, many of them influencing the flight simulator cockpit experience. To get an impression
you will find a brief overview below. steps of 10%

In order (0.1).
to change the settings in FS without leaving FS you will
have to turn off AI traffic and reload the aircraft.
Weight and balance In this section the weight and center of gravity of the aircraft can be
adjusted or tuned. This also introduces the ability to really "load" your
aircraft before departure making it all more realistic. For this "loading"
functionality there are some applications around that make it easy to apply
a new loading configuration an example is ACLoader.
General engine data, Piston engine In the engine sections the characteristics and performance of the engine
Propeller, Turbine engine data, Jet (s) and propeller(s) can be defined.
engine, Turbine engine data,
Turboprop
Aircraft geometry In this section the geometrical data of the aircraft can be specified. This
will influence the handling and performance of the aircraft.
Reference speeds Parameters like the stall speed of the aircraft can be edited in this section.
Contact points This section is for the configuration of the way the aircraft reacts to
different kinds of contacts such as: landing gear contact, braking, steering.
It also defines the threshold at which damage from airspeed occurs.

Flaps In this section a detailed specification of the flaps can be given.
Electrical In this section the aircraft's electrical system is specified. This can be done
in great detail. Be aware of the fact that "the battery voltage decreases if
the generators or alternators are not supplying enough current to meet the
demand of the active components". For each component the current
required to power the component can be specified and influences the load
on the electrical system. Also the minimum voltage can be specified that is
needed for the component to function. The electric system is based on a
bus structure. One can specify to which bus a component is connected.
Pitot static Section to tune the lag of the vertical speed indicator for the aircraft.
Helicopter Helicopter specific settings.
Exits Section with specific data about the aircraft exits used by the visual model.
Views
4.1.2 Sound definitions For the flight simulator cockpit builder this is an important section. By
means of the parameter "eyepoint" the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical
Sound is an important element of simulation. Besides

position of the pilot's generating
eyepoint canan
be audio experience it is additionally
specified.
an important source for the vibrations that can be generated in a flight simulator cockpit (as described
in the section 6). Investing some time

Lights to fine
Section withtune the data
specific sound files
about theofaircraft
your aircraft pays
lights used off.visual
by the Manymodel.
sound
definitions provided with aircrafts do not make use of all the options. When applied in the right way (e.
g. matching the variations of surface types with "touchdown" or "ground roll") it can trigger the corners
Keyboard In this section the effect of key presses when manipulating the flight
of your imagination. It is not easy to record aircraft sounds yourself. However, you can (with the right
controls by means of the keyboard can be defined.
software) modify the Microsoft Flight Simulator sounds (e.g. make them heavier or lighter or introduce
additional sounds), take samples of other sounds (e.g. video or DVD) or use one of the many sites on
Internet that provide sound samples. (Be aware of the use of copy righted material when you intent to
Direction indicators In this section specifications for the direction indicators can be given.
distribute your sound files to others.)
TheFuel
basic principle for sound files is A
that a .wav
detailed file is interpolated
specification with respect
of the fuel system to volume,
can be given pitch or
in this section.
amplitude against an axis of speed (ground, wind) or RPM (engine). This interpolation can be specified
between 2 to 8 points, which is called

Autopilot In an
thisenvelope. This envelope
section a specifications makes
for the auto it possible
pilot can beto specify a detailed
given.
behavior of the sound against the axis (e.g. speed). Many aircraft sounds are composed of multiple
linked definitions (definition = combination of envelope specification and .wav file) which is called a
Radios In this section a specifications for the aircraft's radios can be given.
“sound list” and played in sequence as a group. For instance the ground sounds can be varied according
to 17 surface types (groups) or for each engine a sequence of definitions can be defined. When relevant
Smoke system Section with specific data about the special smoke effects used by the
sounds can be defined as heard inside or outside, left, front, right, backside of the aircraft. This detailed
visual model.
interpolation mechanism, the sequencing and the variation makes it possible to generate a large
diversity of spatial sound effects with high quality. The use of a program like FS Sound Studio (FSSS)
or Aviacoustic
Effects (Andrzej Suwald) makes this
Section even
with verydata
specific easy (fool
about theproof).
special visual effects that result from
various systems or reactions of the aircraft used by the visual model.

All together you can define very detailed (and large) sound files. As stated before, investing some time
pays off! Describing all the details goes beyond the scope of this text. To give an impression the sound
categories are: Starter, Combustion start, Combustion, Jet whine, Shutdown, Non combustion,
Propeller, Wind, Touchdown, Ground roll (including water & snow), Gear, Flaps, Various warning sounds,
Scrape, Crash / Splash. The formal documentation on this subject can be found in the SDK directory
"SimObject Container System". Starting with FSX the SDK's including detailed documentation are
included with the deluxe edition.
4.1.3 Panel definitions
Depending if you are building a (partial) "glass cockpit" (e.g. using CRT-based-gauges / gauges based
on a computer screen) or your are building a "classic" flight simulator cockpit with only analog gauges
(with dials/faces and pointers) you will need more or less the panel definition SDK to define your
1 Drawing elements Gauges are made of drawing elements (.bmp files). These elements
gauges. For instance on a multi monitor system some displays can be used to display the gauges in the
are used by the drawing instructions that create the "movement" on
cockpit panel, while others are used for the outside view from the cockpit.
your screen.
A panel consists out of 3 elements: the panel.cfg file (definitions of the various panel windows and the
2 Drawing instructions The drawing instructions generate the "movements" of the gauges as
location of gauges within these windows), *.bmp files that are used for the background of the panel
in an animated cartoon. The instructions are on the level of a gauge,
windows and the gauges themselves in either *.gau or *.xml files. You can make / change your own
e.g. the rotation of a needle on a gauge.
panel (i.e. changing the panel.cfg file) by using ready made gauges from Microsoft Flight Simulator,
downloaded freeware gauges, third party commercial gauges or gauges made by yourself. The use of a
3 Input handling As a user one can interact with gauges by means of keystrokes or
program like FS Panel Studio (FSPS) makes this even very easy (fool proof).
mouse actions. The gauge SDK supports an event handler for this.
The learning curve for the actual gauge development in "C" is (very) steep, doing it in XML -using for
On an abstract level the principle of a panel should be seen as a collection of small programs (gauges)
instance FS Panel Studio- is on average a better track to follow. The formal documentation on this
that
4 are processed in a loop. Since this processing
Computation is doneofvery
For the movement rapidly
a gauge the total
computation is movement of the
needed. For this one
subject can be found in the SDK directory "Panels and Gauges SDK". Starting with FSX the SDK"s
gauges on the screen gives the impression canof"read"
real atime instruments.
verydeluxe
large set For complex
of parameters withingauge environments
Microsoft Flight it
including detailed documentation are included with the edition.
is even possible to give priorities to the execution of gauges.
Simulator. To a smaller Note
set of that withinone
parameters thecan
Microsoft Flight
"write" results.
Simulator all elements on a panel (so also switches, lights, etc.) are called gauges. Until Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2002 the gauges (*.gau files) where equivalent to DLL files. Starting with Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2002 it is additionally possible to define gauges in XML format. Defining gauges in XML format
goes very well as long as you do not need access to resources (like a database) outside Microsoft Flight
Simulator or require very complex processing (not really the area for using XML). For the initial gauge
definitions (the DLL variant) the SDK supports the development in "C", but there are also examples of
gauges developed using Visual Basic. If programming in "C" is too much for you, perhaps EasyGauge
(Blue Sky Software) is an option to make the specific gauges you need.
A gauges definition (XML) or program (DLL) can be divided in 4 parts.




Interface software
What’s new ?
4.2 Interface software
The designation "interface software" is used here for the logical connection between the Microsoft Flight
Simulator and the flight simulator cockpit. Basically there are 2 groups of interfacing software:
1. Interfacing software that directly controls cockpit elements. The most obvious example is the
software that comes with ready made cockpit parts like a joystick or the pedals. But there are
also interface boards that are recognized as an a standard device (e.g. the 32 digital input
controller (SIMKITS) is recognized under Windows as a standard Game Controller without any
additional driver software).
2. Interfacing software that communicates Microsoft Flight Simulator data to a controller. It is the
task of the controller (a separate device) to drive the various cockpit devices. The controller
contains the actual programming logic for this (as described in section 5). Thus the interfacing
software focuses only on the communication of Microsoft Flight Simulator data to an other
computing device and vice versa.
Note that not all interfacing has to be done by means of software as described above. The input for
Device driver A device driver is typically used by suppliers of joysticks, pedals and
Microsoft Flight Simulator that can be done by means of a keyboard, can also be done by means of
yokes. See the Windows Driver Development Kit for details on this
keyboard emulation (discussed in section 5).
issue. There is no formal Microsoft Flight Simulator specific
documentation on device drivers.

The table below gives an overview of the approaches that can be followed to interface the Microsoft
Flight Simulator from a software technology point of view. A number of suppliers of interface devices
(discussed in section 5) offer easy to use software to control their interface boards and prevent that a
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Interface software
cockpit builder
Module has toFlight
in Microsoft writeSimulator
his own interfacing
This is asoftware.
separate developed DLL that when included in the Microsoft
Flight Simulator "module directory" automatically is recognized and
activated. There is little information about how to construct a module
for Microsoft Flight Simulator. The subject is discussed on some of the
larger forums, there you can also ask around for details. In the Dai
Griffiths gauges development tutorial (search for it on avsim.com) the
source code of the FSSound module by Daniel Steiner is included and
gives at least a hint on how to proceed for FS2000. With the facilities
provided by SimConnect in FSX this route does not seem logical any
more for most of the applications.
4.2.1 The Dowson route: FSUIPC

Separate program With respect to flight simulator cockpit development a separate
program on the Game PC that communicates with the Microsoft Flight

If there would be a Nobel Price for Flight Simulation, one of the holders would be Peter Dowson for his
Simulator seems to be the golden route at this moment. Up to and
very fundamental and significant contribution to interfacing with the Microsoft Flight Simulator and
including
opening up the market for serious add-on FS2004 most
development. Untilofthe
these programs used
introduction the additional
of FSX he offered module
the only
serious programming interface for the Microsoft Flight Simulator,

FSUIPC developed facilitating
by Peter Dowson a large
to gain add-on
access community
to Microsoft
including cockpit builders. His interfacingFlight

software FSUIPC
Simulator. (Peter
However withDowson) is a module
FSX Microsoft that
introduced has to be
a formally
included with the Microsoft Flight Simulator and facilitates

supported the exchange
interface module of data with
called SimConnect. Boththe
areMicrosoft
described Flight
in
Simulator for programs written by third the
parties. Based on
next sections. FSUIPC
There utilities,
are some otherprograms
parties thatand gauges
developed
interfacing with the Microsoft Flight Simulator are
interface developed
software by Dowson
for FS2004 and
or earlier many others.
versions, but givenSome
the of this
software supports flight simulator cockpit development and will be addressed in other parts of this text.
availability of SimConnect since FSX these are not considered any
In this section we will focus on the use of the FSUIPC module for interfacing purposes, but it should be
more in this text.
said that FSUIPC contains a substantial set of additional features.
FSUIPC_Open Open the interface to FSUIPC from calling program.
The FSUIPC module comes with a SDK that allows developers to interact with this module. It is possible
to address FSUIPC from within a self developed module to be included with the Microsoft Flight
FSUIPC_Close Close the interface to FSUIPC from calling program.
Simulator, but it is also possible to address FSUIPC from within a separate program. This software can
be more or less written in the programming language of your choice. Included are instructions for C/C+

Interface software
+, Delphi, Visual Basic, ASM and

FSUIPC_Read Borland
Write value toC++. TheFlight
Microsoft actual interfacing
Simulator. Thisby this program
is done referring toisanmade
offsetvery
that
simple and limited to 5 instructions as shown
again refers in the table
to a variable below.
in Microsoft Flight Simulator (this is a heritage from the
Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 era).
FSUIPC_Read( <offset>,<size of data>,<pointer to result>,<error flag> )
FSUIPC_Write Read value from Microsoft Flight Simulator. This is done referring to an offset that
again refers to a variable in Microsoft Flight Simulator (this is a heritage from the
Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 era).

Included in the documentation is a long list of offsets (30+ pages) which provides access to almost all
FSUIPC_Write( <offset>,<size of data>,<pointer to input>,<error flag> )
relevant variables within Microsoft Flight Simulator. Example:
Offset
FSUIPC_Process Size
This is the Use All the requests
call which actually operates the interface.
accumulated using the Read and Write calls are processed. So an ongoing
0020 4
communication with Microsoft Flight SimulatorGround altitude
consists out ofin
a Meters x 256.
repetition of Read/
Write and Process. (see also offset 0B4C)
0024 varies Zero terminated string giving the
Start-Up situation or flight name,
including the path from the FS folder

For running applications using FSUIPC on a separate PC in a network (IPX/SPX or TCP/IP) WideFS
(usually PILOTS\
(Peter Dowson) was developed. WideFS comes with 2 programs: WideServer …)
and WideClient. The
concept of WideFS is that the Microsoft Flight Simulator runs on the server machine also containing
WideServer.
etc. The program WideClient, together with the utility program
etc. etc.runs on an other machine in the
network (for programs that place their windows within the Microsoft Flight Simulator window the
windows are placed in the WideClient window). In principle one should not notice any effect on frame
rates at all. Each server can serve many clients, but each client only talks to one server. WideFS can be
used by any utility that uses FSUIPC, it requires the setup of a network, but does not require any
programming activities.
For users of the Microsoft Flight Simulator add-on Level-D 767 there is specific software called FSCONV
Interface software
by Nico Kaan that provides new FSUIPC offsets for the Level-D add-on by bridging FSUIPC and the Level-
D SDK.
4.2.2 The Microsoft route: SimConnect
In order for third party software to access data and events internal to Flight Simulator X SimConnect is
developed. This has been a very significant step in making the Microsoft Flight Simulator a truly open
platform. Add-on components for FSX can be written in C, C++, or if the managed API calls are being
used, any Microsoft .NET language such as C#.net or VB.net. Typically the components will perform one
or more of the following:
● Add the processing for a new complex gauge, or other instrument, to Flight Simulator.
● Replace Flight Simulator processing of one or more events with new logic.
● Record or monitor a flight.
● Extend the mission system of Flight Simulator.
● Create and set the flight plans for AI (non-user) aircraft.
● Set different weather systems.
● Enable hardware to work with Flight Simulator.
● Control an additional camera that the user can optionally select to view.
SimConnect is based on a client-server architecture and sees the Flight Simulator as a server. The data,
events, and system calls available via the SimConnect interface support the vast majority of data and
events that exist inside FSX.
SimConnect uses asynchronous communication because it is more safe for use in multi-processor or
multi threaded applications, it uses processing cycles more efficiently and provides greater server
application stability. A publish/subscribe method is used where the client will request a data packet or
send an event, and the server will process that request at a time commensurate with the priority level
of the request. The process is, however, considered asynchronous since it is never handed over to the
client application.

Interface software
The recommended method of writing an add-on is to build it out-of-process, as an application (an .exe
file) rather than in-process, as a library (a .dll file). This is because out-of-process applications provide
more stability, if they crash they will typically will not crash FSX, and are easier to build, test and debug.
Out-of-process also supports managed code, and therefore applications can be written in .NET
languages. The .EXE can be executed (with the same code) on both the same PC as Flight Simulator X
or on a different PC using a TCP/IP connection. The TCP/IP communication is handled completely by
SimConnect.
The SimConnect SDK including detailed documentation and example code is included with the deluxe
edition of FSX. Examples of other sources of information regarding the use of SimConnect are:
FSdeveloper, In the pipe and AVSIM SimConnect forum.
When you need to write your own software to interface with FSX then SimConnect is the preferred route
to go. It is supported by Microsoft and in the coming period you will see an increase in publications and
example source files spread over internet.

Interface software

Interface software

Interface software

Interface software

Mouse simulation
What’s new ?
4.3 Mouse simulation
Some (third party) panel elements used within the Microsoft Flight Simulator (like GPS or moving map)
can only be manipulated by means of a mouse. In that case a special utility is needed to convert (user-
defined) key strokes into mouse actions. Key2Mouse (Luciano's page) is a utility that converts (user-
defined) key strokes into mouse actions. By means of keyboard emulation these key strokes can be
assigned to a switch, making it possible to control instruments / gauges that accept mouse clicks only.
The use of Key2Mouse is straightforward. The utility allows you to indicate hotspots on your screen and
assign keys to them. The results are stored in a (editable) definition file that is read by the utility. There
is also a networked variant called Key2LAN (Luciano's page). Similar to Key2Mouse it translates
keystrokes into mouse actions and sends them to a remote networked PC. It acts throughout the Local
Area Network via IPX or TCP / IP and can be used at the same time with Wideview. It enables you to
use add-ons on remote PCs and control them from the computer where you are actually flying.
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Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Mouse simulation

Cockpit interface
What’s new ?
5. Cockpit interface
In this section in sequential order the various interface devices will be discussed. The objective is not to
reproduce all the information / knowledge available, but to create an overview of the options available
and point you the way by means of included links.
http://www.fscockpit.com/cockpitinterface.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:24 PM]

Cockpit interface
Game PC Interface device
There is a direct link between the The various cockpit devices are
various cockpit devices and the connected to a separate computing
Game PC. In general by means of a device, apart from the Game PC. On
serial interface, parallel interface or this device one or more applications
the game card. All processing of are running for the necessary
signals/controls is done by one or processing. On the Game PC reading
more applications on the Game PC. data from and writing data to the
Microsoft Flight Simulator takes place.
Cockpit input - The use of standard drivers supplied - Specific low level computation/
In the architecture of a flight simulator cockpit there is from both an input and output perspective a
(reading from Microsoft Flight by manufacturers of add-ons. hardware (ICs) to drive the devices.
choice to be made between controlling the cockpit from the Game PC directly or from a separate
Simulator / (cockpit
controller driving cockpit
interface). - Lowcases
devices)In most computational complexity,
one is likely - A large
not with
to end-up number of different
a combination IO
of approaches.
influencing
There is however a fundamental choice on what interface solution tochannels
performance. is needed.
use as the backbone of your flight
simulator cockpit architecture. After that number

- Small many combinations can arise
of cockpit devices. based oncomputation
- Necessary ambition, may
specific
put too
requirements, opportunity, budget, etc. A separate computing devicemuch

(alsoa called
claim on"controller" in this
the performance of
text) can have various forms. It can be a special board to be included

theinGame
/ used with the game PC, it can
PC.
be a micro controller programmed to perform certain tasks or it can be a "normal" PC. All variants will
Cockpit interface
be discussed in the remainder of this section. The table below gives an indication of the issues that play
Cockpit output - As above ... - As above ...
an role.
(writing to Microsoft Flight Simulator) - Use of the ports of the game card (e. - Keyboard emulation.
g.. the use of additional axis for
throttle, etc.).

Cockpit interface

Cockpit interface

Cockpit interface

Cockpit interface

Cockpit interface

Cockpit interface

Keyboard emulator
What’s new ?
5.1 Keyboard emulator
Almost all commands for operating an aircraft within the Microsoft Flight Simulator can be given by
means of the keyboard. As an user you can assign keys to specific functions and configure the keyboard
as you like. This is an interesting starting point for the handling of switches for a flight simulator cockpit.
There are devices that based on setting a switch simulate keyboard input, they are called keyboard
emulators. They can be bought off the shelf or be home made. In the remainder of this section
examples will be given.
5.1.1 Special issues
Various types of switches can be used. In section 6 a more detailed explanation about the various types
of switches is given. At this stage it sufficient to acknowledge that in general rotary encoders require
special handling.
When using a keyboard emulator there are some special areas of attention:
● Most keyboard emulators can be used in addition to the default keyboard connected to the
Game PC. Either by using some sort of keyboard splitter for PS/2 keyboards, or by using USB
based keyboards which often allow the use of more than one keyboard.
● A normal switch (on/off) generates a continues current when switched to "on". Not all
keyboard emulators are able to cope with this. They will think that the key stays "pressed".
This will generate errors and/or result in strange behavior. When using such a keyboard
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Keyboard emulator
emulator this can be overcome by using only switches that make contact when pressed. But if
one wants to use real switches (e.g. toggle switches) for a greater sense of realism special
attention has to be given to the way the keyboard emulator handles this issue.
● A similar point is the handling of multiple key strokes, i.e. 1 command is translated into a
sequence of key strokes. The issue here is that a switch typically gives only one signal (on/off)
while more keystrokes are needed. If one wants to assign switches to commands that are
issued by multiple key strokes, special attention has to be given to the way the keyboard
emulator handles this issue. Although a bit technical at this point: some keyboard encoders
work with a matrix input. This approach may lead to "keyboard ghosting" an effect that
appears when pushing several keys at once and that produces a "ghost key" that wasn't in fact
pressed. There are workarounds for this problem, search for "keyboard ghosting" at Google for
more information.
5.1.2 Off the shelf standard keyboard encoders
A very popular solution is the KE72 Encoder Module (Hagstrom Electronics), it features 72 individual
inputs. Each input may be programmed to output a single keystroke, or a sequence (macro) of
keystrokes. For macros, each input may generate up to 32 keystrokes when activated, and up to 16
keystrokes when the input is released. The KE72 is able to emulate any keystroke found on a normal
101 or 104 key keyboard. One can use any type of switch that produces a contact closure. The KE72
can accept inputs from push button switches or toggle switches. The inputs may be programmed to
send a response when the input is activated, when it is de-activated, or both. In addition to "dry"
contact closures, connection to 5V CMOS or TTL circuits is also possible. The KE72 considers a low level
as an active input. The KE72 can also be addressed by means of the serial (RS-232) port. An other very
interesting device Hagstrom Electronics is offering is the KEAD6 to interface potentiometers. The board
has six input channels. Key strokes are produced when the potentiometer's signal is increasing or
decreasing. It is also possible to divide an input channel into a number of programmable divisions
ranging from 2 sections up to 32 sections. Each of these sections can be assigned a keystroke which is
generated when the potentiometer's signal reaches that section. For the handling of mechanical and/or
optical rotary encoders Hagstrom Electronics is offering the Rotary-5 module. It converts signals from
mechanical and/or optical rotary encoders to logic level output pulses. These output pulses are suitable
for driving keyboard encoder inputs such as those found on the KE72 Keyboard Encoder. (See for
Keyboard emulator
possible alternatives for potentiometers and rotary encoders the paragraph on rotary pulse switches in
section 6.)
An other example of the broad range of keyboard emulation products is VIP (Vetra systems). Besides
the more standard keyboard emulation, they offer for instance the VIP-335 Protocol Converter that
allows RS-232 data to be fed directly into a PC’s keyboard port. Also a standard keyboard can be
connected and its output will be merged with the RS-232 data stream.
X-keys Keyboard Matrix Control Board (PI Engineering) is available in both a PS/2 and USB variant
that supports 128 keys. Each key can be allocated to 3 characters and a (shared) pool of over 500
additional keystrokes is available.
Also in the world of arcade games keyboard encoders are popular, an example is the I-PAC from
Ultimarc.
5.1.3 Self made keyboard encoders
When searching on the Internet you will find examples of people who built there own keyboard
encoders. Some based on the use of a micro controller, others based on modifying an existing keyboard.
Robert Prather (777Project) shows an interesting tutorial on modifying existing keyboards in the
perspective of building a flight simulator cockpit. A detailed description is given on how to modify an
existing keyboard including all the details one has to consider.
An other area that shows detailed interest in this subject is the area of arcade game builders. The site
ArcadeControls is a very useful source of information and a starting point for an interesting quest.

Keyboard emulator

Keyboard emulator

Keyboard emulator

Keyboard emulator

Keyboard emulator

Keyboard emulator

Special interface solutions
What’s new ?
5.2 Special interface solutions
There is by now a range of dedicated options available with respect to physically interface a flight
simulator cockpit based on the Microsoft Flight Simulator. In this section an overview is given.
EPIC
R&R Electronics developed EPIC (Extended Programmable Input/output Controller) (R&R Electronics),
but actively marketed by Flight Link and Micro Cockpit. The board uses rather low level technology
compared to other more modern options currently available. It was there first and knows a relative large
group of dedicated and enthusiastic (first hour) users.
There are 2 versions of the EPIC board, the ISA version (not longer sold) and the newer USB version.
There is 1 main EPIC board that supports a "data bus". To this bus multiple modules can be connected
that serve various purposes: connecting switches, control digital displays, connect rotary encoders,
interface to analogue signals, etc. This architecture allows the construction of both relative simple and
very complex flight simulator cockpits. The EPIC board comes with a programming environment for
controlling all the devices and generating input for the PC. Making use of Microsoft Flight Simulator data
within the EPIC board requires more effort, using a technique called "Pigeon Holes". For interfacing with
Microsoft Flight Simulator several software utilities have been developed. Probably the best known is
EpicInfo (Peter Dowson). Based on FSUIPC this utility gives the EPIC board the power to closely
integrate with Microsoft Flight Simulator.
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The EPIC board has a learning curve, but after that the options are almost only limited by your
imagination. Background information on the use of EPIC can be found at the Blue Side Up site, but there
are also several sites of flight simulator cockpit builders that give specific information on this issue, such
as JAM's Flight Sim World. On AVSIM there is a forum related to the use of EPIC.
FSBUS
A very important initiative introduced by Dirk Anderseck is FSBUS (FSBus). By now FBUS is adopted by
a large number of flight simulator cockpit builders. FBUS is a kit-based approach. Using a micro
controller and some special purpose ICs one can built an interface device for the Microsoft Flight
Simulator. With the help of detailed documentation you have to do it yourself or can buy kits. Software
and the wiring layouts of the various components you need can be downloaded for free! Additionally you
will have to buy the parts and construct the components. Examples can be found in the English section
on Finnish FSBUS Fanatics.
InterfaceIT
InterfaceIT (Flightdeck Solutions) has the objective to enable flight deck builders to quickly integrate
their switches and display/LED's to Microsoft Flight Simulator (and other flight simulators). InterfaceIT is
a USB based system starting with a main controller between the Flightdeck Solutions software and the
inputs/outputs in the flight simulator cockpit. The main controller comes with 70 configurable inputs.
Additionally there are add-ons like: Connection Panel to enable easy connection of switches, The Rotary
Decoder board to enable conversion of rotary encoders output, The Display Driver board to enable
output to 64 7-Segment displays, 512 individual LED's or any combination.
IOCards
A group of Spanish cockpit builders founded Open Cockpits offering IOCards. This is a large and active
community of cockpit builders, introducing new devices and software on a regular basis. All the circuit
diagrams (printed circuits included) can be downloaded from this site in order to build the hardware
your self. It is also possible to order kits or a ready made / tested cards. The related software (including
development DLLs) can downloaded for free.

The IOCard system follows a structure with a master card that interfaces with the computer by means of
a parallel or USB port. Additionally, this card has 72 digital inputs and 64 digital outputs. The master
card can connect several cards with a specific purpose, such as: controlling LED displays, controlling
relays, A/D converter, encoder circuit, servo motor circuit, stepper motor circuit. In total 4 master cards
can be connected to 1 computer. The system can also be used in a network setting.
For driving the IOCards in a more advanced setting the software package IOCPServer can be used. It
combines the functionality of FSUIPC and WideFS. Also a SDK is available for direct control of the cards.
MJoy
The MJoy16-C1 (Mindaugas) is a multifunction plug-and-play USB joystick controller. It is installed by
Windows automatically and can be used right away. Supported are 8 analogue axes inputs, 64
pushbuttons, 16 toggle switches, 4 rotary switches and 1 8-way hat switch. A Key Matrix board is
available to simplify the wiring. A point of attention is that currently many Windows applications have a
limitation of 32 buttons per joystick device (including Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004). However, a
software based work-around is offered called MJoy Mapper.
MPC737
CPFlight is offering the MCP737. The MCP737 is actually a Boeing 737 MCP interfacing with the
Microsoft Flight Simulator. However additionally the MCP737 forms the center of an easily expandable
system with capability to drive digital and analog I/O. The MCP73 can be daisy-chained with additional
interface boards. Software is provided to easily install / configurate the interface boards. MCP737 is
connected to the PC through the serial port (RS232). The DIN 5pole socket allows for daisy-chaining up
to 255 modules. No technical background knowledge is required. The modules can be full blown
components as EFIS selector, Radio, Transponder, Navigation, but also an expansion board (64 digital
inputs, 10 digital outputs, 6 analog inputs, 2 analog outputs). Besides digital and analog I/O
assignment, the supporting software allows for testing connected devices and calibration of
potentiometers.

PHCC
An open source hardware and software initiative under the GNU Public License (GPL) is PHCC. DIY low
price modular interface system consisting of a motherboard and a series of daughter boards for switch
controllers, display controllers, stepper controllers, digital out, servos. The board uses a RS-232
interface, a USB daughter board available. By means of a I2C protocol devices can be connected that
are not supported / supplied by the PHCC system. Characteristics: up to 1024 switches/push buttons,
35 channels analog in, unlimited 8bit digital for 7 segment displays, stepper control via H-bridge drivers,
character LCD Displays, Relays/solenoids, lamps/Korry switches and indicators, servos, analog out.
Board assembly tutorials are provided. There is also a forum.
Phidgets
"Physical widgets or Phidgets are to physical user interfaces what widgets are to graphical user
interfaces. Similar to Widgets, Phidgets abstract and package input and output devices: they hide
implementation and construction details ...". Phidgets (Phidgets) offers a range of interface cards and
forms a radical new approach. All cards are based on USB communication with the PC. Multiple cards in
any combination can be connected. The claim is that everyday programmers using Phidgets can rapidly
develop physical interfaces. No knowledge of hardware, microprocessors, USB and communication
protocols is needed. Detailed examples in Visual Basic are provided (also examples for C, Java and
Delphi are available). Examples of interface cards are: control of one or more servo motors, a wide
variety of LED products (numeric displays, alphanumeric modules, discrete LEDs), LCD screens, control
of a DC power supply, digital input, analog input, digital output and a series of sensors.
Phidgets provides a very modular interface structure for cockpit development. Examples can be found
on the sites: Chris Brace, F15C Eagle. There special interface software called FS2Phidget (freeware)
developed by Alan Dyer. Using FS2Phidget one does not need to know how to program nor in detail
understand the interfaces. After installing FS2Phidget and setting up the Phidgets to the computer one
only needs to configure how the cockpit instruments (Phidgets) interface with MSFS.
Remote Mount Kit

In addition to the standard flight simulator cockpit components GoFlight is offering an interface board
called Remote Mount Kit. The interesting point is that no specific software development is needed. The
RMK's are connected to the Microsoft Flight Simulator by the same configuration software as is used for
the normal GoFlight cockpit components. To facilitate the development of panels GoFlight offers in
addition a selection of switches, potentiometers, LEDs and displays that are compatible with the RMK
modules, but you can use also your own parts.
SIM-board
Flightdeck Technology is a UK-based company producing SIM-board. This is a range of specialized
input/output control hardware modules. There is support for: switches, pushbuttons and other input
switch devices, rotary and linear potentiometer devices, rotary encoder devices, control of LEDs, lamps,
and other basic output devices, a 256 LED module and 7-segment display. The control software is
supplied free and allows an easy assignment of actions to the board via a point-and-click user interface
(support for both Microsoft Flight Simulator and add-ons like Project Magenta). Advanced users can
create more complicated assignments using the Visual Basic-style SIM-board Scripting Language. The
claim is that no expertise or knowledge of electronics or computer programming is required to use the
SIM-board range.
SimKits
On the site of SimKits a trail-blazing concept is offered. They sell ready kits for a large set of mechanical
gauges, but you can also chose to buy only specific parts and construct your own gauges. In order to
drive the instruments they provide or the instruments you make yourself they provide a series of
interface boards CCU, Multi Controller, 32-Digital Input USB controller and 6-Analog Input USB
controller. The 2 USB controllers are recognized as standard input devices and can be used within the
Microsoft Flight Simulator without any special software. For the CCU and Multi Controller SimKits offers
supporting software which interfaces the boards with the Microsoft Flight Simulator. For custom made
gauges and for those who want to control the instruments directly a SDK is provided to enable to drive
the SimKits instruments from your own software. Basically, with the use of the SDK, there is no limit to
use the SimKits instruments from any type of software written by yourself.

Sim-Modules
Sim-Modules is a very interesting initiative of 2 students Christopher Hauser & Rene Muller. It is a
modular, all plug-and-play system to simulate all kind of avionics for home flight simulation. It is based
on latest micro-controller technology (AVR-8Bit RISC-family by ATMEL). The system consists of one
master module, which is connected to the PC via the serial port (RS232) and the different avionic
modules (slaves). The master-module is the link between the software running on the PC and the
avionic-modules. The avionic modules are connected to the master module using a data bus so they can
be daisy-chained.
TCP-USB-S1
The TCP-USB-S1 (ITRA) is a programmable USB-Controller that works with a keyboard manager in
Windows2000/XP systems as keyboard controller with up to 256 keys in a matrix of 16 rows and 16
columns. For every key are 255 virtual key codes programmable, a pause between key codes is possible
and also a repeat rate. Additionally there are boards for the connection of switches (TCP-USB-EW2),
the connection of rotary encoders (TCP-USB-DREH4) and the connection of keys (TCP- USB-V2). All
together one can define a whole architecture of boards to facilitate the handling of switches in the flight
simulator cockpit.
Velleman K8000
On the site from Johan Nauwelaertz the development of a flight simulator cockpit is documented using
the K8000 interface card (Velleman). You can download FSUIPC based interfacing software for the
Microsoft Flight Simulator. The card is connected to the PC via the printer port (allowing the use of
printer on the same port). The connection to the computer is optically isolated. The card comes with
standard support for interfacing using Turbo Pascal, Qbasic, Visual Basic or C++. The K8000 has 16
optically isolated digital connections (I/O), 9 analogue outputs and 4 analogue inputs. Up to 4 cards can
be connected together (1 master and 3 slaves). The K8000 comes as a kit.
Other options
There are other more "game oriented" options available, but most do not go beyond an advanced "game

card". An interesting site to start is Arcade Controls. Although an increasing number of ready made
flight simulator cockpit devices come these days with a USB interface, the "traditional" game port may
prove useful for those who want to built there own throttle quadrant. On the standard game port there
are four analog pins that can be connected to a potentiometer. In general a PC has a standard game
port and/or has a game port included in the sound card (where this port is also used to connect musical
instruments such as keyboards, electric guitars, etc.). A PC can support multiple game ports.



PC and interface cards
What’s new ?
5.3 PC and interface cards
When using a PC as a central unit for controlling a flight simulator cockpit the main advantages are the
use of well- established (familiar) programming environments and computing power. The weak point is
the limited standard availability of (digital) I/O. In general it is not enough to control all the various
cockpit elements, so additional (special) interfacing boards and/or devices have to be used.
5.3.1 Normal versus industrial PC's
When considering a PC as the central control unit for the flight simulator cockpit, there is the option of
using an industrial PC configuration. In general industrial PC's are at the high end of the market, so
relatively expensive. The "pro" is that some brands of industrial PC's offer easy access to low level I/O.
In general industrial PC's are mounted in a rack, allowing the storage of multiple PC's and/or expansion
boards.
5.3.2 Digital interface cards for PC's
Digital PC interface cards can be used to drive lights, switches, gauges, displays, keyboards, etc. Some
examples are:
● PCDA (Innovation West) this unit plugs into an 8 bit ISA bus and can be used with older PC's.
● USB- 120A (MicroDAQ) a range of USB connected interface units including the (USB Data
http://www.fscockpit.com/pcandinterfacecards.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:34 PM]
Acquisition - 120 Channel Digital I/O Unit).

● Sealevel (Sealevel Systems) a range of digital interface boards using ISA, PCI or USB.
● K8000, K8061, K8055 (Velleman) interface cards.
● IO-Warrior (Code Mercenaries) is a USB based interface card that has 32 generic I/O pins
that can be used for either input or output. Getting control of it from your software can be
done by means of a library using for instance Visual Basic. For more sophisticated I/O the IO-
Warrior supports offers "special mode functions". It then takes direct control of a couple I/O
pins needed to perform the specific function. In the current version support is available for IIC
devices and LCD modules.
A search on Internet will give you much more information, the site of BBD SOFT is a nice starting point.
5.3.3 Analog interface cards for PC's
As described in section 6, one option to construct a gauge is to convert a potmeter to a gauge. In order
to drive potmeters one needs analog output, which is less common (certainly in variants with more than
5 channels) than analog input. Much more information can be found Internet, the site of BBD SOFT is a
nice starting point.
5.3.4 Other interface cards for PC's
Besides digital or analog I/O there is an increasing availability of RS232 / USB driven interface cards for
LCD displays, servo motors and stepper motors. Examples of these cards will be discussed in section 6.








Micro controllers
What’s new ?
5.4 Micro controllers
A micro controllers can -when compared to a PC- best be seen as a small scale PC where almost all
components reside on one chip. They are used inside (embedded in) all kinds of devices (e.g. Cell
phones, instruments, cars, machines). Compared to a PC most micro controllers allow easy low level I/
O, providing a flexible way to drive electro motors, other chips, etc. In general micro controllers are
cheap, but also from other perspectives they can contribute to lower design costs: size, power
consumption, weight, easy low level I/O, etc. In the setting of building a flight simulator cockpit the use
of micro controllers can be seen as distributed computing, making it less complex to control a large
amount of devices. The software for a micro controller is in general stored on an EPROM. Some micro
controllers allow the use of separate additional chips for RAM and EPROM. Most micro controllers can be
controlled from a PC by means of a parallel or serial type interface. In general the use of the micro
controller itself is not over complicated, but is does require the acquisition of specific knowledge. In the
remainder of this section some examples will be given.
5.4.1 OOPIC
A very advanced micro controller is the OOPic board (OOPic). Although having all the characteristics of
a micro controller, it can more or less be handled as a PC, giving it a relative low entry level. In
comparison to other micro controllers and apart from an interface cable no additional equipment (e.g.
programming hardware, EPROM eraser) is needed to operate the board. The standard OOPIC
programming language (object oriented) is Basic. The OOPIC basic is 100% compatible with Microsoft's
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Micro controllers
Visual Basic (there is also support for C++ and Java). As a result of the object oriented approach,
programming an OOPIC is straight forward and transparent. Especially interesting is the option to
develop event driven routines triggered by the I/O interfaces of the board. Depending on the type of
OOPIC board there are 16 or more Digital I/O lines and 4 Analog- to-digital converters. Additionally the
OOPIC board
BASIC comes with a range
Stamp of integrated
(Parallax) hardware
In addition various circuits
add-ons that relieve
are available the userinterfacing.
for additional from having to
build complicated interface circuitry. In most cases simply connecting the hardware directly to the OOPic
is all that needs to be done.(NetMedia)

BasicX Available In
hardware circuitsadd-ons
addition various are: digital I/O lines,
are available analog-to-digital
for additional converts,
interfacing.
Pulse width modulators, timer/counters, EEPROM, serial port, keypad, servo controllers, etc. Starting
with the OOPIC-R board a standard serial interface and a serial control protocol is included that allows a
MakingThings (MakingThings) In addition various add-ons are available for additional interfacing.
remote PC or any other device with a serial port to interact with, control and debug an OOPic application
while it is running. Up to 127 OOPIC boards can be connected together via an build-in I2C network.
PIC (Microchip) This micro controller comes in many variants with many options, see the
Communicating over this network comes down to referring to a variable on an other (named) OOPic on
tutorials on this site for a start. An interesting starting point for more information can be
the I2C network. The I2C network connection can also be used to drive additional devices that have a
found on www.dontronics.com.
I2C interface such as for instance a LCD display.
The ease of use and the limited need for specialized knowledge makes the OOPIC board very attractive.
On Tiger (Wilke Technology)

the OOPic site detailed background Consists
information is of a family of
provided, micro controllers.
including Additionally
a large amount of various
sampleadd-
code,
links for
5.4.3 discussion
Other groups
sources ons suppliers.
and are available for additional interfacing.
of information
5.4.2
WithinOther micro
the area controllers
of (home) robotics there is a high interest in using micro controllers. A search on
Internet will give many insights. For example the site GoRobotics is a nice starting point. At the end of
In theMicrosoft
2006 table below various
Robotics otherwas
Studio brands of micro
launched. controllers
This is a wholeare listed.
new All have
platform a large
for low levelnumber
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might becomelow cost.
of interest for cockpit builders because of the resulting development
of drivers for hardware. Additionally you will find a lot of information with this predefined search at
Google, you can narrow it down by adding "cockpit", "simulation", "gauge", etc.

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Micro controllers

Data communication
What’s new ?
5.5 Data communication
There are many ways to interface between the "Game PC" and "Cockpit interface". There are 2
dominant interface techniques: "direct USB interface" and "network with TCP/IP". Background
information on these interfaces, but also on the use of the "clasic" serial interface (RS 232) and parallel
interface can be found at www.beyondlogic.org or www.lvr.com.
Some micro controllers come with a standard serial interface, if not, then it is useful to take a look at
embedded interface solutions like Maxim (Maxim) for RS 232. The USB-to-serial (Pololu) adapter is a
good example for connecting a micro controller to a personal computer based on USB. In some cases
the use of the I2C protocol is needed, then boards like the USBI2Cio (DeVaSys) may be usefull.
http://www.fscockpit.com/datacommunication.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:39 PM]

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Data communication

Cockpit elements
What’s new ?
6. Cockpit elements
The word "cockpit" is at this place a very broad designation. As is shown in the section 1 this may vary from the
use of a real aircraft cockpit to a desktop arrangement. In this section in sequential order the elements of a flight
simulator cockpit will be discussed. The objective is not to reproduce all the information / knowledge available,
but to create an overview of the options available and point you the way by means of included links. Combining
the whole set of elements probably makes up for the ultimate flight simulator cockpit experience. However, every
combination is possible, as long as you enjoy the flying!
http://www.fscockpit.com/cockpitelements.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:44 PM]

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Cockpit elements

Switches
What’s new ?
6.1 Switches
Within a cockpit there are many switches to make a selection varying from "on" and "off" for a landing
light to the selection of the use of 1 of 4 available fuel tanks. In this section a basic overview of the
most common categories of switches is given. Take a look at the online switch catalogue of for instance
Apem to get an overview (and pictures) of various available types of switches. See Cole Switches for an
extensive glossary about switches.
6.1.1 Switches for making a selection

left position middle right position
positionswitches, Push button switches

Toggle switches, Rocker
These
on switches are typically
- used to off
switch a device (e.g. light)
This is the"on" orscheme
basic "off". The toggle
for many switches
switches. have a
In left
more classic style, the rocker and push button switches are more modern. When selecting these
position switch is on, in right position switch is off.
switches it is -with respect to the toggle and rocker type switches- important to be aware of the fact
that there are many different variations. In the table below, the basic principle is explained.
on - on Also common variant.
on off on Also common variant.
http://www.fscockpit.com/switches.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:47 PM]

Switches
(on) - off The indication "(on)" means "momentary" often also

For the rocker and push button type of switches there are also switches
indicated as "mom".with
Whenbuild in lights.
pressing the switch to the
left side contact is made, but when released, the switch

There is a variation in the way switches can be mounted. In general you will need switches that you can
goes back into "off" position.
mount on (in) the surface of a panel (and not directly on a print).
(on) off (on) Also common variant.

There are many (local) suppliers of switches, search with Google etc. An interesting special type of
switch is offered by NKK Switches and ScreenKeys. On the site of Jeroen op den Akker an instruction
can on
be found on howoffto make Korry (on) Also common
switches yourself (browse variant. list in section 2 for more
the builders
examples).
In case it is relevant you will find within the above schemes the use of different number of pins, often 3 or 6. This
Rotary
table switches
lists some examples, other combinations are possible too, however some times you really have to search to
By turning
get them.the knob on a rotary switch you can select 2 or more positions. Each position has its own
contact pins and represents a specific selection. There are 2 groups of rotary switches:
● Shorting: also known as "make before break", when moving from position A to position B the
switch will "short" A and B. The current is not interrupted.
● Non-shorting: also known as" break before make", when moving from position A to position B
the current is interrupted.
On some panels the rotary selector switches have a specific number of degrees per step. For Boeing this
is often 30 degrees, for Airbus it is often 45 degrees. In general switches are supplied with a fixed
number of positions, but some suppliers offer a user selectable number of positions (e.g. Grayhill).
A special version of the rotary switch is the thumb wheel switch to make for instance a more clasic
looking radio stack. Examples are: GTF31 (DD Comercio), Pushwheel Selector Switches (Cherry)
and Thumb Wheel Series (EECO).
It is worth the effort to search for specific switches. For example a rotary ignition switch can be found
on AircraftSpruce.

Switches
6.1.2 Switches to create pulses
Within an average cockpit there is a considerable amount of rotary type knobs (rotary switches) to tune
instruments, radio equipment and navigation equipment. In a flight simulator cockpit this type of tuning
is often processed by generating pulses that in turn drive for example a keyboard emulator. There are
basically three types of rotary switches that generate pulses.
Rotary pulse switches
The basic principle of these switches is that they have 4 pins (A,B,C,D). If you turn clockwise a pulse
(contact) is made on the pins "A" and "B", if you turn the other way around (counter clockwise) a pulse
(contact) is made on pins "C" and "D". For many applications related to digital control these switches
are very useful / practical and not expensive. Rotary pulse switches are a bit harder to find, examples
are: MRP (Knitter), R1010E (Hung Ta), SRBM (ALPS) and BTSR10H (Belton).
Incremental rotary encoders
These are more complicated rotary switches. On 2 pins 2 streams of pulses (block waves) are generated
which have a difference of in general 0.25 cycle. On clockwise rotation pin "A" leads pin "B" on anti
clockwise rotation it is the other way around. The downside compared to a rotary pulse switch is that
they are much more expensive to use. Additional logic is needed to translate the 2 pulse streams into a
single pulse for a clockwise "click" and a single pulse for an anti clockwise "click". Examples that offer
full solutions: Rotary 5 (Hagstrom Electronics), ENC351 and ENC302 (CSI) and 8X Rotary converter
(Blue side up).
There are cockpit builders with home build solutions, browse the builders list in section 2 for examples.
Absolute rotary encoders
With an absolute rotary encoder instead of a "pulse" the absolute position is given. Based on the
number of steps 4, 6, 8 or more pins each representing a "bit" make out a digital "word". Based on this
the exact position is known and a clockwise or anti clockwise rotation can be recognized. For
Switches
applications as tuning a radio, this functionality is an overkill. But for modeling full turning knobs with
positioning indicators these type of switches may be very useful.

Switches

Switches

Switches

Switches

Switches

Panel mounted indicators
What’s new ?
6.2 Panel mounted indicators
Within the cockpit various types of (panel mounted indicator) lights are used. The indicators are driven
by digital I/O boards (see section 5). An example for the Phidget board can be found on Petes Cockpit.
In general panel mounted indicators are easy to acquire. Some general issues to consider:
● Specific type of lights can generate heat. Heat is in general an issue inside a flight simulator
cockpit with respect to both safety (fire) and comfort.
● Low voltage lights are more safe.
● Led lights are more durable.
Beside the general suppliers, examples of suppliers are Data Display Products and LED Tronics.
http://www.fscockpit.com/panelmountedindicators.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:50 PM]









Mechanical gauges
What’s new ?
6.3 Mechanical gauges
Basically there are 4 options when you want to place mechanical (classic) gauges in to your cockpit:
1: Buy and adapt old aircraft gauge
2: Build a copy of a gauge from scratch
3: Simulate instruments by using a monitor behind a panel template
4: Buy a ready made gauge (kit)
6.3.1 General construction issues
Basic construction
When you want to build your own gauges, or to adapt an existing gauge, step 1 is to understand the
construction principle. The next sites will give you an impression:

● This gauge (AITI) shows very nice the basic elements. From left to right: construction for dial
(face plate) and pointer (needle). On the second level the motor to drive the pointer. The third
level contains the electronics to drive the gauge (in this case included in the gauge, but may
also be external). And the fourth level containing the plugs to connect the gauge.
● Chris Brace: in the section "servo gauges" a detailed construction breakdown is given.
● SIMKITS: they sell gauge kits for a very large number of gauges. Additionally you can use the
kits to make your own gauges.
Making gauge faces

http://www.fscockpit.com/mechanicalgauges.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:53 PM]
Mechanical gauges
There is a very detailed and instructive tutorial about making gauge faces using Paint Shop Pro by Dai
Griffiths (Dragonflight Design) published in 2001. The tutorial (gaupaint.zip) is downloadable from
FlightSim.com.
Pointers
It is possible to buy ready made pointers (to be used as- is or to be changed to your needs) and parts to
professionally mount pointers. Example suppliers are: Hobby Klok, Murray Clock , Klockit. But it is also
possible to make them from diecast modeling materials from your local hobby store.
Gears for use in motor driven gauges
In some situations gears are needed in a motor driven gauge. Example suppliers are: Servo City, SDP/
IS.
Dedicated literature
Very interesting is the site of Mike Powell where you can find an enumerated overview of issues around
flight simulator cockpit building. Additionally he wrote a technical but very interesting book: “Building
Simulated Aircraft Instrumentation” is an in depth introduction to making functional "steam gauge" style
engine and flight instruments for use with recreational flight simulators. It describes in detail how air-
core movements, servos, and stepping motors work, and illustrates through projects how to use them to
simulate A/C instrumentation. This is a hands-on book. Although there are a few engineering
descriptions, it is primarily through the projects that the different simulation approaches are
demonstrated. The projects were chosen to illustrate a range of simulation techniques. Each project is
documented with complete mechanical drawings, electronic schematics, and if a micro controller is used,
with a commented firmware listing."
6.3.2 Servo motor based
Servo motors are a very elegant way to drive mechanical gauges. A standard servo makes a 180 degree
turn, steps can be small (e.g. 0.1 degree) and the position of the servo is "known". It is easy to obtain
servo's, there is a large number of suppliers.

Mechanical gauges
Examples of a servo based gauges can be seen in the Flight Simulator section of Chris Brace and the
technical construction section of Johan Nauwelaertz de Agé.
Although a specialist can develop its own controller, it is more practical to obtain one of the ready made
controllers. A USB based solutions seems more and more appropriate. Examples of suppliers are:
Phidgets, HVW Technologies, Seetron, Parallax, Robot Electronics and Servo City.
It is possible to buy servo's that rotate more than 180 degrees, these can be used for gauges like
Altimeter. Examples are the "Economy Servo (Modified)" at HVV Tech and the "Hitec HS-322" from
SIMKITS.
6.3.3 Stepper motor based
The use of stepper motors for the development of mechanical gauges is also possible. They offer
standard full 360 degree rotation. With stepper- based gauges "homing" is an issue. A stepper motor
does not give feedback of its position. This can be solved by manually adjusting the gauge before start
or by a photo cell that detects a fixed point in the rotation. Some controllers anticipate on a "homing"
signal.
The controllers are more complex and expensive compared to servo's. There are various types of
stepper motors (see tutorial of Douglas W. Jones). When a larger amount of steppers is needed or when
more additional devices have to be connected to the same computer, it is important to determine what
interface structure to use. For these type of situations an USB based solutions seem to be very
appropriate. Examples of controllers are: Ferret tronics, HVW Technologies, Quality Kits.
6.3.4 Electric based
In the technical construction section of the site of Johan Nauwelaertz de Agé there is an example on

Mechanical gauges
how to make a gauge based on an all electric stereo MHz meter. Basically these type of meters are volt-
meters starting at 0 volt and ending with full rotation at for instance 10 volt. This approach may be very
attractive when analog outputs are already available.
6.3.5 CRT based
Mechanical gauges can also realistically be simulated by displaying them on a LCD monitor and placing a
front plate in front of it. This can easily be done with the standard FS gauges and the use of multiple
monitors. On VFR-Cockpit there are panel kits that can be used as a mask on the monitor(s).
Using FsXPand (Flyware) you can create custom (non- FS) gauges on PCs in a network. You do not
need state-of-the-art client PC's nor need to run multiple copies of FS. FsXPand additionally allows the
connection of 8 joystick devices per PC, bringing the amount of analog channels to 24 per PC. Each
device may have as much as 15 buttons, 120 in total per PC.
An other option is GA IFR panel (Project Magenta), this is also a gauge system that is operated on a
separate PC. The panel is sufficient for most IFR procedures. The quality and resolution of the
instruments is such that pilots should be able to fly accurate.
High quality gauges that can be used for this purpose by means of the standard Microsoft Flight
Simulator panel are offered by Reality XP.
6.3.6 Existing instruments
There is a market for "old" (broken) real aircraft instruments, eBay is a very good starting point for a
search. Examples of a suppliers are Simzation, BoneYard 2U, Desert Air Spares, Sim Spares, OnceAloft,
Scroggins Aviation, Warbird Parts and Konfederate Klassiks. Existing aircraft instruments in general
have complex mechanics based on principles like pressure or electric pulses. On Matt's Simulator in the
section "Technical specs" a global overview of connecting real instruments in the appropriate way is
given. For the less the "technical" the best approach will be to replace the inner works by a servo or
Mechanical gauges
stepper motor directly connected to the needle or plates and to connect rotating buttons to for instance
rotary (pulse) switches.
6.3.7 Ready made gauges & kits
It is also possible to obtain ready made mechanical gauges or kits for mechanical gauges.
On the site of SIMKITS they sell kits for the large majority of mechanical gauges possible, but you can
also chose to buy only specific parts. In order to drive the gauges they provide an interface board with
driver software. For custom made gauges and effects a SDK is supplied. Since the gauges are servo
driven it is also possible to develop your own controlling device or to connect the gauges to a controlling
device you already own. So basically there is an offer for various types of approaches.
SeaGull is offering a range of analogue cockpit instruments and switches. The starting point is an USB
based interface box on which a range of instruments (maximal 100) can be connected (daisy chained).
They offer a wide range of instruments, all ready made. By means of the supporting software there is a
high level of "plug and play". The software detects automatically all connected instruments and also
detects disconnection of one or more instruments. If a new version of the PC software detects older
software in an instrument, the instrument software will be updated automatically.
Also Flight Illusion is offering a wide range of gauges driven by a custom interface board. Besides the
standard small and large single and dual needle gauges they offer gauges with additional digital displays
and special gauges as an attitude indicator. The USB control board has various options, up to 64 gauges
can be daisy chained and 48 inputs (switches) can be assigned. Furthermore, 6 analogue inputs and a
driver for 35 Led outputs are available. The software is straight forward, one can assign a gauge, a
switch or a led to the respective Flight Simulator value.
Low priced kits are offered by Simulated Aircraft Instruments. Instead of a motor driven approach air-
core meters are used. Basically they consist of a magnet and pointer attached to a freely rotating axle,
and two coils. If currents are applied to both coils, the magnet will turn. By varying both the polarity
Mechanical gauges
and magnitude of the coil voltages the axle assembly can be made to rotate a full 360 degrees. The
instruments require an analog 0-5 VDC output signal.
When you want to spread your investments have a look at air-crafts, they offer original looking mock
ups of (non-functional) flight instruments for military flight simulator cockpits.

Mechanical gauges

Mechanical gauges

Mechanical gauges

CRT-based gauges
What’s new ?
6.4 CRT-based gauges
In many modern cockpit one finds one or more CRT (or nowadays LCD) (so better called monitor based
gauges). In a sense they often can better be viewed as a type of console since in general they give
(integrated) access to a range of functions. A very nice example of a home made version can be found
on the site of Norbert Bosch.
CRT-based gauges can be constructed based on the gauges as defined for the Microsoft Flight Simulator
panels (see section "Microsoft Flight Simulator"). By using multiple monitors and undocking panel
windows they can be arranged in your cockpit.
There are also third party suppliers that provide CRT- based gauges. The most famous one undoubtedly
is Project Magenta. They provide almost all ingredients for a full glass cockpit for Boeing or Airbus, but
also single components as a Flight Management System can be obtained. Using FSUIPC / WideFS a
setup consisting of multiple monitors can be created. Take your time and explore their site!
Other examples are:

● AST with Airbus SD/ECAM displays
● A340GC for Airbus
● EMYCSA for F16
● OpenGC for Boeing 737 and 777
● AOG for weather radar solutions
http://www.fscockpit.com/crtbasedgauges.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:56 PM]

CRT-based gauges
● Alfa FMC
● Pro MFD
● Ellie systems
Finding small VGA (or better) monitors is not easy. Examples are Lilliput, Xenarc and Avionics Display.
On Cockpit project an example is given of the construction of a small LCD display.
To integrate a CRT in your cockpit panel there are special "bezels", search on internet for examples.
On for instance Earth LCD you will find a large selection of smaller LCDs, also ones that can be driven by
a USB port.

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

CRT-based gauges

Radio and navigation instruments
What’s new ?
6.5 Radio and navigation instruments
Radio and navigation (autopilot) instruments can be obtained from various suppliers (see the supplier
list in section 2). Examples are: Advanced Simulations Systems, Elite, Precision Flight Controls.
Very interesting is the GoFlight concept. They provide plug-in modules to assemble you own radio and
navigation stack.
The Radio Stack RS372 (SIMKITS) is constructed as a modular system and can be obtained as a whole
or in parts. Each stack unit is a separate module and is connected to a shared Radio Stack Controller
which connects to your PC via USB. The whole setup is plug and play.
It is also possible to make these instruments yourself, There are many examples on the various sites
(see section 2). See for instance Op den Akker for a radio stack.
On FSHW an interesting low budget solution is offered. Based on keyboard emulation a range of basic
components for the construction of panel elements is provided.
See the section "Switches" for details on the various types of switches that are used.
For the displays small USB driven LCD screens can be used see HVW Technologies and Phidgets for
examples. On the site of Mikkila an example of a self made parallel interface to a LCD screen is shown.
http://www.fscockpit.com/radioandnavigationinstruments.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:56:58 PM]
Bezels for a seamless integration of the LCD's in your panel can for instance be found at RMF products.








Flight controls
What’s new ?
6.6 Flight controls
The Microsoft Flight Simulator allows the control of several so called "axis" by means of potentio meters.
Examples of these axis are: joystick (combination), yoke (Combination), pedals, throttle, mixture, etc.
The amount of axis that you can connect more or less depends on your game card or the device
(joystick). A standard game port has four analog pins to which a potentiometer can be connected. The
game card translates the charging time of a capacitor (determined by the size of an externally
connected resistor) to a value in a register. The driver for the game port translates this value to the
game. In principle multiple game ports can be used. On the site The Stick Works special support for
game devices is given.
There are various suppliers that offer ready made flight controls, see the supplier section. It is also
possible to make the flight controls yourself, There are many examples on the various sites (see section
2). For parts you can also have a look at sites like Aircraft Spruce. To give you a start: Norbert Bosch,
Project J, Mikkila, Trim device, Yoke.
Additionally there are very instructive tutorials on FlightSim or Digital Flight (the "Tech section /
Cockpits&Controls").
Potentiometers can be obtained from many online sources. A nice place to start your quest is
PotentioMeters.
http://www.fscockpit.com/flightcontrols.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:57:01 PM]

Flight controls
A special area of interest is the use of flight controls with feedback. Using devices from e.g. Logitec the
Microsoft Flight Simulator generates feedback. This can even be enhanced using a utility as FS Force
that will allow for additional types of force feedback during flight.
Besides buying force feedback of the shelf you can create your own feedback. Doing this will give you
more options to simulate real life behavior. It is important to make a distinction between vibration like
effects (formally called tactile feedback e.g. turbulence, canon shots) and effects that simulate force
(formally called haptic feedback, caused by speed and g- forces). With clasic aircrafts, like the DC-3,
haptic feedback is very important, the higher the speed the more force is needed to handle the yoke.
The most basic variant is to create contra force with a bungee, the more you pull the higher the force. A
more advanced approach is to stretch the bungee with a device like a linear stepper motor depending on
the speed of the aircraft: low speed becomes low force and high speed becomes high force. Similar
issues play a role in aircrafts like the F-16 where more force is needed on the joystick when speed
increases (also called actuated stick control). I could not find a real example of a site describing the
implementation of feedback for flight controls for flight simulator cockpits, but it is a topic that occurs on
a regular basis in one of the forums or newsgroups.
If you have higher than average ambitions with respect to flight controls, take a look at Universal Flight.
They offer a stick shaker used in airliners for stall warnings.

Flight controls

Flight controls

Flight controls

Flight controls

Flight controls

Flight controls

Flight controls

Display system
What’s new ?
6.7 Display system
The display system is an important area for most flight simulator cockpits. It is more than installing a
number of monitors or a beamer. Any combination of the following areas may play a role.
Outside view Looking outside the "window" or "windows" of your cockpit has a large impact on your
flying experience. In general there is the rule that in order to create the sensation /
feeling / awareness that you are really embedded in the environment a viewing angle of
45 degrees is needed.
Panel displays Some CRT/LCD based gauges in your cockpit may need to be driven by dedicated
(monitor)screens. (See also the section about CRT-based gauges.)
Visuals More and more third party scenery enhancements are available. They play an important
How to proceed depends ontoyour
role cockpit
maximize the type
flying and own ambitions.
experience. In the
For those who next
want to flysections you airports
at their local will find an
overview of issues that play a role.

there may even be the need to develop your own scenery.
6.7.1 Connecting multiple monitors

Virtual reality Adding 3-d visual effects.
On the same PC
Using Windows 98 or higher it is a standard functionality to expand your system with multiple monitors.
There are special graphic cards (e.g. NVIDIA or Matrox) that support the use of multiple monitors.
Mounting stands can be found on Quad Vision. A promising new concept is offered by Matrox with the
http://www.fscockpit.com/displaysystem.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:57:04 PM]
Display system
TripleHead2Go. This is a interface box that allows you to add two or three monitors with a combined
resolution of up to 3840 x 1024 to your computer even if it only supports a single display output. In
many cases this will give you a better working solution than using separate video cards or video cards
supporting multiple monitors.
Interesting additional sources of information are: PC World (general article) and Multi- Monitor
Resources.
On different PCs
It is also possible to view the Microsoft Flight Simulator on different PCs by means of Wideview
(Luciano Napolitano). Several PCs are connected via a TCP/IP connection. On all PCs the Microsoft Flight
Simulator is active. Using specific software one PC is used as a the server to "fly" (including display) and
the other PCs (1 or more) are used as additional display. The client PCs can be configured as "virtual
windows", to show maps, additional instruments, a GPS, a custom panel, etc. A down side from the
current version from Wideview is that it does not display AI aircraft on the client windows.
A more generic approach is provided by MaxiVista (MaxiVista), this is dual monitor software that turns
your (spare) Laptop or Tablet PC into an extra monitor for your primary PC. Toolbars and program
windows can be moved and extended across both screens as as if it were one big monitor.
How to join / align 2 monitors more close to get a better view when using 2 monitors is described at
Nico's flightplank (dutch).
6.7.2 Display magnifiers
A low budget approach to magnify a display is the use of fresnel lenses. There are various types and
sizes around. A general rule is that high groove density allows higher quality images, but gives more
loss of light. A good place to look for specific offers are suppliers for visual disabled people. Additionally
they often offer mounting devices. Examples of providers are SimKits, Edmund Optics, World Wide

Display system
Vision, and Magnifier Place. Bugeye Technologies and Icetec offer single and multiple monitor (display)
systems based on fresnel lenses.
An other -more professional- approach is to use monitor based collimated display systems. These
systems are designed to provide an "out of window" display by displaying a scene with realistic depth of
field cues for the pilot/operator. Each display unit typically consists of a mechanical structure called a
collimator, which contains a high quality spherical mirror, coated beam splitter, and a high resolution
CRT monitor. The down side of a collimated display is that the user should stay with his head (eyes)
within a small area in order to see a correct image. This is called the eye relief distance. When using
multiple CRT monitors, the boundaries between the viewing area are pronounced. When looking
sideways (next screen) will give a partly distorted view. Examples of providers are: Glass Mountain
Optics and SEOS. Interesting flight simulator related sites are: Rick Lee's flightsim pages, 737sim.
The third option is to use a beamer. There is a lot of information about beamers on Internet. There are
2 special issues to consider:

● The beamer should have sufficient resolution (1024x768) to see all effects used in the
Microsoft Flight Simulator.
● The beamer should support moving images, i.e. the refresh time should be fast enough (old
models sometimes have a slow refresh time so that moving pictures get blurred).
A simulator specific beamer supplier is VDC Display Systems.
Hi Resolution Image Generator (Precision Flight controls) is special hardware technology to warp and
edge blend any image on any curved surface, for instance a 45 degree circle area.
6.7.3 Visual systems
More and more third party scenery enhancements are available. They play an important role to
maximize the flying experience. Already known are the suppliers of high resolution terrain databases
that can be installed within Microsoft Flight Simulator giving the most beautiful results (e.g.

Display system
MegaScenery). Relatively new is the introduction of separate visual systems (e.g. Sim Instruments).
These clearly very high-end systems can take position, altitude en attitude information from Microsoft
Flight Simulator and translate that into a separate visual system. The system typically provides very
high resolution and high speed. The current down side is that one looses the scenery, light and whether
effects of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
For those who want to fly at their local airports there may even be the need to develop your own
scenery. This is a whole area of expertise on its own. Starting at sites like AVSIM you can find a lot of
information on the web on how to proceed.
6.7.4 Virtual reality
Within the scope of this article virtual reality can be split in 2 area's. First the area where you get
submerged into your environment. This is typically the setup where you wear for instance a visor or
helmet and/or gloves. You move around in a virtual cockpit. Following this line of thinking there is no
need to physically develop a flight simulator cockpit. This is not the objective of this text.
However virtual reality is also the area of vibrations, feedback and 3-D. The issues around vibrations
and feedback are discussed in separate sections. In the remainder of this section we will focus on 3-D
effects.
There are various 3-D systems around. A popular example are the glasses from eDimensional, they
support the use of Microsoft Flight Simulator. An other example is 3DFlightSim. When only viewing the
screen, this approach seems to be attractive. However it does not seem practical when combined with
handling real switches and reading real gauges and maps.
There is however a new 3-D development coming towards us that seems very attractive for the use with
flight simulator cockpits. It is a technique based on multi layer LCD displays. By using the layers depth
is brought into the image without the need for glasses or other devices. This type of technique is the
perfect fit for outside windows. With current prices the hardware competes with the high-end beamers
Display system
(without 3-D effect). In the recent period developments are going rapidly and drivers for standard 3-D
formats are being developed. Examples of suppliers are: Dimension Technologies Inc and Sharp.

Display system

Display system

Display system

Display system

Sound system
What’s new ?
6.8 Sound system
Within a flight simulator cockpit sound plays an important role in order to really submerge in your
environment. In the section Sound definitions an overview is given from the sound effects that one can
generate from within the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Below additional areas with respect to sound effects
will be discussed. Issues related to sound with respect to generating vibrations in your cockpit setup are
discussed in the section Vibration system.
6.8.1 Headset
Using a headset is an option to get more submerged in your flight simulator cockpit while flying, or not
to disturb the people around you. There are many general suppliers for headsets (e.g. Headsets.com).
An other option is to obtain a voice gaming device (see section Voice commands).
Starting with FSX the Microsoft Flight Simulator supports the use of multiple sound cards. This means
that for instance ATC sound can be separately directed to a headset.
An interesting device is the Audio Over Ride Box (Jeff McCracken) that lets you combine several
different sources of sounds. If you already own a real world pilot headset, then the PC Flight
Simulator Headset Adapter (Pilot Products Distributing) or the Aviation Headset Adapter (Montreal
AeroPlus) allows you to use your headset with the Microsoft Flight Simulator. On FlightSim there is an
article by Alan Bryant on adapting an aviation headset for use with a PC sound card.
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Sound system
An even more Microsoft Flight Simulator specific solution is the GF-ATC Headset Comms Panel
(GoFlight). Interacting with air traffic controllers over the Internet, or with the built in ATC, is made
more realistic by volume and squelch knobs. An analog filtering circuitry routes an "optimized for voice"
signal to the headset, while passing the original audio through to the computer's speaker system.
Responding to the menu- based air traffic control in Microsoft Flight Simulator can be done using a
rotary knob with integrated push switch and a single-digit LED display.
6.8.2 Adding sound effects
Although the Microsoft Flight Simulator offers a range of sound effects, additional sound effects can /
will increase the realism of your flight simulator cockpit. Several add-ons are available that provide
means to add sounds.
There is software that allows you to really define your sound environment. Esound (Pete Dowson)
allows for sounds to be triggered by events occurring in the Microsoft Flight Simulator or on request
from self developed gauges / logic. By default sounds are mixed with the Microsoft Flight Simulator
sounds, but alternatively sounds can be directed specifically to any one of up to 8 distinct sound
systems registered with Windows. Also sounds can be positioned individually Left, Center or Right on
Stereo systems, and any one of nine prime positions on quadraphonic (4 speaker) systems. Bottom line
the boundaries are formed by your own imagination. Similar to Esound is pmSounds (project Magenta).
The program allows you to specify sounds depending on flight data. It runs in parallel to the Microsoft
Flight Simulator on the same PC or on a networked PC using WideFS.
FSSoundScape (Lago) is a module that will let you add sounds to locations. The module allows you to
place your aircraft in the position where the sound needs to be heard, open the menu, select the sound
you want to hear and instruct the module under what condition it needs to be played (time, weather,
season, etc…). Next time you fly / drive over this location you will hear the sound.

Sound system

Sound system

Sound system

Sound system

Sound system

Sound system

Sound system

Speech systems
What’s new ?
6.9 Speech systems
The company Checklist Technologies developed a range of new Electronic checklists. For instance the EC-
TS (Electronic Checklist-Text to Speech) displays text and turns the written text into speech. These
devices leave the pilot "hands free". Besides very useful / safe in real life, this is also a very attractive
functionality in a flight simulator cockpit. In general you will fly alone, no co-pilot ... only your PC.
Besides the chance of feeling lonely, handling more complex situations / aircrafts can become less
realistic due to an information overload. An automated checklist either in text only or in text-to-speech
mode can be your solution. The same applies for the use of voice commands, if you need an extra pair
of hands to fly the way you would prefer, this may be your solution.
6.9.1 Voice commands
By now there are very interesting solutions using voice commands. When used with Microsoft Flight
Simulator it adds to the feeling that one is in the cockpit of an aircraft, giving instructions to a co- pilot.
Voice Buddy (eDimensional) is a combination of headset and software for speech recognition. Voice
Buddy is among others prepared for the use with Microsoft Flight Simulator. It comes with interactive
checklists for the stock aircraft. In addition to all the flight simulator commands, Voice Buddy also
includes a collection of cabin announcements and cockpit standard operating procedure dialogs between
pilot and co- pilot.
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Speech systems
There is also an open source initiative SpeechBuddy that can be downloaded from AVSIM. It allows for
speech recognition as an interface to Microsoft Flight Simulator. SpeechBuddy uses a scripting language
that allows you to send keystrokes to Microsoft Flight Simulator, use the FSUIPC interface, play audio
files or interact with the user using text-to-speech synthesis.
Currently the most advanced voice interaction is offered by VoxATC (VoxATC) provides a simulated ATC
environment for FS2004 with integrated voice recognition. You are talking to the controllers and besides
listening to your requests they check your read backs. Additional chatter is generated by intelligent
agents that are either controllers or pilots currently in the airspace. VoxATC runs alongside FS2004 and
replaces its native ATC.
6.9.2 Speech synthesis
Voice can add serious value to your simulator experience. A "talking" checklist or "talking" warnings can
reduce the information overload in the cockpit, making it more realistic (or more fun) to fly more
complex aircrafts. There are several commercial products around that add a "digital" co-pilot to the
Microsoft Flight simulator.
A ready to use example is FS Hotseat (FSHhotseat). It facilitates the addition of sound with a
predefined sequence of events, also it introduces a co-pilot who will read configurable checklists. An
other example is FDC Live Cockpit (Oncourse Software). It adds realism by providing a host of audio
enhancements which include full cockpit crew, cabin attendants, general ambience, and ATC chatter.
Additionally it is possible to have your co-pilot perform various duties by turning on the Virtual Co- pilot
mode. A similar product is FS Flight Keeper (Thomas Molitor).
A real "Bitchin Betty" as you find in a fighter jet is provided by FS Voice Message System (Rogers).
You can use FS VMS to hear voice warnings when certain flight parameters are exceeded. Parameters
can be set for altitude, angle of attack, bank angle, g-force, gear speed, ground proximity, ground
speed, indicated airspeed, turn rate, turn coordination and vertical speed. These parameters can be set

Speech systems
differently for the various phases of flight such as taxi, climb, cruise, maneuver, descent and approach.
Also included is a flight logging feature which, among other things, includes descriptions of exceeded
parameters in chronological order.
The downside of the above listed software packages is that they work based on real sound bytes. Only
within a fixed framework a voice can be added / applied. If your ambitions are (a bit) higher, it is
possible to develop your own digital co-pilot. During recent years developments with respect to speech
generation reached the level that with moderate effort one can develop a text-to-speech software
application.
For programmers the starting point is the Microsoft text-to-speech support (example on Coding4Fun).
Starting with Windows XP Microsoft included a text to speech generator by default.
There are also commercial libraries that can be included with e.g. a Visual Basic program, the use of
these libraries is often a bit easier than using the SDK. An example is TR Speaker component (Text-
reader) which is an ActiveX control that adds text-to- speech capabilities to an application. This control
aggregates the Microsoft Direct Speech Synthesis control (DirectSS). An other example is Speech Kit
(Chant) that provides a text-to-speech library and also supports the .NET framework. This library
provides your application a simple way to develop software that speaks by handling the low-level
functions with text-to-speech engines.
If you are not deep in to software development, then there are even hardware solutions available. For
instance DoubleTalk [Triangle Digital] which stands for a series of devices that can be connect to a PC
by means of an ISA slot or serial interface. Using a dedicated text-to- speech chip it translates plain
English text into speech in real time. Functionality that is included is unlimited vocabulary, on-the-fly
voice control, tone generation, recorded audio playback, addressable voice channels, multiple input and
output protocols, etc. A board level solution is TextSpeak [Digital Acoustics] that accepts RS232 input
and provides a natural voice with unlimited vocabulary.

Speech systems

Speech systems

Speech systems

Speech systems

Speech systems

Speech systems

Vibration system
What’s new ?
6.10 Vibration system
Vibrations can be generated by means of devices called tactile transducers. They produce in general
vibrations between 1Hz en 800Hz. It is all about the subtlety to add a tactile sense (feel the sound in
your body) that is missing when sound is played back in a standard way. Tactile sound should not be
confused with devices called "shakers" that generate vibrations based specifically on bass. When
positioned in the cockpit at the right places in the chair itself or in the floor (feet, chair section) and
applied in a moderate way, the cockpit should come to life. The touch of your flight controls, the feeling
in your back and feet will convince you that you are on the move...
A sound based approach is the TST229 [Clark Synthesis], it is one of a range of tactile transducers.
This devices is easy to install. A very instructive tutorial is included on the site. An other example is
bass shaker.
A vibration system that does not use speakers, but that uses embedded electro motors to generate
vibrations is the ButtKicker (ButtKicker). Instead of producing sounds it sends vibrations through seats
and floors directly into the listener's body. The perception is stated to be better and the sound pressure
of the bass disappears. When using headphones the listener perceives powerful, musically accurate
audio, but no one else hears anything. The sound is completely isolated to the listener. A similar
solution is the Body Shaker (FL electronic). More game oriented is the TFS2 [ivibe]. This system
comes with a controller and a seating unit. The seating unit contains several vibration devices so that to
a certain extent direction of vibrations can be / are simulated.

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Vibration system
A very basic home build vibration system can be found at Nico's flightplank (dutch).

Vibration system

Vibration system

Vibration system

Vibration system

Vibration system

Vibration system

Vibration system

Motion system
What’s new ?
6.11 Motion system
The sense of motion is generated by the G-force resulting from a combination of movement and the
position of an aircraft. This sense of motion in many cases does not directly correspond to the position
of the flight controls. Compared to for instance the generation of vibration in a flight simulator cockpit
environment,
1 roll it is much harder to acceleration,
X-axis/rotational: generate a deceleration,
sophisticated movement experience.
bumps
The ultimate
2 surge motion system knows what
X-axis/longitudinal: strongis called 6 degrees
acceleration, of freedom (6 dof):
strong deceleration
3 pitch Y-axis/rotational: acceleration, deceleration, bumps
4 sway Y-axis/lateral: slip
The rotational
5 yaw movements aroundslip
Z-axis/rotational: the X-axis and Y-axis (bank and pitch) are the most important to
generate a moving effect. For a quick more detailed introduction see: Moorabbin Flying Services.
6 heave Z-axis/vertical: bumps, vibrations

A unique low price do-it-your-self motion platform is the JoyRider (acesim). They offer detailed
construction drawings, a construction guide containing step-by-step directions covering every detail of
each assembly operation and a complete parts lists and sources. Although driven by stick position, this
platform may be a basis for a motorized version. A similar approach is followed by Flight Control
Simulator. A bit more advanced platform is the SimCraft (SimCraft). Documentation on the predecessor
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Motion system
of SimCraft is available on (SourceForge).
An unique supplier is Classic Flight. They offer MBE boards to control the motion platform and the
Motion Drive software to drive the boards. Basically all you need for building your own motion platform
without getting into all the programming details. A range of motion platform configurations is supported.
Examples of ready made motion platforms with 2, 3 or 5 axis that can serve as a basis for a flight
simulator cockpit are Full Motion Platform (SimWare), FasTrac (Real Sims), Motion platforms
(InMotion Simulation) and 301 LFS (Force Dynamics). A new approach on motion can be found on
MORSIM.
Home based examples including documentation are Lurker, FMFSP and ClassicSim.
In the supplier section you will find more examples.

Motion system

Motion system

Motion system

G-forces
What’s new ?
6.12 G-forces
G-forces are a side effect of being in motion. G-forces are the result of a (strong) movement combined
with acceleration, de- acceleration or turning. It is possible to obtain the G-Force data from the
Microsoft Flight Simulator. Using this data it is possible to simulate the G-forces by means of physical
force. Examples of effects are:
● Being pushed in your seat can be simulated by an inflatable pad under the cushions of the
cockpit chair. When inflating the pad increasing G-forces are simulated. A pad under the seat
gives the feeling of being pushed in the seat, a pad in the back can be used to simulate
acceleration. Using multiple pads spread under seat and back could in an advanced setting
produce directional forces.
● By tightening and loosening the seat belts using servo's, stepper motors or hydraulic/
pneumatic tension, similar effects as above can be achieved.
● Attaching a helmet to servo's or stepper motors with elastic strings gives the option to produce
force effects.
● There are even examples where real G-suites are integrated in the flight simulator cockpit
system (MMMS/Cap17).
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G-forces

G-forces

G-forces

G-forces

Ventilation system
What’s new ?
6.13 Ventilation system
With all the electronics and (possible) CRT's in the cockpit the temperature may easily rise. From this
perspective you should think about a ventilation system. An example can de be seen on OY- SIM.
You can find a range of mountable blowers at your local hardware store.
For the smaller aircrafts special effects may be generated by using an air conditioner of which the
temperature is driven by altitude data. The higher you fly, the colder it gets...
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Ventilation system

Ventilation system

Ventilation system

Ventilation system

Complementary simulation
What’s new ?
6.14 Complementary simulation
However good the functionality of the Microsoft Flight Simulator, on various areas in your flight
simulator cockpit you will at some stage want to add additional simulation functionality.
A very advanced supplier of complementary simulation is Project Magenta. They offer a product family
mainly focused on Boeing and Airbus. This is a site "jet builders" have to visit. Of special interest is the
product pmSystems that allows users to define (simulate) aircraft systems on top of the Microsoft
Flight Simulator using FSUIPC. By means of WideFS pmSystems can be used on a client PC. For area's
defined by the user where the Microsoft Flight Simulator does not provide enough advanced simulation
pmSystems takes over. The pmSystems software has a point and click interface and can be connected
to custom flight simulator cockpit hardware.
An other example for the A320 is HCSDT (HCSDT). Basically they simulate on top of the Flight
Simulator whole flight systems of the specific aircrafts (both systems will be discussed in more detail).
All parts of an aircraft are exposed to malfunction, either because of (material) failure or because of
being exposed beyond their operating limits. For this group of simulation effects special software is
available that can be used on top of the Microsoft Flight Simulator. Using these types of add-ons your
flight simulator cockpit experience can become "frightening" real. An example is FS Reliability Factor
(download from AVSIM) which is a failure simulator that allows you to set the reliability percentage
(based on flight time) for over sixty flight simulator sub- systems grouped in seven system categories:
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Autopilot, Control, Electrical, Engine, Fuel, Instrument and Radio. It then uses these reliability factors to
simulate sub- system failures during flight. The package does not check on the envelope of limitations of
your aircraft.
Depending on your ambitions and aircraft type you still will end up with the need to model additional
complementary simulation yourself. Examples are:

● When the aircraft is (too) heavy, breaks will get hot fast. This will eventually result in
malfunctioning (like fire or blocking).
● In some aircrafts the engines can only be turned off after they reach a certain temperature.
● When moving the needle of an analogue gauge, the needle movement is also influenced by the
mechanics of the gauge.
● Some procedures only work if they are performed in the correct order and with the correct
timing (e.g. starting an old piston engine).
So finally in a more advanced flight simulator cockpit setup there is the need for a "complementary
simulation manager" as shown in the figure below.
1. Generating additional data to be used in the cockpit based on data from the Microsoft
Flight Simulator and custom made calculations.

2. Calculating data for the Microsoft Flight Simulator based on data from the cockpit and
custom made calculations.
3. Generating additional data to be used in the cockpit based on data from cockpit and
custom made calculations.
4. Calculating data for the Microsoft Flight Simulator based on data from the Microsoft
Flight Simulator and custom made calculations.
5. When more than a hand-full of complementary simulations are to be used a central
application (complementary simulation manager) is needed to manage all the data,
keep a record of shared parameters and facilitate the exchange of data between the
various complementary simulation modules.
Figure: Complementary simulation
In total 5 basic mechanisms for complementary simulation can be distinguished (see figure above):



Final remarks
What’s new ?
7. Final remarks
Well, what is your next step ?
If you want to take a closer look before you really make up your mind, you can (again) browse through
all the sites in the example section with the insights you gained reading this text. Additionally you can
watch several videos on OpenCockpits (download section) about flight simulator cockpits. This link is
worth the effort to visit, you will be impressed. Also on Novel-Air, SimVision and Google you can watch
various video's.
If you want to try first, you can book a simulator flight at:
- A.C.E.S. Flight Simulation Center
- Combat Simulations
- Bruges Air College
- Cockpit Simulator
- F4 Sim
- Cockpit4you
- Prosim4u
Or search for a similar supplier in your area.
If you doubt if a flight simulator cockpit is the right choice for you, think about alternatives:
- Train: Rail Driver (there will be a new MS Train Simulator, based on FSX)
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Final remarks
- Racing car: GT Cockpit, RacingCockpit, Pabst-Racing
- Truck driving: J. J. Keller’s SAFE Sim
- Bicycle: Kaist Bicycle Simulator
- Golf: ProTee
An overview of the impact on your health (worst case scenario's) is given in an editorial on Flightsim.
If by now, by seeing for instance the sites about the salvage of real cockpits, you start to feel more
empathy for maintaining a real cockpit than for the construction of and flying with a flight simulator
cockpit you should pay a visit to the International Cockpit Club for owners and restorers of aircraft
cockpits.
If you are so hooked by now that you want to make a living on flight simulator cockpits, you can start
selling parts, this is the route some of the current suppliers followed. But you can also hit the road with
the "Area X51 money making machine" provided by Cyberdome for your own cockpit circus. Or how
about 20 networked simulators in a rental space, with you charging the would-be pilots for flight time. If
you want to follow a more "educated" approach you can take a look at Rezultat from Denmark where
they use a f-16 flight simulator cockpit for leadership development.
If you want to stick with reading as you perhaps do now, there are some very nice books for sale:
Lulu: "WLP Wild Life Protection by John T. Chance. Follow Max Stein, a tough kind of old fashioned
adventurer,ladies-man and bush pilot to Africa. Max is hunting down deadly smuggler-gangs. He will risk
his life for money, fame and fortune. WLP is a virtual adventure for Microsoft's Flightsimulator; inviting
you to interact with the story yourself by flying along with Max on your PC."
TooMuchFS: "Get Real! by Bill Smith is a wonderful mixture of humor, drama, intrigue, excitement and
fantasy. For the new flight simulation enthusiast, it will stimulate and educate. For the seasoned flyer, it
will take you on an adventure unattainable from your computer keyboard, and for the hobbyist’s
significant other; it will give insight into why we enjoy flying the virtual skies for hours on end. To those
who have never heard of flight simulation, a word of caution. Reading this book just may prompt you to

Final remarks
visit your local software retailer and join the virtual friendly skies."
StarshipDiaries: "The Starship Diaries by Dallas Kachan is a new aviation adventure and travel novel, in
which the author chronicles a round the world flight in the futuristic Beechcraft Starship. The story is
based on adventures he conducted using Microsoft Flight Simulator."
On Flightsim Books you can find a set of (older but) free books on the Microsoft Flight Simulator. For
those who want to start a quest into the Microsoft Flight Simulator history the The Old Flight Simulator
Vault is a good starting point.
If at the end only flying is your objective, then there are many ways to further enhance your flying
experience. You can join a virtual airline like DC-3 airways (search for other examples on internet) or
start a journey around the world like is done on CoffeeOrTea, Ari Kesaniemi, ATWSixPack. There is even
a virtual community on Second Life (requires SL installed).
There are not many extensive texts on flight simulator cockpit building in a hobby setting. You can
however find a lot of literature with respect to professional simulators, interesting starting points are:
FlightSimulation, NASA SimLabs or Google. The same goes for the underlying technology. On many of
the sites that describe flight simulator cockpits (see section 2) you will find descriptions of technology in
use, but in most cases only very little information on underlying principles. You will have to search in a
different track on Internet. You will be amazed about the detailed information you can find on many
subjects on Wikipedia.
Specific sites for further study are:
The site of Mike Powell where you can find an enumerated overview of issues around flight simulator
cockpit building. Additionally he wrote a technical but very interesting book "Building Simulated Aircraft
Instrumentation" as an introduction to making gauge style flight instruments.
The site SimProjects (Roland van Roy) where from a practical point of view the complete construction of
a flight simulator cockpit is described.
In general a regular visit to the online meting places mentioned in “User group and forums” (section 2)
Final remarks
will keep you well informed about the latest developments. If you want to go more in depth with the
Microsoft Flight Simulator in general, first take a look at sites like AVSIM, FlightSim (see also the tutorial
section for articles), SimFlight and Simviation and their forums.
Finally, if building a flight simulator cockpit is not enough, you can also consider to program your own
flight simulator. You can start from scratch, for instance based on the book "Build Your Own Flight Sim
in C++: Programming a 3d Flight Simulator Using Oop" by Michael Radtke and Christopher Lampton or
by joining an open source initiative like Flight Gear.
Whether your dream is to have a real B747 cockpit in your garage or a set of pedals below your desk in
addition to your joystick, it is all possible. When going for the "high-end" it is however very important
that you keep this hobby in a manageable size. Starting with a B737 cockpit, but running out of budget,
knowledge, money and/or time will only give frustration. Also keep in mind that a B737 comes with over
a meter of manuals, while a Cessna 172 will do with several centimeters. Make sure that you can fly
your cockpit in any stage of its development. Following a phased approach where you only add parts
when they are finished is probably the most rewarding. When doing this keep in mind that defining
phases should only facilitate your ambitions, setting a time line is -when creating stress and/or
frustration- a self inflicted wound an should be avoided.
The challenge of building a flight simulator cockpit is -beside the sheer fun of simulated flying- to my
opinion not to excel in owning advanced looking equipment, but to understand and simulate the various
systems of an aircraft. A flight simulator cockpit in what ever form enhances your flying experience,
trying to realize one can in addition be an inspiring challenge.

Final remarks

Word from the author
What’s new ?
Word from the author ...
Being a Microsoft Flight Simulator enthusiast for at that time over 16 years, I decided in the mid of 2000
that making an aircraft for the Microsoft Flight Simulator myself was the new challenge I needed. The
choice was the "DC- 3", to me the most beautiful (perhaps better romantic) plane ever built. The
objective was "As real as it can get".
So I started ... on the one hand investigating the Microsoft Flight Simulator SDK and the wealth on
information on Internet on how to make an aircraft and panel. On the other hand gathering DC-3
manuals and other documentation. Having done this for several months I discovered that:
- it takes many many hours in order to achieve "as real as it can get"
- in particular the panel stays a huge compromise when compared to the real thing
All the time I had already a fascination for those who build their own real flight simulator cockpit at
home, but never considered it with respect to my own situation. However one day at the start of 2001
when wrestling with the Microsoft Flight Simulator SDK and being not really satisfied with the results
after all the hours of work, I "woke up" and considered that building a real flight simulator cockpit would
at the end require a similar amount of time and a greater enjoyment. The latter with respect to both the
construction (combination of tinkering and programming) and usage. So I switched course for a real DC-
3 experience when flying: the development of a DC-3 flight simulator cockpit based on the Microsoft
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Flight Simulator.
So why did I start this site? In order to find out initially how to build an aircraft for the Microsoft Flight
Simulator and later to find information on the DC-3 and on flight simulator cockpit construction, I have
made many long journeys on the Internet touring from site to site. All the travel experiences resulted in
lots of notes and bookmarks. When starting to make sense out of all this information I realized:
- the steep learning curve there is
- the power of sharing information / knowledge
Publishing this site is my contribution to shortening the learning curve -by sharing information and
knowledge- and by that a contribution to innovation and enjoyment in the flight simulator community.
As I gather new information, receive feedback on this site and make progress with my own flight
simulator cockpit I will update this site.
Any feedback on the content of this site and/or suggestions on additions etc. are welcome.
Enjoy browsing FScockpit.com !
Herman Lenferink.




Acknowledgements
What’s new ?
Acknowledgements
When one gathers information on the Internet there are many people and sites that deserve credit, too
much to be mentioned individually. Nevertheless there are some specific credits I would like to mention
here:
● Dai Griffiths for making the "FS2000 and CFSGauge Creation Tutorial". This tutorial had a large
contribution to my learning process and was one of the motivators to make "shortening the
learning curve" one of the themes of this site.
● Of all the portals around a special thankyouto www.avsim.com (for the wealth of information in
articles and forums) and www.simpits.org.
● The makers of search engines on the net; without their services this hobby probably would not
have started.
● Finally -although I am a paying customer- Microsoft deserves real credit for providing a high
level flight simulator platform with an open architecture and regular improvements.
Sites that deserve special credit for the traffic generated to this site
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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Copyright & Disclaimer
What’s new ?
Copyright (c) 2001-2009, Herman W. Lenferink. All rights reserved.
The content of this site is free for non-commercial use but may only be used in any
means of publication when an explicit reference to www.fscockpit.com is included. For
use of the information from this site for commercial purposes, please contact
feedback <at> fscockpit.com (replace the <at> by @).
The content of this site is for fun and strictly not intended to be used in relation to
real aircraft operations. Any use of the content of this site is at your own
interpretation and for your own risk.
Product or company names are copyrights or trademarks of their respective owners. Links
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FScockpit.

Find your way into flight simulator cockpit construction

Build your own flight simulator cockpit

cockpit including lots of links to relevant sources.

http://www.fscockpit.com/ (1 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:10 PM]

Section 1 As a starter examples will be given of flight simulator cockpits to get a

feeling of what this is all about.

Section 2 In order to get an impression of the flight simulator cockpit community

this section gives an overview of the Microsoft Flight Simulator market,

user groups and forums related to flight simulator cockpit building.

Additionally links are provided to fellow cockpit builders and available

concept of a flight simulator cockpit.

Sections 4 to 7 In these sections in sequential order the various components of a flight

simulator cockpit will be discussed. The objective is not to reproduce all

situation, knowledge and budget.

http://www.fscockpit.com/ (2 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:10 PM]

Fly Away Simulation

FS desktop control panel

Make Money with

FsXPand PFD/ND & EICAS

VRS F/A18E SUPER HORNET

http://www.fscockpit.com/ (3 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:10 PM]

Flightsim - Flight Simulators

http://www.fscockpit.com/ (4 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:10 PM]

Find your way into flight simulator cockpit construction

Build your own flight simulator cockpit

cockpit including lots of links to relevant sources.

http://www.fscockpit.com/index.html (1 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:15 PM]

Section 1 As a starter examples will be given of flight simulator cockpits to get a

feeling of what this is all about.

Section 2 In order to get an impression of the flight simulator cockpit community

this section gives an overview of the Microsoft Flight Simulator market,

user groups and forums related to flight simulator cockpit building.

Additionally links are provided to fellow cockpit builders and available

concept of a flight simulator cockpit.

Sections 4 to 7 In these sections in sequential order the various components of a flight

simulator cockpit will be discussed. The objective is not to reproduce all

situation, knowledge and budget.

http://www.fscockpit.com/index.html (2 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:15 PM]

Fly Away Simulation

FS desktop control panel

Make Money with

FsXPand PFD/ND & EICAS

VRS F/A18E SUPER HORNET

http://www.fscockpit.com/index.html (3 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:15 PM]

Flightsim - Flight Simulators

http://www.fscockpit.com/index.html (4 of 4) [3/15/2009 7:55:15 PM]

Find your way into flight simulator cockpit construction

Below an overview of the major updates.

Latest major update: 2008/01/20 - v4.0

- Migration to new software facilitating more frequent updates.

- Following this change a new look and feel

- Checked text and links on continued relevance.

- Added new information and details (including new links)

Other major updates where:

http://www.fscockpit.com/whatsnew.html (1 of 9) [3/15/2009 7:55:18 PM]

● 2001/12/27 ... 2005/03/28 - DC3experience.com was the predecessor of FSCockpit.com. The

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