Funny Garmin Commercial

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Is this good advertising? Notice it doesn’t even show the product, but it does communicate the main idea: WAAS allows you to fly an instrument approach that looks like an ILS, even at airports where there is no ILS system.

Bonus: it’s funny.

Track Santa on Christmas Eve

Santa Claus is the most famous pilot in the world. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracks the progress of Santa every Christmas Eve and you can follow along online if you have trouble sleeping that night.

You will see Santa’s position on a Google Map, or download Google Earth and follow him in the 3D rendition of the Earth. We tried to find a preview of what this looks like, but I guess we really do have to wait to see Santa, just like the kids.

The NORAD Santa website goes into more detail:
“Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or the F-16 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his famous reindeer…”



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Dude, Where’s My Flying Car?

One of the disappointments of modern technology is the absence of a practical flying car. As the great Ralph Waldo Emerson once penned, “O how elusive ye are, thee flying car.” Ok, not really.

But seriously, dude, where IS my flying car?


Maybe it’s in England. The Parajet Skycar uses a different design philosophy than other attempted flying cars: simplicity. Basically, it resembles a dune buggy with a pusher propeller hanging below a parachute. Powered parachutes are a proven and widespread technology, so we have high hopes for the success of this idea.

The Parajet Skycar team is nearly ready for public demonstrations of their flying machine. You would think that simply flying it around England, and later hitting the aviation expos at Farnborough and Paris would be a good start. No, the Parajet Skycar team wants to attract the world’s attention with the audacious goal of taking the Skycar all the way to Timbuktu.

In 2009, the Parajet Skycar will fly over the English Channel, across France, Spain, across the Strait of Gibraltor, into Morocco, and deep into Africa. They’re also bringing a land-roving support team, motorcycles, and a cast of characters with names strait from a Speilberg movie: Duncan Milligan, Kim Vande Velde, Simon Westmore, Giles Cardozo, etc. Major funding is provided by Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Imagine this crew plowing through the Sahara – it’s part Mad Max, part Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. I hope that the Discovery Channel does a show about these people.

Best of luck and happy landings to the Parajet Skycar team!

Virtual Air Show 2008

The professional air show performers take a break during the winter, and that’s when virtual pilots have a chance to steal the spotlight.

The Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams (VFAT) is an air show much like you might see at a military base near your home town, except the airplanes only exist in cyberspace. The air show pilots are seated at their home flight simulators and fly in formation via high-speed internet connections.

At an actual air show, you watch the jets from the ground, but in this simulated world, your vantage point can suspend high in the air as a formation flies past you, or fly along side the planes. The virtual Blue Angels and virtual Thunderbirds closely mimic the maneuvers, choreography, music, and even the announcer’s spiel of their real-world counterparts.

The whole event will broadcast live on the VFAT website throughout December 12, 13 and 14, 2008.


Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams 2008 Promo from Nathan Truninger on Vimeo.

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SimHQ recently published an interview with “Rhino” the lead pilot of the Virtual Blue Angels. He describes the team’s rigorous practice schedule. The SimHQ interviewer “20mm” didn’t ask “Rhino” why everyone feels the need to have Top Gun nicknames….sorry callsigns, whatever.


Virtual Blue Angels Rollin' Skyhawks from Bob Tyler on Vimeo.

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A noteworthy point is the international aspect of the show. 28 teams from Europe, North America, Russia/Eastern Europe, South America and Asia will participate in the 2008 event. The teams vary in their skill levels and quality of performance. These are video clips from the 2007 event. The website seems to currently work better with the Mozilla Firefox browser. Internet Explorer users will need to scroll around to find the links.

Parts of the show may seem a bit laborious compared to TV sporting events, but keep in mind much of the commercial entertainment we enjoy today has been perfected for decades. Who knows how virtual aviation entertainment will mature in the future. The VFAT forum reports there were 4000 spectators watching the online air show last year, and they expect 10,000 spectators this year. If the virtual pilots can capture the attention of that volume of people, I think there’s some real potential and momentum there.

BONUS: No Bette Midler songs during the show (sorry Oshkosh)


Thanks to Aaron Florkowski for his contributions to this article.

Shoot Some Stuff

Use your mouse to fly a way-cool jet. Dodge enemy missiles and mines. Left-click to shoot. Beat my score of 800.
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Vforce - Flash Game
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San Fran Zeppelin

We’ve often thought our Cessna 172 is the perfect machine for scenic flights, but how about a zeppelin?

Airship Ventures is now offering the first zeppelin flights in North America since 1937. This is a genuine zeppelin from the German Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik company, an offshoot of the original 20th century zeppelin manufacturers. Specifically, the modern version is a Zeppelin NT for New Technology, and it’s filled with helium, not that scary hydrogen stuff.

A one-hour flight around the San Francisco Bay area is $495 per person, or $5750 if you want to rent all 12 seats in the gondola.

Airship Ventures’ website is packed with info and a history of how this unique service evolved…and don’t miss the videos.

It’s hard to imagine the original Zeppelins sailing across the skies in the 1930’s. They were larger than any flying machine that anyone alive has ever witnessed. This website shows the comparative lengths of a modern Boeing 747 (231 feet) and the Hindenburg (804 feet). The Hindenburg was over three times longer than a Boeing 747! Airship Ventures’ Zeppelin NT is 246 feet long.

At the time of the Hindenburg disaster, zeppelins had a far better safety record than airplanes. Indeed, zeppelins far surpassed airplanes of the 1930’s in terms of lifting power, range, endurance and speed. But the newsreel images of the Hindenburg engulfed in flames spelled the end of the zeppelin dynasty. It is one of the most recognized film clips in history. One can wonder if the zeppelins would have endured if the Hindenburg accident hadn’t been caught on film.

Here’s an account of the first media flight with Airship Ventures.

Plaza Flights – Fun Scenic Flights for Everyone

Over 200 people have enjoyed scenic flights over the glittering lights of the KC Country Club Plaza and are pictured in the online Plaza Flights Hall of Fame. Plaza Flights are a wonderful Christmas tradition – you almost expect to see Rudolph and Santa flying across the evening sky. Intrepid aviators-to-be board a Cessna 172 at the KC Downtown Airport and are soon soaring over the lights of the city spanning from horizon to horizon.

Once airborne, the search lights from Power and Light District and the Sprint Center come into view as well as various downtown buildings lit up with cheery holiday lights. You can spot the rotating restaurant, Skies – it’s the thing that looks like a flying saucer on top of the Hyatt Hotel. From there, look just to the South for Crown Center and the Mayor’s Christmas Tree.

Soon you will be over the Country Club Plaza. Each building is outlined in sparkling Christmas lights. You can see the individual restaurants, shops and cars all illuminated by millions of little lights. You can also spot available parking spaces that are normally so elusive when you’re in your car. Don’t forget to view the Nelson Art Gallery, the new Bloch buildings are brilliantly lit from the inside out.
At this time, the airplane is going 100 miles per hour, but seems to orbit the Plaza at a leisurely pace. If a fellow is planning to pop the question to his sweet-heart, this is the time to do it. It’s happened three times so far on previous flights.

2008 Plaza Flights Hall of Fame
2007 Plaza Flights Hall of Fame
2006 Plaza Flights Hall of Fame
2005 Plaza Flights Hall of Fame
2004 Plaza Flights Hall of Fame

Out of the 200+ people pictured in the online Plaza Flights Hall of Fame, over 95% have never been in a small private plane before. This is indeed a discovery flight, where Plaza Flyers see that airplanes are a lot different than cars. Pilots steer with their feet on the rudder pedals while on the ground, and there is no gas pedal, only a throttle knob. Small airplanes are indeed small, or rather, cozy. They’re narrow so there’s less wind resistance.

After the flight, passengers receive a commemorative Plaza Flight pin or button, a completion certificate, and if they desire, their picture is proudly added to the Hall of Fame.

Plaza Flights are provided by Roger Dodger Aviation and KCplazaflights.com.

Can Air Shows Be Better?

Well at least someone is asking this question. Aero-TV interviewed a few of the notable Air Show names at the International Council of Air Shows 2007 convention.

Air shows can feature breathtaking aerial armadas and unique aircraft at the high end of the entertainment spectrum, or at the other end, single performers flying similar repetitive maneuvers in similar airplanes. Honestly, how many times can a Cuban 8 be entertaining?

photo by Alan Radecki Akradecki

Air shows are ripe for improvement, and this blog entry could be a laundry list of complaints, but instead we will list some positive examples of recent air show innovations that raise the bar for aviation entertainment…
Rocket Racing League rocket-planes
Self-launched jet-powered glider
Red Bull aerobatic helicopter

Sean D. Tucker is a long-time air show favorite. He may not have been the first to pioneer the audio-feed from the cockpit, but he is the best at it. During his performances he can talk directly to the crowd:
“Hey everybody, watch this…….whoa baby………..Yeah!”

Franklin’s Flying Circus presents a pirate-themed air show. It’s original but just a tad gimmicky. At least they don’t endlessly play Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” or Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA" during the performance like other air show acts.

Other notable crowd-pleasers are the huge formations of aircraft like RV’s or T-6’s or T-28’s that now appear annually over Oshkosh and the heritage flights of civilian-owned warbirds flying along side modern military fighters

Here’s the interview on Aero-TV:
Can Air Shows keep up with the times?



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See the Space Station From Your Home

It’s the 10th anniversary of the International Space Station. Unlike many other major international projects, you can actually see this one from your home.


The ISS zips around the earth at over 14,000 miles per hour, so anytime it comes into view overhead, you only have a few minutes to see it. The ISS appears as a bright dot against the backdrop of a starry night, so if you know exactly where and when to look for it, you will greatly increase your chances of seeing it.

NASA publishes instructions on how to see the ISS and an updated schedule of sighting opportunities from your city.


Here is the real-time location of the ISS over a moving map.

Here is some great footage of the ISS from Dirk Ewers of Hofgeismar, Germany…



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More info about the ISS 10th birthday at Aero-News.

Dogfights is “History”

The History Channel cancelled its popular Dogfights Series. When Dogfights first premiered on the History Channel we actually had parties where we would watch an episode of Dogfights, then climb in the flight simulators and fly the same missions in the same airplanes. How’s that for interactive entertainment?


The History Channel’s decision to cancel Dogfights after two seasons is the target of hundreds of critical comments on the official forums. According to the fans of the show, Dogfights was one of the History Channel’s most popular programs. Several of the angry comments are directed at the show that replaced Dogfights – Ice Road Truckers, which is not a historical documentary, but rather a “reality” show like those on other channels.

It seems there was an overall change of programming at the History Channel, and shooting down Dogfights was just part of the larger shift towards shows of little historical content. The History Channel still has history, but it also has programs like Human Weapon, Tougher in Alaska, UFO Hunters and Monster Quest. Things you definitely would not find in a history book.

Dogfights Season 1 and Season 2 are on Amazon.

For what it’s worth, the Dogfights official website is here. It’s interesting to note they had their own flight simulator game.

If you want to stick it to the man, here’s some YouTube clips from the popular series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EadMxLadg18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI3dkZ0qBnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZmnVqkKapI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdCm5z2RpI8

Flight Simulator Multiple Monitors

After we released our first video featuring DIY Desktop Airliner Cockpit, several people emailed and asked how we set up the two monitors to work together. Actually, until then we thought it was just one of those things that “everybody” knows. Well, this reminded us that flight simulating is a growing hobby and new people are always climbing on board.

A flight sim pilot can use two monitors to effectively double the amount screen area he can observe at once. For example, the left screen can show the flight instruments and the view out the cockpit. The right screen can show the overhead panel, GPS, throttle quadrant, radio stack or ATC window. In Virtual Cockpit, the view spans all the way across both screens.

Or you can get creative and show flight instruments on one screen and see external views of your pretty airplane on the other.

Or get even more creative and use a projector to display the view out the front window on a large screen. Show your flight instruments on a conventional monitor.

There are a couple of ways to set up multiple monitors and we had a lot of material so we ended up making two free DIY videos (below). At least one of these methods should work for you. The only problem we’ve heard of so far (Oct 2008) is that Microsoft Vista Home Ultimate still can’t support multiple monitors with some new graphics cards like the nVidia GeForce 8800.

Part 1


Part 2


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Civil Air Patrol Aviation Business Academy

CAP and Evergreen teamed up recently and launched the first annual Capt. Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Business Academy held at the amazing Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

Well that’s superb, and rare that youth have an opportunity to learn about aviation entrepreneurship in this way. Innovation is closely related to entrepreneurship and a way to eventually improve the aviation industry.

Parts of the aviation industry tend to treat their machines better than their customers. Customer service at the airlines is awful, but not because the pilots or management (or the TSA) lack a certain technical knowledge. Likewise, in General Aviation it’s hard to find and retain a good Flight Instructor. Again, not because the CFI’s lack a technical knowledge, but many lack a focus on the customer.

On the other hand, many Air Charter operators seem to be experts in meeting and exceeding customer expectations. These companies are also much smaller than the one-size-fits-all airlines and also tend to be rather entrepreneurial. In fact, you can find several air charter pilots that own the charter business and the airplane they’re flying.

This new Aviation Business Academy is very interesting but there’s currently very little information about it on the web. Here’s a press release written prior to the academy at this link
and some cool pictures of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum here, but that’s about it.

The article in CAP Volunteer shows cadets presenting their aviation-related business plans. I bet that each cadet remembered to include a website in their business plan. It’s strange that the Aviation Business Academy apparently does not have one.

You can get the short article, and actually the entire Sep-Oct 2008 issue of the CAP Volunteer here.

2008 KC Air Show Videos

Just a couple of days after the 2008 Kansas City Air Show, there were several YouTube videos reporting the event. Nearly all the videos were terrible. Imagine someone pointing a camcorder at the sky during an earthquake and then showing you the video; several looked like that. One video was just a slide show of pictures. One video was actually just a train, no airshow just a dirty, squealing train. Stupid.

Ramsey Mohsen's excellent video stands apart from the mediocre. His 2008 KC Air Show video includes interviews with people in the crowd, a quick tour of a B-25 Mitchell, the Jet Powered Outhouse, and some Air Force Thunderbirds aerobatics.

But best of all, Ramsey interviewed Major T. Dyon Douglas from the USAF Thunderbirds. Very cool!

We will excuse Ramsey’s use of the most clichéd music in aviation history:




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Air Combat Training Simulators

One of our customers recently asked about the Air Combat Training Simulators (ACTS) machines pictured on our website and our videos.


There were two machines, ACTS1 and ACTS2 completed in early 2006. They were Roger Dodger Aviation’s first dedicated dogfighters and we flew hundreds of missions with them.

ACTS1 and ACTS2 are sturdy and heavy; built from wood, medium density fiberboard (MDF), and seats from a Dodge Caravan. The pilots view a large projected screen mounted on the wall and use the TrackIR system for view tracking. The TrackIR camera is mounted on a post in the pictures, but now it’s mounted on a HUD replica.

ACTS showed us that you shouldn’t build things that are difficult to climb in and out of. We discovered that a center-mounted joystick wasn't going to work well for this machine. People kept tripping over it, so we changed it to a side stick. We also cut out a section of the right sidewall to make it easier to enter/exit.

ACTS comes apart in sections to make it somewhat portable, but it’s still very awkward to try to move it anywhere. It was a real hassle to move it for the NY2LA for Diabetes fund raiser, and this led to the idea for the lighter, more mobile and more attractive Portable Aviation Combat Sim (PACS) DIY project videos we sell on DIYflightsims.com.

We sold the ACTS1 cockpit shell last week. We're still using ACTS2. There are several more pictures of ACTS1 on this page.

FAKE Video: Plane Lands After Losing Wing? 4.5 Reasons Why It’s Fake

Today we examine a YouTube video that shows a race plane losing a wing in flight and miraculously making a safe landing. We believe the video does not show a real event, but instead is a conscious effort to spread the brand of the KillaThrill sports apparel company via a viral video.

A successful viral video is a bit of a holy grail for advertisers. Imagine if you could entice people to voluntarily pass along your advertisement to their friends simply because the video is interesting. Free advertising doesn’t get any better than that.



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Here are 4.5 reasons why this video probably does not show a real event…

1. The plane approaches landing in a knife-edge pass and we expect to see the right horizontal stabilizer on the tail impact the ground first. Suddenly, some mysterious force simultaneously lifts the tail and rolls the airplane upright for landing. What was this force? The flight controls are less responsive at this slow speed, and the right aileron is gone, so we can rule out super-human piloting. The right horizontal stabilizer could not have bounced off the ground because there is clearly no damage to it. Some subtle video editing, not aerodynamics, must have played a part in this landing.

2. The plane doesn’t bounce correctly on landing. The plane makes a hard landing and bounces a few feet into the air. At this time, the airspeed is low, and the tail pitches up in response to the bounce. Every tail-wheel pilot knows what should happen next. There is nothing to stop the plane from impacting the ground with its lightweight tail high in the air, and its heavy nose plowing into the ground. As the propeller digs into the ground, the plane would flip over due to the sudden stop. But the airplane in the video makes an “amazing” soft landing based on video trickery, not physics.

3. The wing falls off during a routine low speed, low-G roll, yet holds up fine moments earlier during a four-G (at least) pull-up. Seems a bit odd.

4. AirRacer89 and MrMarodeur posted the same video on YouTube within two days of one another. Both videos have similar search tags. Both user profiles are based in Germany. As of this writing, both profiles have posted only one video: the one-wing landing. Both profiles list similar videos in their favorites. Here is a theory: maybe a guy at an ad agency posted the video first as MrMarodeur on October 25, and was disappointed with the low number of initial views, so he created the AirRacer89 profile on October 27 and posted the same video in order to spread the net a little wider.

4.5 Where did the race pylons go? At the beginning of the clip, you briefly can see the race plane zooming through Red-Bull style race pylons, but later when the airplane makes it's "amazing landing" the pylons are gone. This is only .5 of a reason because we don't see enough of the surrounding airport environment to tell for sure.

Bonus: RRRRUUUUUUUNNN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

What do you think? Real or fake? Does it matter? Do you feel like buying KillaThrill sports apparel now?

The pilot, James Andersson, swears it's real. See his interview.

Video: Flying Halloween Witch

Happy Halloween kiddies! If we had some flying monkeys to go along with this wicked witch on a broomstick, it would be perfect.



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Is this aviation entertainment? We would argue yes…it’s flying, and it’s sure to capture attention.

“The Right Stuff” – 25 Year Anniversary

The Right Stuff motion picture was released on October 21, 1983. Who among us hasn’t fantasized about busting through the sound barrier or being launched spaceward on the top of a Mercury Redstone rocket?

We remember these scenes from The Right Stuff, but also the intense competition to determine the USA’s first seven astronauts in history. Early NASA scientists didn’t exactly know what abilities humans would need to survive in space, so the astronaut candidates suffered through many physical and psychological tests that were later determined to be unnecessary.

BONUS: the real Chuck Yeager makes a cameo appearance in the movie at Pancho’s Happy Bottom Riding Club.

Here is a picture of the real Mercury Seven astronauts.
Back Row – Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper
Front Row – Walter Schirra, Donald Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter

What do you remember the most from The Right Stuff?

What is Aviation Entertainment?

Wally Meyer used the term “Aviation Entertainment” in 2007 to describe Roger Dodger Aviation's niche, but what is the aviation entertainment industry and how is it defined?

Depending on where your Google machine takes you, aviation entertainment can mean air show acts or in-flight movie systems or even Zero-G flights.

Air Shows and Fly-Ins
For starters, let’s say that aviation entertainment means large air shows featuring headliners like the US Navy Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds or Canadian Snowbirds and dozens of smaller acts. This is spectating at its finest and millions of people attend air shows annually.

EAA AirVenture and Sun’n’Fun draw large crowds of spectators, and also pilots that arrive in their own airplanes to attend. These events are also “fly-ins.”

Smaller community fly-ins should be included as aviation entertainment. These are technically not air shows because airspace is not set aside for an aerobatics box. Because of this, spectators may be offered the opportunity to fly in a real airplane. There are hundreds of fly-in events every year.

Scenic flights offered to the public are a statistically smaller segment of the industry. Some examples are flights over the Grand Canyon, beaches and the Plaza Lights in Kansas City.

RC, Flight Sims, etc.
After this point, the definitions of aviation entertainment become a little less clear. For example, should radio-controlled airplanes be included in aviation entertainment? At an RC air show, the crowd watches small airplanes flying aerobatics up close instead of large airplanes far away and the people seem to be equally entertained.

What about aviation museums like the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum, or the Strategic Air and Space Museum or the dozens of smaller museums? People can see the airplanes on static display here, similar to the static displays an air show or fly-in.

Are flight simulators a part of aviation entertainment? Expensive aircraft training simulators are a part of the flight training industry, so are inexpensive hobby flight sims a part of aviation entertainment? One could simply lump the flight simmers in with the computer gaming crowd, but that would ignore the fact that flight sims are appearing at fly-ins and air shows as attractions in their own right. This is starting to bridge the gap between real and sim flying, and between spectator and participant.

These two examples here and here show the artful blending of both real and aviation attractions. These locations are in Europe where the cost of real flying is much higher than the USA. Could America be headed this direction?

Flying for Fun
Most pilots fly for fun. FAA statistics show that the aircraft hours logged for personal flying are significant and outnumber the hours logged for business, corporate, instructional, crop dusting, etc. The number of airplanes flown for personal use outnumbers all other types as well. It’s ironic that we never seem to hear much about that. Many people think of boating, skiing, bicycling, camping and sports as obvious recreational activities, but flying doesn’t often come to mind.

Are these valid examples? Is there a definition for the aviation entertainment industry that would sum up these examples?

3 Ways to Improve Attendance at Your Aviation Events

Many non-profit aviation organizations like museums, the Commemorative Air Force (CAF), Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapters, etc. host public events. These events are often the best opportunities to attract new members or generate revenue for the group. Also, these events feed the “soul” of the organizations by promoting the joy of flight, the beauty of aircraft, honoring veterans, etc. So one of the most vital parts of having an event is ensuring people actually show up to it.

Here are three ideas that can help.

1. Website
Every volunteer organization must have a useful website or eventually disappear. A website should showcase the upcoming events, and also do a great job of showing how fun the past events were. The website should also have multiple ways for a visitor to call or email questions, or sign up to be notified of future events.

Websites do not need to be fancy. The fancy stuff tends to annoy and distract the reader from real information. Websites must be relevant and updated and updated and updated. There I said it three times. Even a blog will do. If there is nobody currently in the organization that can pull this off, hire someone.

2. Fly-In calendars
This is like posting flyers on airport bulletin boards, but 100 times better. Post your event information on ALL of these calendars and include the link back to your excellent website.
Barnstormers.com
Fly-ins.com
EAA Aviation Calendar of Events
APOA online fly-in calendar
Airshow Calendar
Fly-In Calendar

3. Google Adwords advertising
Yes, Google Adwords. Online advertising has surpassed newspaper, magazine and radio advertising because it is so scalable and versatile. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot, actually it can cost almost nothing, it all depends on how cheap your organization is…or rather how effective you want to be.

Scalable means you can set an advertising budget as cheap and ineffective as $5 bucks a month or more effective like $100 bucks a month or more. You only get charged when someone clicks on your ads, so you’re only spending money on people that are at least mildly interested. Will they be interested enough to actually show up to your event? That’s up to you. Your Google ad links back to your website which should be excellent, helpful, relevant, and updated.

These are just three ideas to increase the attendance at aviation events in addition to the more traditional methods like newspaper classifieds, signs, and flyers on the bulletin boards. What others can you think of?

The Top Ten DIY Flight Sims Cockpit Construction Tools

We have a whole workshop full of tools that we use to build our home-made flight simulator projects, but we tend to use these ten tools a lot more than the others.

1. Drill / cordless drill
We would just say cordless drill, but the battery occasionally runs down at the most inconvenient times, so we have the old reliable regular drill to fall back on.

2. Cordless electric screwdriver
This isn’t our cordless screwdriver, it’s a picture of a similar model. We sacrificed ours to science by using the parts to create a jack-screw pitch attitude trim system for the MAACS flight simulator. Turns out we didn’t need it. It was a wonderfully useful tool and I miss it.

3. Chop saw (miter saw)
This single tool makes things 1000% percent easier. You can get by doing infrequent projects with just a hand miter saw, but if you’re going to cut a lot of 2x4’s and PVC pipe like we do, there’s just no choice but to get a chop saw. With the proper blade, it even cuts through metal. Love it.

4. Box knife
The lowly box knife. So simple, but so very useful. This isn’t even a high quality box knife and it’s still useful.






5. Tape measure
It seems like we’re always reaching for the tape measure. Keep one in the workshop, one in the garage, one upstairs, one downstairs. I usually have one clipped to my belt whenever I go to the hardware store. Make sure at least one tape measure is both metric and standard.


6. Adjustable crescent wrench
You can get by most projects with a crescent wrench and a 7/16” wrench and a 9/16” wrench for the ¼” bolts and the 3/8” bolts respectively. If you’re going after larger projects, just get a socket set and ratchet wrench.



7. Sharpie marker
Sharpies are great. If you’re doing a lot of drawing on dark colored medium density hardboard (MDF) or any other dark material, use a silver-colored Sharpie.





8. Paint brush or roller
Paint your flight simulator project.
Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it twice. Paint makes your project look wonderful. Regular interior latex paint is cheap, convenient, and readily available. Keep the paint brush or roller in a ziplock bag in your refrigerator in between coats. It will actually keep wet for weeks.

Paint your flight simulator project. There I said it three times.

9. Caulking gun
Many of the DIY Flight Sims projects use PVC pipe, and we use our trusty Liquid Nails and a caulking gun to glue these pieces together. It’s much more easy to work with than quick-drying, noxious PVC cement.




10. Safety glasses
Are safety glasses a tool? Technically no, but they sure are important, especially if you visit a Federal Aviation Administration Designated Medical Examiner every year. I don’t want a stupid mistake in the workshop to affect my FAA medical certificate.



Did I miss one? What other wonderfully useful tool should be on this list?

The Red Baron vs. Snoopy

The Dawn Patrol of Liberty Landing has done an amazing thing (again). They built a replica of the DR-1 Fokker Triplane, that the Red Baron flew in World War I. Here is Dick Lemons flying it….



And here is Snoopy getting shot down. I couldn’t resist.



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Use a Projector for your Flight Simulator

We’ve been using projectors (or beamers) for our flight simulators from the very beginning and you can too. The idea is to fill the pilot’s field of view as much as possible for a more immersive experience. The sky is big, so the screen that displays your simulated sky should be big too.

The trade-off is that many affordable LCD or DLP projectors have a lower screen resolution than comparable conventional computer monitors. As you shop for projectors with better screen resolutions, the prices climb exponentially.

Projector manufacturers prefer to describe screen resolution with cryptic acronyms instead of just telling us what the resolution is. Here are some common resolutions:
SVGA = 800x600
XGA = 1024x768
SXGA = 1280x1024
UXGA = 1600x1200

Here’s a video clip of the Dogfight Club using three flight sims with XGA 1024x768 projectors:



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Another consideration is how many hours the projector lamp will last. The lamps in our Dell 2300MP projectors are rated for 2000 hours. How much is 2000 hours? Think of it like this. If you work at a job for eight hours a day, five days a week for a year, and take two weeks off for vacation, then that’s about 2000 hours. That’s a lot of flight simming!

One more note about projector lamps. We all know that we must allow the internal fan to cool the lamp after we turn off the projector, so don’t unplug the projector while the fan is running. That’s fine, but we occasionally have electricity failures here. If the power failed while a projector is running, the lamp would burn up from the excess heat and we would be stuck replacing a $400 lamp. So we recommend using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) for $40 or $50. That will give you enough time to safely power down the projector.

So what is all this talk about buying a projector? We’re Do-It-Yourselfers, right? Well there are websites like LumenLab dedicated to DIY projectors. We experimented with a DIY projector, but found it to be large, heavy, and not as versatile as factory projectors. Not to mention, we had plenty of other projects to work on.

So projectors are a pretty good thing for stationary flight simulators (and home theaters). Stay tuned! The future may bring awesome wrap-around LED screens or high quality virtual reality headsets.

Protect those ears at the Airshow!

You already have built in hearing protection so you don't need to buy the expensive earplugs at the airshow, right? You have natural earplugs installed at the tips of both index fingers. But manually holding your ears makes it terribly difficult if you are also trying to capture pictures or video or eat or if you're just trying to enjoy yourself.

photo by Christine Dollase




So don't forget your hearing protection.

"What?"

I SAID DON'T FORGET YOUR HEARING PROTECTION ! !