A goal of home cockpit builders has long been to capture the realism of full motion provided in commercial ATP simulators—but that's been prohibitively expensive. Well, perhaps not. Walter Noon contacted us recently to ask if there might be interest in the flight simulation community for just that. Though his Virtual Flight Motion Base might not be quite ready for your home, he's interested in hearing from you.

If you're as intrigued by the possibilities as we are, here's what Walter has to offer now:

AVSIM: Walt, tell us what the "Virtual Flight Motion Base" is, from a simmer's point of view.

Walt Noon: I just completed a flight simulator that combines full motion with top of the line simulation software. Unlike some "arcade" simulators, my "Virtual Flyer" tracks background scenes and matches platform position to the background 20 times a second. It also works with slightly modified (did someone say "hacked?" Hey, not me!) versions of Microsoft Combat Simulator and FS-98 & FS-2000. I feel like I might be able to break the price barrior and bring these things into the shop next door, or even a person's home or hanger.

AVSIM: Sounds interesting. Please tell us more about that.

Walt Noon: I think from a gaming perspective, the Flyer is an affordable, dynamic motion base. Riders are truly flying on air (pneumatic cylinders). Its reactions are faster and more fluid (and reliable) than servos or hydraulics have offered in the past (without great cost). The valves used and pneumatics are rated at millions of cycles. Most importantly, The Flyer does not simply move when the joystick is moved like other simulators, it truly locks on and tracks the background scenery in a full "closed loop" system. By "closed loop" I mean that sensors detect platform position and match it to game scenery over 20 times a second! This is why Virtual Flyer keeps such a tight lock, and feels like a real plane. The Flyer is also fully enclosed, which is critical for creating the illusion of motion.

I just had the first showing of my simulator at the Chino Air Museum last Saturday and was greatly encouraged as a Fightertown USA operator was there and said that the "Virtual Flyer" kept a better lock, and had a much wider range of motion than their simulators.

AVSIM: A question that occurs to us is how the panel display would appear using an aircraft running in CFS or FS? Or is the panel shown in your video a hardware panel like the ones at Fighertown?

Walt Noon: This is an interesting question. Currently, and due simply to costs, the panel appears just as it does on regular CFS of FS. The screen in the Virtual Flyer is a little better than the average bird though: It's a very high resolution Sceptre flat screen monitor. So, you can really follow the opponent right down through the brush without losing them, and even see just what part of a plane you've damaged (if you can fly close enough)!

I experimented with two things that worked very well, but cost quite a bit more to produce. One was to place a second, smaller color LCD monitor under the main monitor, then "undock" all the gauges and place them on the smaller monitor. The pilot then had a beautiful, unobstructed view on the main monitor, and all the gauges below, just like a real airplane.

I would still use this configuration if the Virtual Flyer sold was for higher end training (for example as a true training simulator) or if a customer simply wanted to spend the extra cash. It cost me out of pocket about $1500 more to do this with special video card, monitor, switches and cable, so with installation it would run a bit more.

Another even higher end option is to use an actual panel like FighterTown. I worked closely with Flightlink, who sells just such a complete panel. The flyer is designed to interface with the Flightlink panel, but this is several thousand from Flightlink and several thousand more for the radio stack, so, I'd say it's only for the "over the top" pilot/owners. After all, the gauges are well covered in CFS and FS. I know many customers may scoff at what I consider "expensive," But the whole idea was to make a very capable, exciting craft that didn't cost what the big boys ask!

AVSIM: Then what might the cost be using "reasonable" components?

Walt Noon: Compared to the cost of other simulators, Virtual Flyer really met the mark I hoped it would and is a fraction of the cost. I think it's quite affordable for the serious enthusiast. But, as you know, simulators are expensive to build and just "ain't cheap" by nature. (Just like flying!) A complete system can be built for an enthusiast for around $10,000.

AVSIM: What modifications will be needed to do that?

Walt Noon: Pleasantly not too much. Right now the prototype has a small door which makes getting in and out clumsy (easily fixed on production units) and the cylinder size on the prototype limits a pilots weight to around 190 pounds. Larger cylinders already purchased for the production unit increase the pilot weight limit to 1000 pounds!

AVSIM: Looking to the future, we hear a lot about "Virtual Reality"? Do you think you might pursue that as an option?

Walt Noon: Glad you asked! The virtual reality headset already is an option. I have these these and they too attach easily to the flyer. This gives the rider a full 360 view. VR goggles incorporate a motion sensor so that when you look left, you see what's to the left. Sounds exciting huh? I have tried two VR headsets. One runs about $2000, the other $4000. People swear by these, but I don't think they're there yet. Detail in the small screens your eyes squint at is poor. It's hard to spot the enemy, and forget reading gauges. It's easy to get motion sick, and even the fastest Pentium I tried still had some lag in switching views. VR goggles get the thumbs up from me for concept, but then again thumbs down from me for what I like in a ride.

AVSIM: Well, we hope you find interest from AVSIM Online readers who want to look into a "home based" full motion simulator!

Walt Noon: I've been excited about The Flyer, and want to share what it can do very much. In trying to describe it to museums and air shows I keep getting blank stares. I know people who have ridden in it understand. :-) I keep getting knocks on my door saying "Hi Walt, what's new?" Then before I answer I hear, "Hey, do you mind if I go out in your shop for a while?" It's the kind of enthusiasm I heard early video games getting.

For further information see Walt's Virtual Flight Motion System website. Walt can be reached by e-mail at Walt Noon.