Last time, we figured out that the phidgets controlled everything and that there were all of these phidget files… sigh… (If you haven’t been reading this series on the CRJ, please read 1 thru 3 please.) Return of the Phidgets Rick (my lovely programming engineer) wrote a small but significant program that allowed us to…
Why DIY Motion Base Platforms Aren’t as Simple (or Safe) as They Seem In my time exploring the internet, I’ve come across countless DIY motion base projects—built from everything from drill motors to plywood. While many of these builds are undeniably creative, they often raise serious concerns about safety, longevity, and performance. Let’s take a…
Motion Base Platforms have been apart of the flight simulation industry for a very long time. Longer than one might think… The simulation industry is relatively old (almost 100 years!), but not quite as old as planes have been in the sky. The follow article is an except from wikipedia in regards to the history of…
Why Some in the Simulation Industry Dislike Motion Platforms—And What You Can Do About It Motion platforms are powerful tools in simulation, but they often come with a reputation that sparks hesitation—or even frustration—among professionals in the industry. Let’s explore some of the most common concerns and how they can be addressed. 1. Cost: Why…
Once again in our ongoing segment on how to bring a trainer back to life… we begin where we left off… with nothing in the simulator (buttons, switches and the like) except the glass working….Step 7 – Phidget and Project Magenta LandSo here we were and not a switch or button to be working… I…
So getting back to the CRJ refurb…The buyer decided to get it working again…Step 3 – Reverse engineering the whole system (hindsight being 20/20, the overhead panel was the best place to start)Starting with the overhead panel, I wanted to see what parts were used to make it work. It was the easiest piece to…
So a few months ago, we took on a project to rehab a CRJ-700 simulator that was dead… like dead dead. None of the computers worked…but… So a business associate contacted me about this CRJ system and that he had a buyer for it. Sight unseen, I said sure, it should be fixable. So said business…
Virtual Reality: More Than Just a Visual Experience Virtual Reality (VR) has been around longer than many realize. Back in the early 1990s, we worked on one of our first VR projects—a gimbal-mounted seat paired with a bulky helmet containing dual screens. It didn’t track head movement, but the gimbal followed the visuals, and the…
What Are Feedback Control Loaders—and Why Are They Critical in Flight Simulation? Let’s start with the basics: What is a feedback control loader? No, it’s not a piece of heavy farm equipment. In the world of simulation, a control loader is a system that provides realistic flight control forces to a pilot in a simulator.…
When should a simulator require refurbishment and when should it need to be replaced? That is a problem that every training company has to think about when it comes to aging simulators. With more and more pilots needing training and proper training at that, our aging simulators need some help. If the systems were upgraded…
