Nov 03
Ground School I started flight school knowing that I would need a minimum of a year before I got my license and that I would come out knowing more about aviation than I ever thought possible. Yesterday, I took the FAA Private Pilot knowledge exam and I passed with a 95%! Out of 60 questions, …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/11/03/flight-training-update-passed-the-private-pilot-exam/
Oct 03
I took a few days to make my own scenery files of my home airport, KUGN and surrounding area to help me practice my cross-country flight planning. By using Ortho4XP, which is just fantastic for creating realistic ground textures using actual satellite imagery. I learned how to use it from this video from Q8 Pilot …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/10/03/flight-planning-and-x-plane-11/
Oct 01
Computer Specs I built a custom PC based on the need to have 2 16X PCI Express slots for dual video cards. Motherboard – Z270 Gaming Pro Motherboard Processor – Intel Core i7-7700K CPU @ 4.20Ghz Memory – 40GB RAM, probably overkill but I had some lying around. Couldn’t hurt. Hard Drive – 256MB SSD …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/10/01/my-system/
Sep 02
I have had a minor obsession with motion platforms for the past couple years and have tried to build one off and on for awhile. I finally realized that I don’t have the mechanical knowledge to build something that’s going to work well and I wasn’t really having any fun building it. Although, I did …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/09/02/motion-platform-addition/
Sep 01
This is the first post in a series about the tools I use to create my cockpits. The Glowforge is the first in my list as it’s the newest addition and really fun to use, although I’ve breathed so many plastic fumes now from it, I’m sure that’s not good. I had an automated search …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/09/01/the-glowforge/
Aug 15
I’ve been trying to design my own motion platform for awhile now. Before starting on the mechanics, which is the hard part for me as I’m not that mechanically inclined. I started with electronics design and communication from X-Plane. I chose to start with the ArdSimX Interface for communication to control stepper motors, based on …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/08/15/motion-platform-notes/
Aug 02
I took the opportunity this year to head to Osh Kosh with my future son-in-law, Aaron, and two good friends, Buckley and Dave, who happen to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything aviation. Buckley was my inspiration to fly in the first place and Dave has trainee as an acrobatic pilot! We made a great …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/08/02/eaa-airventure-2017/
Jul 14
Weeks of work went into this upgrade. I redesigned the main panels in Adobe Illustrator and cut them on the CNC (only 6 tries to get it right this time).Each panel was designed meticulously using Autodesk Fusion 360, which has become my new go-to for anything that needs to be 3D printed or CNC cut/engraved. …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/07/14/flight-simulator-build-3-3d-printed-instruments-and-custom-electronics/
Jun 15
I’ve been using X-Plane off and on for years now, started with X-Plane 7 and have upgraded ever since. X-Plane 11 is just amazing. It has really come a long way over the years with a massive user base and 3rd party plugins to add any number of options you desire, from flight planning to …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/06/15/why-do-i-use-x-plane/
May 10
The goal with this build was to get it working as fast as possible. This build uses 3 Windows Pro tablets, all running Sim Innovations Air Manager. The left panel would run all six pack instruments, plus VOR/Tach, the center would run at least one Garmin 430 and the right panel would run all of my engine …
Permanent link to this article: http://m1sims.com/2017/05/10/flight-simulator-build-2-cnc-cut-control-panel-with-saitek-panels/