
Man flies 737 from his garage - argumentum
http://photos.mercurynews.com/2012/04/video-pleasanton-man-flies-a-boeing-737-in-his-garage/9029/
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TamDenholm
I'm waiting for homeland security to visit him and ask him what the hell he
thinks he is doing building a terrorist training device in secret.

Jokes aside that's a pretty sweet setup, I'd like to see one for driving a car
or flying a helicopter.

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delinka
So he's not remote controlling a 737, he's built a flight simulator in his
garage. HN title makes the article a letdown.

~~~
quink
Instead of remote controlling a 737 with, and not much more is needed
theoretically client-side, a PC, he rebuilt the entire flight deck of one.

I hardly see this as a letdown.

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Retric
You could remote control a 737 with an iPad. This is just to make a flight
simulator more engaging.

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andrewfelix
My favourite hackers are the ones who do it for fun. I don't imagine he has
any aspirations of being acquired by Google. He does it because he loves it.

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imjk
I love these stories of nerds who take their hobbies to the next level.
Reminds me of the guy who built a Lamborghini in his basement:
[http://www.geekologie.com/2008/10/man-builds-lamborghini-
cou...](http://www.geekologie.com/2008/10/man-builds-lamborghini-countac.php)

There's also this incredible miniature airport someone built:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8bZbC-xfMg>

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brunnsbe
The miniature airport is in Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg:
<http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com> World's largest model railway.

~~~
bitwize
That layout never fails to impress me. So detailed it has miniature traffic
accidents, miniature bank robberies, and one time I think I saw a miniature
terrorist incident.

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evoxed
Would anyone happen to know the requirements for simulators built for flight
training use? You need quite a few hours on the simulator before you can
really get to work on your pilot's license, renting the thing out during work
hours to certified flight instructors/schools during the day would be a hell
of a side business.

~~~
exDM69
If you need something FAA certified, it's going to cost you a whole lot more
than a non-certified one. X-Plane flight sim is available with certification
for flight instruction use. It costs more than the desktop version.

For a private pilot's licence you're not required to have any sim time, but
it's a very good idea anyway. But if you just want to practice your upcoming
flying lesson with an instructor in a real airplane, pretty much any modern
flight simulator is good enough for basic training. Off the shelf gaming
controllers are good enough. You don't need a certified sim for that.

For commercial pilots flying passenger jets, there are big simulators that are
different beasts.

~~~
ajross
Last I remember, the FAA doesn't certify software. A certified simulator is a
hardware installation. There's really nothing specific required of the
software; early "certified" simulators were just instrument gauges and a
trivially simple flight model. There are some FlightGear-based training
devices too.

~~~
exDM69
It may be that you need a certification for each hardware installation
separately. However, there are software requirements for FAA certification.
This is from X-Plane Professional description: "It provides hardware and
frame-rate checks required for FAA certification of the simulator".

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alphakappa
The video was a letdown - all that talking and not one detail about how it was
put together (other than the part about it being a boeing nose cone, but that
was obvious).

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paulirish
Here's the most detail he has: <http://www.737simguy.com/OldSite/tools.htm>

He posted 2 weeks ago that he's working on a new site:
<http://www.737simguy.com/>

~~~
unwind
Considering the praise he heaps on the EPIC input controller, the website for
that product (<http://www.mindspring.com/~rrelect/epic/info/teaser.shtml>) is,
dare I say it, almost epically underwhelming. :| I tried to find out a) what
it looks like and b) how much it costs, just out of general interest, and
failed on both.

~~~
Retric
With 300+ buttons, I don't think it's a controller like your thinking of. So
much as an interface you can attach your own buttons to.

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orjan
Sweden's IDG.se had an article recently on some enthusiasts building a 737
simulator. Article in Swedish, Google Translate might be helpful:
[http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.441624/sa-bygger-du-din-egen-
flyg...](http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.441624/sa-bygger-du-din-egen-flygsimulator
---del-1)

The web site of the society who built it: <http://www.swesim.se/>

The 737 isn't the only simulator they've got, among others they have a Viggen
simulator (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_37_Viggen>).

(edit: formatting)

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larrys
I wonder after 3 years of work on something like this how do you protect
and/or insure it from fire or mischief as only one example? Security wise
seems to be an issue making something like this so public (although I can
certainly understand why you would want to show what you have built.)

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RoryH
He uses Flight Simulator 2002 via networked machines for each screen!... I'm
surprised he couldn't get one rig to run all the screens now. Really
impressive setup.

~~~
exDM69
He might need proprietary software to power his cockpit, and that might not be
available for newer versions of Flight Simulator (w/ multi screen support).

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sparknlaunch12
How much did he pay (time and cost)?

You can rent and buy these sort if simulators. Prices range from a few grand
per month to millions.

Obviously you miss out on the build process.

~~~
edu
The video says he spent 3 years building it, nothing about the money.

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bitwize
I was gonna say, is this about John Travolta?

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mukaiji
This guy = Hacker all of fame.

todo: pay him a visit.

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joshaidan
This guy is no 501 programmer!!!

