While some of us are satisfied enough with flight simulation games, other creative geniuses put their minds to work and design real joyrides. Here’s an effort that surely deserves loud applause and then some. A Canadian mastermind and owner of Computer Repairs in Ontario has fabricated a Bell 206B JetRanger Helicopter Flight Simulator and put it on show on his website. The equipment is amazingly detailed and cost just $1500 (Canadian) to make. The owner says that the simulator was completely made from computer and metallic junk and that’s the reason the cost was so low. He hasn’t put up a DIY guide, in case you were wondering. I would have guessed that the most difficult part would have been getting the actual cockpit, and that was fortuitous; some “generous folks at a Bell Helicopter repair facility” gifted a damaged one. The interior looks very nicely done with scrap wood and aluminum tubing. I especially like the work that’s been done on the overhead controllers and flight panels. Click this link for a detailed description of the controller, flight panel and other paraphernalia that give this simulator a very realistic look. Jump to see some more images of the Bell 206B JetRanger Helicopter Flight Simulator.
