The "foundation" is still FS2004 providing the Flight "environment" with "add-ons" like Ultimate Terrain, Active Sky (weather), REX2004, a SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) 70m ground terrain mesh, and a lot of high-detailed EU airports.
For the actual B737 system / overhead and Glass Cockpit simulation we use Project Magenta Boeing 737 suite.

A switch to FSX is not planned until there are more Scandinavian 3rd part airports available.
Also, SE-LEH will have difficulties with getting enough frame rate when running FSX on three projectors.

Other goodies :
Buttkicker Gamer "chair shaker" for CPT side, Fully featured Auto Brake Pro system from TSR, Environmental HD sounds. Collins 2100 WX Radar, Instructor Station, TopCat Dispatch program, TSR Electronic checklist and full Electronic Flight Bag. Nearly ALL available FS9 European add-on airport scenery installed.

Page changes today :
Technical Pages - Fire Panel interfacing and Intercom system, ACARS program and ACARS printer

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News - News - News !

In the works right now :

Next session in the workshop :

Both sims: ACARS Printers for Wx and loadsheet.

Latest installed/ready items :

Chronological "milestones" :

Simulator #1 SE-LEH a "full" simulator, later with some motion (via already installed pneumatic lifters).

Welded sim steel base.
The pneumatic lifters can lift/sink the whole sim 30 cm in each corner.
We hope to be able to create an effect slightly similar to a motion simulator.

SE-LEH now in a flyable state - ( Overhead, roof and backwall unmounted in the picture below. )
The "outside view" is projected on a 2.2 x 9 meter semicircular screen by three BenQ 782ST WXGA projectors.
A Matrox TH2G generates a "composite" picture of front and side views to the projectors giving a 225 degree field of vision.
"Warped" to fit the circular screen with Warpalizer. FS9 zoom factor = 0.50 in the picture.

Perfect, really unbelievable immersion compared with a single front view. Very slight pixellation which you will not recognize.
When standing behind the seats in turns you have to hold on to the seats or you will fall !
A 3 projector setup gives the best possible immersion factor in a simulator - far more important than a motion system.
Similar setups can be found on the DC-10 and CV440 simulators at Vasteras Aircraft Museum in Sweden.

Hong Kong Kai Tak - VHHX

Flight at Macau - VMMC

Semicircular screen build- 225 deg FOV

Chairs monted on selfmade J-rails

Ceiling mount with "slides" for the three BenQ beamers. Adjustable in all directions.

Backlighting MIP panels
To get the correct orange color on the panels with pure white LED backlight - an easy way is to apply an adhesive orange color filter (can be puchased from theater light suppliers). The annunciators are not yet installed, only the faces - thus get white text in the picture.

Simulator #2 SE-BOH is a bit "simpler" - state below is of today.

The sim is in "Operational" condition since spring 2009 and on the VATSIM network as SAS807 now and then.

Due to the heat generated in the relatively small sim room from the 7 PC:s a 9000 BTU aircond is now installed.
A BenQ 782ST ultra short throw projector is used for the outside view on a 100" (2.20 mtr wide) projection screen.

The old RS232 MCP and radios from CP Flight red LED:s are now equipped with yellow 7 segment LED:s - a big difference!
At the same time the MCP was "retrofitted" with SPD and ALT INTERVENTION buttons.
The yellow 7 segment LED:s were bought from Open Cockpits at 1 € each.

Some really nice new FS9 scenery added :
London City Airport with a 5.5 degree ILS to a 1508 meter runway. (Not authorized for B737 ops though, but still immense fun in a light 737)
A brand new co-partner to Fly Tampas Kai Tak (Hong-Kong) = MACAU (VMMC) from Thai Creation scenery developers.
Both are Highly recommended as they are nicely made and has most interesting approaches.
Macau has one 54 degrees offset VOR/DME approach like the old Kai Tak IGS13 approach :-)

The SYMULATORY FWD overhead panel and its welded support stand.

The Overhead Panel
This is a "low cost" Overhead from Symylatory in Poland that gives a lot of "bang for the bucks".
The quality is high, including the laser engraving and the panel finish.
Arrived well packed with all panels premounted in the "panel box".
Dummy faces for all instrument were included as well as Boeing type knobs, all switches and LED:s! Highly recommended.

All gauges as well as MIP Flap gauge and Brake Accu gauge are now fully working with SIOC and two OC servocards.
Gauge build quality is OK, but SIOC script costruction can be a bit troublesome if you lack programming skills.
If you need a SIOC script for the OH send us an email.

All OH wiring were done with thin flat cables (9 lines each) running in five front to back 16x10 mm "U" shaped alu "boxes" with the LED backlight strips attached to the bottom. The cable choise was made to get a minimum backlight obstruction.

Backlighting was easy for the OH gauges - we attached 4 LED:s per gauge.
But ... they also need some sort of "front lighting" as the gauge needles otherwise are hard to see in the dark sim environment.
The now pure white backlight will be changed to amber by fitting color filter over the LED strips.

A Cabin Altitude Controller card from our friend Pim van Vrijaldenhoven in Holland is fitted.
pmSystems does not support any controller, so its use is more "eye candy" - in ProSim however, the controller is supported.
The AC/DC panel is populated with green 7 segment LED:s showing a static "fake" status - An idea from our friend Ian Sissons in Wales http://www.737ng.co.uk

A SYS1x card from Flightdeck Solutions in Canada, connects all annunciators and switches to pmSystems.
Highly recommended.
You assign all switches and annunciators via software AFTER they are connected so No need at all for tedious "cable marking" work.
This card will also interface the Weather Radar Panel and engine / cargo Fire Suppression panels.

My Old CH USB Yoke
Was not "up to par" with the new shiny ACE CPT side yoke, so Lasse sprayed it black and made a chart holder for it in aluminium.
Looks good now I think and sits on F/O side. The "checklist yellow reminder button is movable too *L*

A RCDU "dummy" from Engravity is installed on F/O side .
Later on it will be equipped with a 5 " LCD screen to show a cloned copy of CPT CDU page.

This is how the revamped CDU Bay Lid looks like and it is now up and working with an LCD screen for Lower EICAS
FDS CDU on left and Engravity (dummy) CDU on right:

A Sim Control Panel is installed in the "radiobox" with mini joysticks (hat switches) for TSR checklist, push back, pan and view control,
Custom made laser engraved ( backlighted ) panel from Hispapanels. Interfaced via a "Leo Bodnar" card See more on Tech Page !

Boeing 737 Clock from Flight Illusion will replace the "homebrewed" one on CPT side.

Lately installed and working items are:

TSR (Thomas Richter) programs: ... Autobrake Pro, Electronic Checklist, Center Tank Aural warning and APU fuel control.

Outside Visuals
Super Short Throw BenQ 782ST WXGA projector (native 1280x800 pixels).
A Front view is projected from a thow distance of 106 cm and gives a stunning 100" picture = 221 x 125 cm in 16:9 format.
The sim room is too small for a three projector setup - which would have given optimal immersion.
Black curtains are installed on both sides between the screen and the MIP for improved immersion.

The a/c panel.cfg file has to be tweaked so it stops the feel that you "taxi sideways" - this is a FS "feature" when you are positioned offset from the center of a large screen with the front view. Either you have to "tweak" it so the CPT side gets optimal view - or the F/O side. If you do not, both sides will give you a "crabbing" aircraft effect.

SA-WXR Weather Radar takes its "echoes" from FS9 weather and not from downloaded satellite pictures.
Simulates all Collins WXR2100 radar modes incl. controllable tilt angle. Controlled via the Radar Panel in the radiobox.
The SYS1x card from Flightdeck solutions will interface the radar.

The radar picture is projected as an ND overlay CPT and F/O when WXR is selected on the EFIS controller.

Engine and Cargo Fire Supression Panels are installed in the Center Pedestal
Fully Interfaced now by PHIDGET 0/16/16 card and FSPS Fire System 2 software.
FSPS have a superb support !

B737 Yoke at CPT side from Ali at ACE Canada became a real "ACE".
Superb B737 heavy yoke feeling and the whole setup on CPT side suddenly became terrific.
The responses are immediate and firm and the manufacturing quality excellent. The support from ACE is very good.
Highly recommended and best yoke for any price.

SAITEK Pro Pedals as Companion to this yoke- also another evolution step from the old CH Pedals.
The Saiteks have longer rudder movement = better resolution, better pots and above all they fit (almost) around the ACE Yoke base. The old CH Yoke and Pedals are now moved to the F/O side.
The F/O side yoke and pedals when connected are given priority only when the CPT side yoke is not in use.

A full duplex control = coupled yokes/pedals on both sides is mechanically difficult unless you have a "cockpit floor" that can accomodate the cables/rods neccessary.

A perfect Ground Steering Tiller replica from Routek in Romania.
http://www.flying-the-winglets.de gave me this clever and really simple idea.
The solution is a Thrustmaster 5 in 1 car racing wheel housing mounted in an 30 deg angled alu foundation and attached to the MIP.
An axis made of a 10 mm bolt is welded into a 20 mm pipe connecting the tiller handle with the TM housing.
The TM 5-1 have good construction, is very cheap (30 €), small and USB interfaced. It is "self centering",
but it needed a bit of extra resistance made with two rubber bungees attached to a pin through the axis.

At the same time the CPT EFB screen was downsized from 17" to a more normal 10.4" touch screen.
The reason for the 17" screen was that the overhead was handled on this screen but it is now obsolete as I have a hardware Overhead Panel in place.

Center Pedestal
2x COM / 2x NAV / XPONDER / 2x ADF / Trim Panel / Radar Panel plus a special sim control panel. .... (See pictures higher up)
Due to space restrictions it is built like a B737-200 dual row "radiobox" while the NG:s have three rows.

Addition to come: an ACARS printer for loadsheets and METAR.- actually a small POS (Point of sale) printer.
A new radio bay with 3 rows will soon be needed :-)
PM will have support for printing METAR from the CDU. Loadsheet can be printed from TopCat.

Sim Room Airconditioner - 9000 BTU a/c is installed to fight the heat from the now 7 computers and projector.

Buttkicker Gamer bass shaker give vibrations in the CPT chair during taxi, takeoff, flap retraction, gear etc. etc..
A very nice addition to the sim "immersion"

Computing Power:

A Gigabit LAN with six computers:
Four P4 equipped Shuttle "shoebox" PC:s, one fast Instructor PC and one fast(er) PC for FS9.
Core2Duo (E8500) 3.2 Ghz processors on the Instructor and FS9 PC:s, 4GB RAM and Nvidia GeF Graphics card.
As new computing power is always needed and the Sandy Bridge Intel 2700K processor will be in the FS computer early 2012.
The difference will be big with overclocks to 4.5 - 4.8 GHZ possible with only air cooling.

Software programs:

Project Magenta or the new ProSim, is as we see it, a MUST HAVE for a B737 sim with the ambition to replicate a real B737.
PM is "pricey" and does not offer any more functionality or support than ProSim.
Other possible software solutions - read PMDG 737NGX or I-Fly 737 are all very good FS add-on:s, but not designed to run a hardware based sim. FS9 and FSX are stil both good platforms. FS9 especially if you use a 3 projector set-up as computing power for FSX is then still too low.
In a sim like this you have anyway invested minimum 10-20.000 €, so no reson to limit the use by less than good software.

TSR - Thomas Richter have a nice add-on to pmSystems that gives realistic autobrakes and output to the preesure gauge on the MIP.
This program even caters for contaminated runways.
TSR also have the optional B737 integrated Electronic Checklist. Both programs can reside anywhere in the LAN.

FSPS in Greece - 737NG FIRE SYSTEM 2 - software that gives full functionality to both Engine and Cargo Fire Panels.
and their Dolby Cockpit Sounds program give all wind/speed related sounds plus some others like brake sounds etc.

More on TECHNICAL page