Hello All

I have a 14 year old son who has ambitions of being a pilot and has decided that he would like to put together a home cockpit - I'm pretty supportive of this as I like the idea of a home project but while I'm reasonably tech savvy, flight sims are a whole new world to me.

We have been using MS Flight Simulator 2020 a bit on Xbox (Its on game pass and an accessible way of getting started) with an entry level HOTAS but we want to take a swing at the next step and start building a home cockpit. There is a couple of caveats on all this of course

* Its an exercise in tech skills - wood, electronics etc for a 14 year old kid

* I've agreed to match whatever he puts into it dollar-wise (so we are on a 14 year olds budget)

* Probably needs to be able to bolt on extra bits as he saves and finds the next components.

* While a yoke is definitely on the cards - Id rather do some other things to build up the cockpit first - give him something tangible

* He is a 14 year old boy - no idea how long he will stay interested

 

So far we have

* couple of hundred $ (Australian - so buying power isn't amazing)

* I've scrounged a spare PC capable of runing MSFS 2020

* MSFS 2020 via MS Game Pass

* a couple of monitors

* the previously mentioned Hotas

 

I'd be keen to hear what you all think is the next steps and what particular pieces of gear we should be focusing on next!

Cheers

 

As you can see not a lot happens in this forum.

What inspired me was a series on you tube by MarkH search for almost aviation diy panels all explained simply with humour.

Best of luck

Brian