Hundreds of thousands of WWII pilots trained in the Link trainer
Bombing simulator WWII
Gunnery simulator WWII
Microsoft Flight Simulator 1
Went thru 10 versions over the next 25 yrs
Graphics steadily improving
At first the audience was pilots
Mid 90s started allowing users to create their own aircraft and immersive worlds
The series sold over 7 million copies
Huge online communities flying virtual airlines with complex org structures,
Full ATC environment staffed by real people
A sad day for aviation when it closed down
Product was purchased by Lockheed Martin and now sold as Prepar3d
Not available to consumers any more, but it’s the software used by the likes of Redbird
Quality of graphics is becoming photorealistic
Software is still available for $50… easy to build education programs around like Operation Aviation at EAA, easy to create missions that kids can fly
Turning to our world, warbirds, here’s some nostalgia for me, the arcade game ”1942” was very cool when I was 13
Microsoft did teo versions of Combat Flight Simulator
IGN’s IL-2 Sturmovik was a breakthrough game in the early 2000s, built a large and passionate user base. Very atmospheric and immersive
World of Warplanes is a spin-off of World of Tanks which has over 75 MILLION players worldwide. WoW launched late 2013. A sponsorship opportunity for CAF from wargaming.net
Turning to experiences for attractions, there are rides like this
They carry 6 to 20 passengers. People enjoy them. They can be 3D / 4D. They are a ride (no control) but work for families. The hydraulic platforms are more maintenance heavy than electric motor simulators.
You can scale them up to small theater size.
Or even large theater size like “Soarin’” at Disney… a full IMAX experience
MaxFlight simulators are not rides. You can fly it and loop & roll in a full 360 degrees. Was nicely profitable at EAA, we easily beat our business plan and it was fully paid for after 18 months. Still earning 12 years later.
Oculus Rift is the hot thing in virtiual reality. Facebook just bought the company for $2 billion. What’s different? (people have been trying this for 15-20 years) It’s highly fluid and immersive. They have cracked the code of how the brain interprets motion. People don’t get sick. A safe prediction, this is a big deal
The Harry Potter ride I was talking about. This is what you sit in, an “enchanted schoolbench”. I couldn’t believe the experience it was so lifelike in terms of the sensation of flying., the G-Forces and fluid motion.
This is what I was actually sitting on, a giant industrial robot arm.
It places you inside this half dome on which the images are projected.
Redbird have revolutionized simulation for the flight training market. Close to 1000 devices installed at flight schools
The FMX is their most popular unit. They radically reduced the price of a full motion simulator and bought it within the reach of small flight schools.
The crosswind simulator is very cool. I t is a small jump to make this into a carrier landing sim.
When Steve and I talked to them at Sun n Fun they were talking about the potential to make a tandem cockpit simulator (i.e. warbirds) on their new MX2 platform
Here’s Steve flying the bird at the Perot museum. It is beautifully simple. You spread your arms and fly. Uses Xbox Kinect technology, very engaging.