Really?

[Deaf Pilot 1]

I wandered over to www.therealcockpit.com to satisfy my curiosity as to how much a C172 sim cockpit would cost from them. I was absolutely shocked to find out that a full panel/control set plus the cabin mock-up cost no less than $71,000. Seventy-One Thousand!! Just to compare how much that is, look at all these REAL airplanes you can buy for that much: http://www.controller.com/list/list.aspx?bcatid=13&DidSearch=1&EID=1&LP=CNT&setype=1&ETID=1&mdlx=Contains&PT=70000&SO=15&btnSearch=Search True, I know that you can't always compare the real deal because the ongoing costs are much, MUCH higher than the sim - but shoot, there's a beautiful Aeronca Chief 11BC for only $16,800. That leaves you no less than $54,200 for all possible fuel, maintenance, insurance, storage, and any other misc costs. Maybe I'm making a useless rant, but really, people - how much more ridiculous can you be? $71,000 for a Cessna simulator? Sounds like youre trying to follow in real-world aviation's footsteps: overprice everything as much as you possibly can. Yes, its a beautiful piece of equipment that I would LOVE to own, but I would be stupid to buy that when I could own a very real aircraft and have enough left over to cover all costs for at least a couple years. Wow...

[FLEX1978 371]

hehe, yeah I agree with you tottaly, one guy on the PMDG forum has built a replica 737NG flightdeck in his house, for the amount he paid he could have got a type rating on the real thing :) However here's a few things to keep in mind, some people simply cannot fly the real thing for various reasons eg health, real world commitments ext and some people can afford the home sim and the real thing, if you have 70K to blow on a simulator you probably have the cash to burn to fly the real thing anyway :) On the flip side, if I only had 80K in the bank and I spent 70K on a Cassna simulator I would expect my friends and family to give me a good slap upside the head! :)

[Matthew Kane 996]

I was absolutely shocked to find out that a full panel/control set plus the cabin mock-up cost no less than $71,000. Seventy-One Thousand!!

You are missing out on something here....TRC Simulators build Simulators for Commercial Use. Their customer base is towards Flight Training Schools and are certified by the FAA, Canadian Transport and JAA for flight training. $71,000 is in the budget for many flight schools around the world and these sort of simulators are required for people going for their commercial license. Schools require both real aircraft and certified simulators to train people for commercial licenses, some countries also allow around 4 hours of simulator training towards a private license as well...this is not the same as home built simulators and not to be compared to as home built simulators are not certified (unless you want to pay the FAA to certify one for you).

[dmaher 0]

I think there’s a difference in that a real aircraft would actually suit your purposes :)If you were actually in the market for a ground based training device a real aircraft wouldn’t.There are opportunities with equipment like this that just don’t exist in the air.I suspect this is actually a very cheap price for an FBO simulator.Now, if the goal is to get in the air then buying equipment like this would be sort of stupid Maybe, it’s not exactly the right equipment for your mission.

[Matthew Kane 996]

Look at it this way...To get a commercial licence typically takes 200 hours. To rent an aircraft it costs approximately $200/hr (plus or minus depending on school and aircraft). So that over $40,000 in flying costs just to get a commercial licence. Or time in a simulator is approximately $75/hour and the instructor costs less for training on the ground then in the air. When I went to flight school I did 2 hours of simulator training towards my private licence. The machine was old from the 1970's but it worked really well. Crappy graphics but the gauges all worked.

[CaptainLychock 19]

This just shows where you diced to go in life,, stay at home,,,, or do the real thing!

[ZachLW 36]

You are missing out on something here....TRC Simulators build Simulators for Commercial Use. Their customer base is towards Flight Training Schools and are certified by the FAA, Canadian Transport and JAA for flight training. $71,000 is in the budget for many flight schools around the world and these sort of simulators are required for people going for their commercial license. Schools require both real aircraft and certified simulators to train people for commercial licenses, some countries also allow around 4 hours of simulator training towards a private license as well...this is not the same as home built simulators and not to be compared to as home built simulators are not certified (unless you want to pay the FAA to certify one for you).

BINGO. These things aren't built for the flight sim enthusiast. They're built to go to colleges and big flight schools.