The Builder

Barry is an aircraft designer by trade having spent fifty years in the industry but now long retired. He was taught his craft at the De Havilland Aeronautical Technical School and is still a member of that mafia.

He started his career on the de Havilland Comet and later worked on many aircraft including Trident, Blue Streak, Airbus, BAe 146, Buccaneer, Phantom, Harrier, Hawk, AV-8B, and latterly was a Director of British Aerospace responsible for a number of his Company's programmes around the world.

Flown many aircraft but never able to get a licence due to eyesight problems.No longer interested in high-G flying but still flies light aircraft occasionally. Always interested in simulation and still keeps in touch with the industry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and regularly attends their simulation conferences.

This site documents the progress and the thinking behind my A320 Flight Simulator. I will add to it as the construction progresses in the form of a blog.

I have always been interested in simulation and in my professional career I saw (and sometimes flew) many simulators; these were mainly military full simulators and part task trainers, also a couple of combat flight simulator domes. I never had any contact with heavy metal types although I would have liked to have done so. It is possible to buy time on commercial simulators but these experiences in my view are too brief and too expensive. I have never seen an Airbus cockpit.

Having been flying on Vatsim for some time and made contact with other simulator builders. I felt that building a full cockpit was one of those things in life that has to be done.

 

Please do not ask me for drawings; I did not produce any. I worked from dimensions and photographs - see the links page. Even if I had drawings of my simulator they would not necessarily be of any use to others as it is necessary to make panels etc to suit the parts one is going to use.

Hints and tips for Simulator Builders here