Well this year the goal is to post on post/page a week. I’m gonna try and have these ready a month in advance. But now on to my current flt simgear both soft and hardware.
For software I mainly use X-Plane 11 and DCS : World 2.5.
XP11 is a general and commercial aviation platform with almost any aircraft made available. Plus you have the entire earth to fly. There are both great default aircraft and scenery areas and freeware and payware addon aircraft and scenery. If you want to fly x from y to z I bet you can. This platform has progressed so much in this version from 11.0 to today it has matured and added many features to make it the premiere civilian flight simulator. It was on the forefront of virtual reality and now is one of the most vr immersive platform out there.
The other flt sim I prefer is Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) : World. This is a combat flight sim with limited aircraft and ground area. Currently the aircraft selection is good as they have aircraft from wwii to current . Helicopters from the Russian, French and good ole USA. The ground maps are very limited but detail but not to real world definition. The sim comes with two aircraft , one red and one blue plus the Caucasus region of Russia for free. The add on mods is where the money is. Currently besides the Caucasus DCS has three other maps out the Normandy map designed for those who want to fly the warbirds like in wwii. You got the Nevada Test and Training Ranges NTTR which is the only us map. It host all the civilian and military airfields in southern Nevada, and its gem is las Vegas and the strip.
For hardware I have way to much to name. But I’m going to give you an idea of what I’m working towards. My goal when semi completed, since I dont think it will ever be finished as I think it’s a living thing. That idea is to with minimum effort and time be able to control any aircraft sheathed it’s controlled by a collective and cyclic, stick and single engine throttle, stick and twin engine throttle , yoke and multi engine throttle, that stick can be centered on you or off to the right like a f-16 or right seat airbus. You can drive any auto, run any tractor or heavy equipment and last but not least train. Yes with a virtual reality head mounted display a controller or three and a vet gizmo to act as the mouse but isn’t you cockpit is easily converted to the aircraft, vehicle or train cab you desire.
For controllers I have Thrustmaster Warthog and Cougar HOTAS sets, plus the TPR rudder pedals. Add in a Maxflight collective, a honeycomb Alpha Yoke and soon to be released Beta Throttle. I also have a Thrustmaster driving set with steering wheel with paddle shifter, accelerator and brake pedals. I still need to buy the farming controls from thrustmaster master and one of the train controllers.
Other non primary items i have include Thrustmaster Cougar MFCDs, Saitek switch, radio, auto pilot, and gear/flap panels. The saitek are still in storage with a pro wheel stand that has a saitek yoke with two throttle quadrants, and a set of saitek pedals. There’s also a saitek trim wheel out there. I have the Saitek X-56 hotas but did care for it. I have a Pro Flight Trainer Puma helicopter hotas. My backup/portable controllers are a vkb gladiator, Thrustmaster twcs throttle, vkb pedals. I use a wireless trackball in place of a mouse. Until the boss is assembled the pc is a Acer Predator 17X with a 2tb nvme gum drive and a 4tb sata ssd for Drives.
The pit started as a Speedmaster Flight Seat that has a tubular caged front in. I added a monitor mount to it for a 32″ curved screen monitor.
That the taster of what’s going on. Hopefully in a couple months I’ll be able to put you in the pit and have everything I hope for working and you loose yourself in that cool experience.
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