Simulator Upgrade

Training Session in our P.C172.3

At the end of January we upgraded our simulator, P.C172.3, to X-Plane12 Pro.

X-Plane, a US based flight simulation software company, has been incredibly kind to donate their Professional license, worth over 1,000 USD. Thank you, X-Plane!

X-Plane’s flight model is so realistic that we can simulate stalls and spins during which the airplane behaves as predicted, just like the real airplane and remains recoverable. This is possible because the simulator does not reference a table to know if the plane is stalled in a certain flight configuration or not, but calculates it in real time at hundreds of points all over the airplane’s body. This software mimics reality so closely, that aircraft manufactures use it to predict and tweak the flight behavior of their model before building the actual airplane.

Simulator Cockpit Layout

We also used this opportunity to change our instrument panel to Sim Innovations' Air Manager Pro. They helped us custom build some of the flight instruments that are unique to our Cessna 172 airplane model.

Sim Innovations gave to us a large discount for their professional license in support of our non-profit status. Thank you Sim Innovations! 

Re-calibration of the External Screen

This picture shows the external screen of our simulator and how it is being re-calibrated with a laser-level. Three projectors work in unison to project a seamless, 250-degree wide and almost 50-degree vertical image of the airplane’s surrounding unto a cylindrical screen.

Martin Tubbesing Head of Training