latest news

01.11.2011

**** Please Note ****

This website is no longer managed as I move over to my new site designed in WordPress. Please feel free to navigate this site while its still active however you will find all the new information related to my B777 build over at the new site plus lots of relevant information retained from this site. Just click on the image link on the Home page.

Also feel free to leave a comment or two on the new site as all pages have the facility.

 

If you are having trouble downloading any files from this site try using Firefox of Chrome instead of IE.

Tutorials

 

Building the Opencockpits COMM

COMM tutorial

Building the Opencockpits NAV

NAV tutorial

Building the Opencockpits ADF

ADF tutorial

Building the Opencockpits XPDR

XPDR tutorial

Radio Pedestal Circuit Diagram

Full Circuit Diagram

Backlighting the Opencockpits MCP

Backlighting the MCP

Simple and Cheap Home-Made Panels

Simple Home-Made Panels

 

December 2008 Builder of the Month

about me

My name is Ken Brand and I have been interested in flight since I was young. I finally got to live the dream around the age of 40 when I took my first flying lessons. After a slow 3.5 years I gained my Private Pilots License and currently have a day VFR endorsement on Cessna 152 & 172 and Mooney M20J. I have two children and live in Perth Western Australia where the weather is perfect for flying.

Jandakot airport is my flying home which is one of the busiest General Aviation airport in the southern hemsiphere with around 400,000 movements per year

I work for the country's national broadcaster taking care of the transmission of radio and television throughout the state. Funny enough my work area is a bit like the flight deck of a large airliner, which suits me fine.

My background is of a technical nature so it was only natural that I would supplement my flight training with simulator training, however I quickly realised that a standard single screen and joystick just didn't cut it. There was no similarity with the real world flying I was doing so I began trawling the net to find other alternatives. I never would have imagined what I would find. My debt of gratitude to all those that paved the way before me and pioneered the home grown flight sim is enormous!

Flying at a GA airport I get to see the likes of Cessna Citations, Piper twins and the great King Air's and Pilatus PC12. The latter two are probably my favourite aircraft. The Royal Flying Doctor Service in WA fly's both these aircraft and, as well as having great admiration for the work this organisation does, I also have great envy for the pilots who get to fly these magnificant aircraft daily.

I therefore based my first flight sim on one of my favourites, the Pilatus PC12, however I didn't want to limit my flight training experience so I decided to adapt the sim to encompass almost any aircraft. This allowed me to fly anything from a C172 up to a 747 or A380 but the call of the specific aircraft couldn't be ignored any longer so I've now gone heavy to a Boeing 777.

With this website I hope to give back to the online community some of which I gained from many hours of searching and learning. If nothing else, simply to inspire the next generation of flight trainers to blurr the lines even more between reality and a game.