One Last Experiment for the MAACS Project?

The Moving Axis AirCraft Simulator was our popular 2008 research project that combined a moving base flight simulator with a virtual reality headset. We learned a lot from the project, but MAACS may have one last experiment to perform.

During construction, we made about 20 video logs that detailed the designs and design changes along the way. It shows the gadgets and techniques we tried, the tests and the trials. I am considering publishing all the videos in a 20 episode YouTube series. This series will show the public the behind-the-scenes story of the MAACS project for the first time ever.

Things don't go smoothly all the time in this series. There is a lot of trial and error. A lot of ideas we were originally excited about, get tossed after they are found unworkable. My hope is that this series will inspire people to experiment, to try, to create and to accept the inevitable failures along the way. I want to show that it's ok to try a lot of things, keep what works and learn from the things that didn't work.

So, is this a good idea? Should I even bother?

I'm Killing the Fun Zone

The Aviation Fun Zone will be totally deleted from the Internet on, say, April 21st or so. I just learned that the way I created those web pages is bad for our Google pagerank and other things. So if you need a paper airplane with pirate markings on it, or if you want to watch Battle of the X-Planes, or if you want to play Time Fighter, do it before 04/21/2009.

Each one of those pages is almost identical to the others except for slightly different content. For example, each paper airplane page is the same except for a link to a different paper airplane print out. Likewise, each movie page is the same, but with a different embedded movie. Same with the video games. You can read more here about why that's bad.

North Korean Moon Mission (from The Onion)

After North Korea's launch last week of the Taepodong-2 rocket, supreme leader Kim Jong-Il has announced plans to attach rockets to the Moon and tow it back to North Korea where it will be put on display. Video from The Onion:


Kim Jong Il Announces Plan To Bring Moon To North Korea

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Watch All 10 Episodes of “Carrier” Online

Follow the crew of the massive aircraft carrier USS Nimitz during a grueling six month war-time deployment to the Persian Gulf. A team of documentary filmmakers embedded with the crew reveal the intimate and honest reality of the sailors, pilots and officers. CARRIER shows how these Americans navigate personal conflicts around their family, faith, duty, patriotism and individual roles in war.

The series was originally broadcast on Public Television Stations. You can see all 10 episodes online free at this link. Here is a short clip from Episode 5:



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Red Star vs. The Dragon Air Show Act

The summer air show season is fast approaching. Red Star vs. the Dragon is an entertaining air show act that adds a bit of melodrama and character to the summer skies. The show consists of the boldly painted L-29 Red Star and a BAC 167 Strikemaster painted up like a really pissed-off dragon. The best part is that one of the pilots plays up his part as a former-communist-block character.


There is an inevitable clash of ego and insults and the peaceful air show demonstration reverts to a staged jet dogfight to the delight of the audience. You know this is a heck of a lot better than hearing Bette Midler’s “Wing Beneath My Wings”……..again!

The here video shows some footage of the act, but no sound. Apparently, those naughty boys didn’t have permission to use their chosen music, and YouTube muted the video. Bad dragon!



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DIY Flight Simulator: Easy Airliner Cockpit

The Easy Airliner Cockpit enclosure is a new Do-It-Yourself Flight Simulator project. People love to simulate airliners with their flight sims and the cockpit enclosure makes it a fun immersive experience. The project includes two modified keyboards with buttons that correspond to the Mode Control Panel and the overhead panel...you don't have to memorize a bunch of key commands, they're all labeled for you.

The keyboard mods also have new overlays that make the panels look like a CRJ700, a Boeing 737, or an Airbus A320...the default airliners in FSX.



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Customers can instantly download the DIY videos and instruction manuals from DIYflightsims.com. Customers save money because the company doesn't manufacture or ship the products. The materials for this DIY project are already in most people's home town on the shelves at Home Depot, Lowe's or the local hardware store.

The DIY Easy Airliner Cockpit is made from plastic PVC pipe, Styrofoam insulation, a basement window well cover and a couple of standard computer keyboards. It can fit one, two or three monitors. The instructions show you how to adjust the enclosure to fit.

See more pictures and a video of the DIY Easy Airliner Cockpit and the gray modified keyboards here.

Beautiful Air-to-Air Video of RC Planes

I never thought that a video of RC airplanes could be beautiful, but this one is. Both planes have tiny onboard cameras that show a pilots-eye view from the tiny aircraft. It’s called First Person Video (FPV).

But this video has much more than just FPV. It has air-to-air footage from an RC camera plane as it follows an RC seaplane. RC air-to-air video? Has that ever been done before?

The RC seaplane is a scale replica of a Blohm & Voss BV 138. Its on-board camera is inside its tiny cockpit and the camera moves as a pilot would move his head during flight.


FPV Air2Air Hydroplane from flip on Vimeo.

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Bonus: the seaplane takes off from a pristine lake in the early morning hours. The sun is glinting off the water and the surrounding landscape is green and beautiful.