Airplanes designed for cockpit builders

[maartenvd84]

Hi,

I was wondering if there is some kind of list of airplanes that are optimised to be used for home cockpit builders.
The only ones I know about so far are most PMDG products, and soon also the Majestic Q400 Training edition.

Why I'm asking? For most (advanced) airplanes it is hard to interface with aircraft specific settings... as they are only available via a mouse click action. Further I would like to have good 2D panels for PFD, MFD ... and in the very best case 2D panels that can run on their own on a seperate computer.

Thanks for your help.

Maarten

[Trevor Hale]

Morning Maarten,

The products like the PMDG, Although some are using them for their cockpit, isn't really designed to be broken apart across multiple PC's like we normally do.

Secondary software like (PSS-747, Prosim, SimAvionics, Project Magenta) Are all 2 D Panels designed to be span across multiple computers and all communicate with the Main Prepar3d or FSX server.

I know the Q-400 is close to joining that list as well by Majestic.  In any case software like Prosim, can be purchased for 737 or A320, PSS is Specific to 747, Sim Avionics and Project Majenta can be 777, 737, 747, and Project Magenta can also do 757 and 767.  I am using the Project Magenta software as a Proline 21 setup in a King Air 350i with some engine instruments written specifically for my project. 

You need to do some searching and sing out what type of aircraft you would like to build then look for the software or write it yourself. otherwise you may be able to get Keyboard inputs for switches, but the LED's or 7-Segment displays are just going to be your bottleneck.

There are also some companies that do GA aircraft gauges, or you can just use servos and Arduino and make your own real instruments and forget the whole software altogether.

Your limit is your imagination and of course $$ the more money you spend the more you can get.

Trev

[maartenvd84]

Dear Trevor,

Many thanks for your detailed reply.
Looking at your the list of secondary software, I get more or less confirmation that the market is in favor of the more popular Boeing and Airbus models. Unfortunately that's the kind of airplane I want to avoid. My interest is going to the more complex GA and coorporate aircraft like the King Air 350i (waiting for the final version of Milviz I purchased few years ago), Cessna Citation X (Eaglesofts v2 has quite some bugs, but maybe v3 makes it all better), Cessna Citation Mustang (Flight1 did a great job there).

Cool to hear you are facinated by the KA350i as well!
Can you briefly explain about the integration of project magenta in your KA350i project? Project magenta does not offer a Proline 21 setup right?

Indeed, I already did some POC with Arduino, simconnect, C# ... but I have still a lot to learn. And learning takes practise and a lot of time (for research).
But, I have a will to ge there... and I have some programming background.
e.g. http://www.familievandamme.be/projects/2017/06/24/first-wpf-application/ --> Probably not a good way, but to control the CDU via hardware buttons I created an application that maps key strokes to a coordinate where the actual function is situated within the airplane. BUT ... this comes with lots of drawbacks... So how do real cockpit builders handle such a problem as the one with the CDU (which cannot be accessed via simconnect or any other way)?

Thanks for guiding me in the right direction

Kind regards,
Maarten

[Trevor Hale]

Project Magenta does not offer a proline21, however the design of the proline21 is PFD on top and ND on the bottom, as well as a separate ND in the middle.  SO with Project Magenta I move the displays to suit my needs.  On One computer I launch 3 instances of their PFD Software.  2 have the PFD and ND screen on top of each other set as the captain side, and One instance (In the middle Monitor) of just the ND set as the FO side.
I use the boeing 737 MCP and CDU software, and have the CDU running on its own computer and the MCP running on the Main FS PC. Above the ND in the middle monitor I run my Engine instruments (Written by a friend of mine) and an RMP Radio panel, I can't remember where its from.

See pic.

[maartenvd84]

Indeed, now I see! They are indeed quite similar. I'll have to dig a little deeper in that subject.
In what price range are we looking when I want to order the project magenta software? Is it a one-time license for all instances running the software?

Very (very) nice cockpit btw! 

Regards,
Maarten

[Trevor Hale]

One time fee, for Boeing Suite..  I am going to guess you could do the same setup with ProSIm-ar and SimAvionics.

I am not sure what the pricing structure is anymore, I have had my licenses for over 10 years.

Prosim Pricing is similar.  You would have to enquite with all the manufacturers, but budget $1500USD may be cheaper may be more..  Hard to say.

[maartenvd84]

Thanks Trevor!

[jackpilot]

Project Magenta has also IFR panels (analog and glass) that can be spread over a network and many screens and can communicate with any FSX airplane.
http://www.projectmagenta.com/ifr_software/
http://www.projectmagenta.com/products/gagc_software/
Jack

[maartenvd84]

Hi Jack,

Already looked into that G1000. Looks nice!
So if you install this piece of software, your hardware interfaces with the PM G1000 software directly and not with FSX/P3D, right? The visualization is one step, but I also want to be able to click the buttons via external hardware (e.g. an Arduino board).
The G1000 is maybe an exception as FSX/p3D has linked SimConnect events for almost all functions... but normally a Glass cockpit (e.g. collins pro line) cannot be controlled externally via SimConnect events (apart from some basic functions like AP, HDG, ALT ...).

The coolest thing would be tha more software vendors offer (at an additional cost) the possiblity to control all parts of the airplane via ... whatever piece of software the put in the middle. e .g. like Majestic is planning to do with their Q400. But probably this is not the focus of most other vendors...

Ps: Most likely I will build a class cockpit plane ... so the regular gauges (except for standby instruments) are not in scope.

Kind regards,
Maarten