An introduction to combat flight simulator cockpits:

Combat flight simulators are now very accurate games that allow dozens of pilots to
outsmart and out fly each other, flying very complicated machines, in realistic landscapes
with changing weather and artificial intelligence.(click here to read a detailed account of what flying this
simulator is like)

As the software and hardware industry pours millions each year in R&D to improve those
flying games the input of those games has not changed at all in 15 years; Plastic joysticks,
pedals and  keyboards are what we are stuck with.

It is not surprising that all  over the world thousands of people are building simulator
cockpits or “Simpits”, to fill the need for a more realistic flying experience. Those
contraptions range from collapsible lounge chairs to entire sections of junkyard aircrafts
rigged with electronics to look and feel as real as possible.

My idea of a Simulator Cockpit:

I liked the idea of a finished object, a sculpture that conveys the feel of a plane, something
beautiful, racy and pure, where everything that “simulates” is out of view and everything that
helps this thing "fly" is as real as in a real plane.

History of the Rocket idea:

In 1994 I had designed a 10' sculpture called ".The Rocket."













                        .The Rocket. 1994 (Steel,mixed materials and telephone electronics)

It was an elliptical steel  fuselage on skis, I liked the shape a lot and decided to use it as a
base for  the general shape of the simulator.

7 years later, in 2001,  A collector commissioned me to build a simulator cockpit sculpture.

Adding stubby little wings, skids and a tail to a slightly enlarged copy of The Rocket No 1, I
designed a sort of 1930 bobsled. I wanted the  object to float above the ground and be
completely "finished" from "wingtip" to "wingtip" and from nose to tail. Inside I crammed all
that was needed to fly simulations; A PC, a monitor, sticks pedals and an instrument panel
where the instruments doubled as switches to control the game.










                              

                 .The Rocket Mk II.  (detail)  2002 (Steel, mixed materials and PC)

The finished  Rocket Mk II solved in my mind a lot of problems that I was struggling with:
The placement of the monitor in the middle of the instrument panel that I was not too happy
about, proved ergonomically ideal and very comfortable.
I had placed the sub-woofer in the nose cone facing the pilot because of a lack of space
under the seat and I was very concerned that it would not work properly. Maybe because of
the elliptical shape of the fuselage, It actually started generating vibrations in harmony with
the metal plates, it amplified Both sound and vibrations like a bull horn aimed directly at the
pilot's chest. Placing one's hand on the hood, one could really feel that a huge engine was
upfront.

This Rocket is in a private collection in Seattle Washington

             .The Rocket Mk III:

In 2004 I started building the third Rocket, using all that I  had learned with the first two
prototypes. You can see a log of the last 2 months of its construction here























Mk III is basically be a  refined and more powerful version of Mk II; It is slightly larger, made
of polished aluminium instead of steel, and use a 17" monitor instead of a 15".
-The instruments are three dimensional, have  glass faces and are individually lighted.
-The control system is entirely new, light and very precise.
-Both the CPU and the pilot are cooled by fans, greatly improving comfort.
-The seat was custom made in England out of leather.
-All cables (Data and Power) run invisibly through  the right wing and skid.
-A device called Track-IR is installed to allow the pilot to look around using head
movements instead of a mouse.

Test flying is finished and construction drawings are being produced

Construction of a pair of Mk-IV will start this spring to be finished for a show by Christmas
2005.