How to attach a real 747 cockpit to your house.

[747_Classic_Sim]

Hello fellow sim builders! 

I learned of this site from James Price, who I've been working with since 1997.  This is the first site I've seen where serious enthusiasts can gather and discuss things "on topic" without degrading into a Facebook kind of chaos. 

I started with a military simulator back in the late 90s and updated it until 2008 when I simply got tired of reworking the same project.  I have a 6 year outdated, but still up and running, website at www.mattssimulator.com where you can see where I was with it in 2006.  The fighter sim been updated many times since that website was abandoned and I'll post a few pictures.  I have since kept it operational, but don't plan on reworking it any longer.  But it's an important intro to the 747 project I'm working on now. 

When I decided to "go commercial" James Price and I visited a Victorville, CA boneyard to select a 747-300 cockpit for me and there's nothing like standing next to something as huge as a 747.  The wheels alone made James and I look like midgets.  But the adventure of restoring a 747 cockpit for historical preservation and simulator use is covered in the attached .pdf file, which is rather large at about 6mb. 

Building upon the interface designs to the real "steam gauges" in the military sim provides me with the knowhow to get this old analog cockpit back in working order again.  And with the quality of simulated panels, like the CDUs I saw in James' cockpit last I visited him, made me realize there's still some of us out there taking on the ultimate challenge of making truly realistic cockpits.  Even though I have real aircraft CDUs, interfacing them to a PC is expensive and horribly time consuming.  Products like I've seen from Flight Deck Solutions are now so far advanced that it's a no-brainer to use their CDUs as opposed to the real thing.  I'm sure when I get to the FMS integration point, I'll become a good customer. 

But I like working with the real parts as much as possible and I'll get all of the old analog instrumentation operational.  And for those of you out there that need to know how to do that kind of thing are welcome to ask me.  In turn, I'll be asking the opinions of other sim builders on some of the simulated parts available and their quality as I have little experience with simulated parts. 

So, I'm glad to join this community and hope to share and gain knowledge here. 

I hope you enjoy the introduction to my 747 projects in the attachment. 

Sincerely,

Matt Wietlispach

[ivar hestnes]

WOW

That is really impressive. And it looks like it is complete also.
Let me know if you need any annunsiators. I have a bunch of panels with annunsiators that I will not use.

[Flyboyandre]

That is just plain sick!

[Bob Reed]

Matt. I saw a picture of this someplace while the cockpit was attached to your house. I thought to myself then, how could you use that as a simulator like that? lol Loks like you fixed that problem. Nice project! I will read the document in full as soon as I get back home today. Nice to have you here.

[jackpilot]

Welcome Aboard Matt.
Thank you for your appreciation of this site and our 1200+ crew.
We certainly will be delighted to share our commun knowledge as a lot of us, including myself, would love to be able to bring to life some of those magnificent new "old stock" steam gauges available on the Net.
Having you Onboard is  fantastic !
Jack

[XOrionFE]

Welcome Matt,

Your project is just simply incredible.   I had seen pictures before of your cockpit attached to the back of the house but never any of the detail.   Haven't had time to read your whole article yet but can't wait.   I may pick your brain some day on the real instrument interfacing as I recently bought a full 727 set of panels with Collins ADI and HSIs.    Still accumlating all the FO panels but well on my way to a future steam gauge driven project to hopefully have side by side with my NG.

Again it is really great to meet you here online and look forward to collaborating with you.   Also, you are always welcome if ever passing through far west suburbs of Chicago.

best regards,
Scott

[Bob Reed]

Folks, be sure and look at his fighter sim as well. One of he places I would spend hours drooling when I first got into this back in the late 90s early 2000s. He was way ahead of his time in this hobby!

[Trevor Hale]

Wow! What more can I say. First off thank you for joining. We are a great bunch of guys that like to have a living room atmosphere. Sure we have a couple disagreements but we all stay close friends. We couldn't be happier to have you join our family.

Your post is incredible and I want to thank you for it. I already have goosebumps. Can't wait to finish reading it.

Hope you enjoy it here.

Trev

[rprather]

Matt  is definitely one of the founders of this hobby. He's been one of my mentors since the early days and his skill with real part restoration/integration is nothing short of amazing. His advisement was the driving force behind my 767 to 777 center pedestal fiberglass conversion project and throttle restoration.

Before



After


I'm glad to see the sim finally made it into the garage!!

Robert Prather

[Nat Crea]

Unbloodybelievable!!!
Analog Heaven
And Mau thought I was nuts...
Brilliant project Matt...inspiring.

Nat

[Bob Reed]

Hmmm an analog Kingair B200, that would be sweet!

[747_Classic_Sim]

Bernard,

I didn't pick the transportation company, the guy I bought it from did.  It was JRC Transportation, Inc. and it cost me $7500 to have it shipped via wide-load escort from Victorville, Ca to Cedar Rapids, IA. 

hope this helps.

Matt

[747_Classic_Sim]

For those who may wonder how the military sim progressed from 2006 to present, here's a few pictures.  Beer seems to help most would-be pilots land better.  Can't figure that out.  Women make better first-time pilots since they are more gentle with the controls.  Guys seem to remember "Top Gun" where Tom Cruise would instantly slam the control stick to some extreme left or right position and hit his leg.  That's just not how it works in the real thing.  Looks good on film, though.  Overcontrolling is a problem for most first-time male fliers of my sim.  Kids seem to be more careful fliers, if they can see through the HUD.  I barely ever fly it myself since all I see are the things that need fixing or recalibration.  Sometimes I'll do autopilot-coupled landings into O'Hare just to see how much of the old sim still works.

[Trevor Hale]

Matt??  Are you for real? Seriously..  Wow..  First Axel makes me pee myself, I get all changed and clean, now I get a look at this.  I saw many of your Fighter pictures back in the day, and I just can't believe how far you have come.  That is one impressive piece of kit.

I especially love all the extra monitors you have to keep an eye on the pilot flying.  You really are part of the Elite...  Congrats, I would love to take that babe for a spin. 

I can only imagine what your 747 will look like when it is complete, I can only imagine the exuberant amount of hours you have spent on that.



Trev

[737SimGuy]

I have seen these projects in person, and let me tell you that the pics don't even come close to showing how incredible Matt's restoration abilities are. Meticulous doesn't even begin to describe him. Makes my 737 look like a dusty old heap!!! 

James

[XOrionFE]

Oh my gosh.   That is just unbelievable.   That said very encouraging.  I now feel like when I look at my bench full of panels, guages, and such for my future 727 project  (whenever I feel my 737 is done which will likely be never) that there is in fact some hope of making the guages come to life.     

Outstanding stuff Matt.   

Scott

[747_Classic_Sim]

Thanks for all the encouraging comments guys!  It only cost me my marriage, social life, and most of my disposable income. 

And I had help too.  I may be good at electronics and analog stuff, but if it wasn't for James Price's software help and Matt Ford's contributions, and even Ted Deller's programming, it would not be what it is today.  We all can't be experts at everything.  But Robert Prather was inspired into a long term simulation project that's turned out awesome and even newcomers like Roberto Blanco, who had the chance to visit a few times has amazed me with his 737 efforts.  Now he's gathering 747 parts.  We can all accomplish what I did, but it takes people working together. 

Is doing what I did worth losing a wife, countless thousands of hours and dollars?  Well, for a hermit like me, yes, but most people should back off from the level of sickness my sim addiction has cost me. 

I do really enjoy seeing other people have fun with flying it and setting bad weather using the instructor's station, etc.  Tiny color cameras are hidden everywhere and the pilots get to take home a DVD of their flights.  They say I should charge admission. 

So beware, if you were making cockpits as I was in the picture below in 1976, the addiction only gets worse when you get to adulthood.  There's no medication to stop it either!

Matt

[747_Classic_Sim]

Oh, by the way, James' cockpit is no "rusty old heap"!  Flying his sim is far more entertaining than mine since you get to sit next to a copilot who actually knows the proper flap settings for landing.  And all those working subsystems!!! Who inspires who here?  I blame James for the 747!  If I hadn't experienced flying in his real cockpit, I could have remained ignorant. 

[Bob Reed]

HA! I have told James a number of times this entire hobby as we know it, is all his fault. Had he just not posted those pictures all those years ago!

[747_Classic_Sim]

Oh, by the way, James' cockpit is no "rusty old heap"!  Flying his sim is far more entertaining than mine since you get to sit next to a copilot who actually knows the proper flap settings for landing.  And all those working subsystems!!! Who inspires who here?  I blame James for the 747!  If I hadn't experienced flying in his real cockpit, I could have remained ignorant. 

[Trevor Hale]

LOL.  We have all learned lessons from this hobby, and as James said in his presentation, Balance with family is important.  Still everything you have accomplished is amazing.  You should be very proud of what you have done.

Trev

[jackpilot]

Is doing what I did worth losing a wife, countless thousands of hours and dollars?  Well, for a hermit like me, yes, but most people should back off from the level of sickness my sim addiction has cost me. 

Matt

"Achievement" is what we are all looking for. All kinds of ways to reach that goal.
Sim Building at that level is one for sure and worth every penny and hour spent.
Besides"Hermit" thinking is OK , it comes with age and experience!

[Bob Reed]

Well I was a hermit long before the cockpit came along. I am not a real people person so the hobby fit me well! lol

[MLeavy737]

Matt,
  Hey! Glad to see you over here on this site i always enjoy seeing your updates on Facebook and look forward to chatting with you and seeing your progress here as well!

Ohh yeah i always have a great time listening to Randy E. trying to explain your latest updates to your sim for the last 10 years or so.. He would usually just give up in laughter as neither of us could explain or understand the complexity of your projects! Lol.. 

Great article btw!

Mike L

[simlady/ Karen]

Hi Matt,

Had to chime in since I saw your fighter sim and had to say that it looks pretty sweet. My husband is a sim nut BSD. I made him buy me my own Sim. He just brought it home this week, an F16 built by Tajay Beauparlant. 

Woman are lighter on the controls and even though I liked the flying in Top Gun but, I have to admit I was watching the cute butts.