How To Build A Home Flight Simulator From Scratch (A Step-by-Step Guide)
Are you a flying enthusiast, a student pilot, or a certified pilot? If yes, probably the best thing that can happen in your life is being able to fly aircraft anywhere in the world from the comfort of your home.
This is a dream that you can turn into reality by creating a cockpit simulation in your home.
A lot of work goes into building a flight simulator that serves your needs (whether it’s fun, training, or maintaining your flying proficiency). You’ll need to choose the right sim software and flight sim hardware, fit everything together, and more.
The following tutorial takes you through the steps for setting up an at-home flight simulator that meets your unique needs and requirements.
How to build a home flight simulator:
Step 1. Decide why you want to build a flight simulator
The FIRST and most important step in coming up with a home-built flight simulator is deciding why you need it in the first place.
What goal do you have in mind for your simulator? Do you enjoy flight simulation as a hobby and want something purely for fun? Or are you a student pilot or certified pilot and want to improve your flying skill?
For this guide, we’ll assume your simulation is for learning purposes. We’ll guide you on how to come up with a highly realistic simulation setup that gives you a flying experience close to the real deal.
Step 2. Come up with a budget for your home flight simulation
One of the questions we get asked all the time is “How much does a home flight simulator cost?”
There’s no specific value on how much a home simulation costs. But you should expect a home simulator to cost you anything from $3000 to $5000. Depending on the hardware and add-ons you use for your simulation, sometimes home flight simulator costs can go quite high (as high as $20,000!).
If you want a simplistic setup, you don’t need to worry about parting with huge amounts of cash. The more you spend on your home cockpit—buying things like controls, instruments, and other add-ons—the more advanced and realistic it becomes.
If you have already a clearly defined goal for your home flight sim (in Step 1), then setting a budget would be much easier for you.
Step 3. Get a mounting system
Most people often ignore this important step. But later on, when they have bought all the controls and other add-ons for your sim, it hits them that they have nowhere to put or mount them.
For a smooth simulation setup, make sure you have a mounting system in place for your components. Most people usually use a desk.
But many are now shifting to using flight sim stands specially made for holding simulator components. The Wheel Stand Pro S is one such product and fits all Saitek Logitech flight sim controls.
Alternatively;
You can come up with a desk/stand with custom-fit compartments for all your hardware like the yoke, throttle, rudder pedals, trim wheel, etc. Check the tutorial below on how to build a home flight simulator cockpit on your own.
Another option is to get a ready-made cockpit panel that you just need to mount to your desktop and fit all your simulation hardware.
These panels come in various options—from small to large panels, analog instruments or glass cockpit, single or multi-engine aircraft, etc. You can get a standard panel of your choice or order one to be custom build for your specific simulation gear.
If you’re using Logitech flight simulation hardware, you might consider getting this Flight Velocity Mid Profile Cockpit panel made in USA. It offers you enough room to hold your Saitek/Logitech standard yoke, throttle quadrant, switch panels, navigation instruments, radios, and more.
Step 4. Choose software for your home flight simulator
Another important step when setting up your home flight sim involves choosing the right software to use. The 3 MOST popular home flight simulator software currently include Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane, and the Prepar3D (P3D).
Each of these top simulators comes with varying functionalities and add-ons availability and will meet the needs of different users.
Prepar3D
Prepar3D is a fancy name for “Prepared” and one of the most popular flight sim software for professional pilots and aviation geeks. It is based on the original code from the Microsoft Flight Simulator X released in 2006.
The simulator presents you with an extensive ecosystem of high-fidelity, a detailed simulation that includes airlines, ground handling utilities, weather add-ons, to name but a few.
It’s hailed as a highly stable simulation platform offering a wide variety of realistic, study-level add-ons it offers its users.
Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard (MSFS)
This sim was released in 2020 and features the cutting-edge of the game development world.
The default aircraft in this sim software might not match offer the high level of fidelity and realism as other top simulations today, but the several study-level add-ons currently in development will likely fix this with time.
If you have a passion for VFR flying and won’t mind bumping on a few issues as the game continues development, MSFS might be an ideal choice for you.
X-Plane
For the serious pilots, who want the most realistic general aviation flying simulation experience, you might want to consider getting the X-Plane 11 sim.
The software’s default aircraft and avionics suite offer fairly high-fidelity. The scenery enhancements in the X-Plane are crowdsourced, thanks to the software’s huge, active freeware development community.
Step 5. Pick the hardware/controls to include in your simulation setup
The home flight simulator hardware makes a crucial part of your simulation as they bring out the experience of flying a real aircraft. However, the type of hardware you choose directly affects the accuracy of realism you achieve with your home flight sim.
While some folks might want to keep things simple with the computer keyboard and mouse, these won’t even come close to offering you a realistic flying experience (you’ll never fly a real airplane with a mouse and a keyboard). A console gaming controller, too, won’t do the trick.
Here are the necessary home flight simulator components:
Joystick
If you’re a pilot used to flying aircraft with a side stick such as the Airbus liners, Cirrus SR20/22, etc., you might consider getting a joystick for your home simulator setup.
There are a couple of options available depending on your needs. If you want a solid and dependable model, go with Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog.
The Thrustmaster T16000M FCS is a good choice for budget-minded users and offers you all the basic inputs at a more affordable cost.
Yoke
If you’re used to flying aircraft with a yoke instead of a joystick, then a flight sim yoke is a more ideal option. The debate on joystick vs yoke has been ongoing but we believe that it all boils down to your personal preferences and your desire to achieve a more realistic flying experience.
Most people would go with a yoke anytime. The ability to place your hands on your yoke and push/pull to pitch your aircraft will feel just like flying a real airplane.
There aren’t many flight sim yokes on the market today. But the few models available like Honeycomb Alpha and Logitech G PRO do a fantastic job and have received high popularity from simmers all over. If you’re using a ready-made cockpit panel, make sure it fits the yoke you plan to buy.
Rudder Pedals
Having rudder pedals as part of your home flight simulator controls also increases your virtual flight's realism. The controls let you control the rudder on landing, in-flight, or take off, steer your aircraft to the ground, and offer differential and progressive braking.
Although you can use a joystick for controlling the rudder, we don’t recommend this because it takes away a lot of realism from your simulator.
That said, there are some great rudder controls to get for your simulation. For the highest levels of realism, we suggest you get the advanced Thrustmaster TFRP Rudder, though it sits on the higher end of the price spectrum.
The Logitech’s PRO Flight rudder pedals, on the other hand, will offer you value for money.
Throttle
A throttle quadrant in your home flight simulator to further boost its realism score. You might find some joysticks that come with a built-in throttle, but given that you’re after a realistic setup, we advise you to get a separate throttle.
The type of throttle you get will depend on the type of aircraft you plan to fly.
For a twin-engine or multi-engine aircraft, you might consider Logitech Pro Flight Throttle Quadrant or CH PRODUCTS Throttle Quadrant.
If you’re into combat flight simulators and want a fighter jet-like cockpit setup, Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog Dual Throttles is a sure bet for you.
Instruments and switches
You can complete your physical cockpit and make it look like that of a real aircraft by adding some instruments and switch panels like the Pro Flight Instrument Panel and Logitech G Pro Flight Switch Panel, respectively.
Depending on your budget and how much realism you yearn for, you might need to equip your cockpit with a few switch panels, switches and basic physical instruments, or switches in addition to screen-based instruments (place the monitor behind the panel).
OR, you can build a complete hardware-based cockpit featuring more advanced instruments like realistic pilot GPS (for instance: The RealSimGear GNS530, the exact replica of Garmin G1000 used by pilots).
Step 6. What about your gaming equipment?
You want to keep in mind that virtual flying is a video game just like any other video game you have played before.
That said, you might have the best flight simulation software and hardware, but without the right gaming equipment, you’re NOT going to get the most out of your investment.
The following equipment will make your gaming environment flight simulator-ready:
Gaming PC
A gaming computer is the heart of your home flight simulator and you want to ensure you have a dedicated gaming PC with a fast CPU, lots of RAM, and great graphics card (with plenty of memory).
The easiest way to get the best computer for your flight sim is to check your flight simulator software system requirements and get a computer with higher specs than those requirements. This trick will futureproof your computer in case the software updates require higher capacity.
Getting the best PC for your at-home flight sim shouldn’t be a hassle as there are many options on the market today. But some models stand from the rest with their out-of-the-world specs and cutting-edge gaming performance.
One such computer is the Omen by HP Obelisk Gaming Desktop Computer which features hyper-realistic NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) RTX 2080 Super graphics card, Ultra-fast Intel Core i9-9900K processor, SSD drive and memory, and VR compatibility.
High-resolution PC monitor
You’ll also need a high-resolution PC monitor to accompany your gaming PC. The best monitor should deliver fantastic picture quality and make you feel like you’re flying in the real world.
A great monitor should also offer you great flexibility on how you can set it on your at-home flight sim cockpit. As for the size, consider anything from 30 inches for the ultimate simulation experience.
Just like computers, the market also has multiple monitors for you to choose from. Some of the most popular screens for gamers include the AOC C32G1 32" Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor and the Sceptre 30-inch Curved Gaming Monitor, both of which are sure to serve you with crazy immersive experience.
Gaming chair
You’ll also need a comfortable home flight simulator seat for the hours you’ll be spending in front of your home flight cockpit.
If you’re just starting out and have a limited budget, you can use an old car seat for your home cockpit. Junkyard is the best place to start when looking for your virtual airplane seat.
Another option would be to get a modern office or gaming chair that tilts backward a bit (this is especially helpful if you have rudder pedals in your simulation). A good example is this Hbada Gaming Chair which offers you excellent lumbar support, a removable headrest, and a reclining backrest (from 90° to 155°).
If you want to go 100% realistic, perhaps a chair that looks just like the aircraft seats will be a more ideal choice. The Playseat Air Force Flight Seat is one such model designed to enhance your simulation experience with its dynamic fighter plane cockpit style.
Sound
The most overlooked part of a home flight simulator is the sound. Surprisingly, it is one aspect that really seals the deal when it comes to getting a realistic flight sim experience.
Listening to the aircraft engine roaring, the sound of the wind, and interior aircraft sounds like switches, warnings, stall horns, clicks, etc. can get you fully immersed in your flights.
To achieve this level of immersion, all you need is a simple 2.1 sound like this Logitech Z625 Powerful THX Certified 2.1 Speaker System. Place the two stereo speakers on each end of your simulation and the subwoofer at the center to provide the realistic rumbling noise of your engine and airframe vibrations.
What if you don’t want to bother your roommates or other people in the house with your virtual flying adventures? Well, in this case, a more ideal choice would be a pair of gaming headsets.
We recommend the Logitech G733 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Headset as it comes engineered to minimize distortion while delivering rich audio wirelessly.
Step 7. Make your first virtual flight!
At this point, your flight simulation rig is all set and ready to use. All that you need to do now is get in the cockpit and fire it up for your first flight.
You might need to take a few flights before you get accustomed to the virtual flying world. For a certified pilot, you might get used to the design and feel of your new flight simulator setup quite fast.
But if you’re flying for the first time, a flight simulator isn’t something hard to get hang of. The top-rated flight simulator software will offer you in-simulator mission tutorials to get you started easily. YouTube also features tons of videos on how to fly virtually.
And don’t forget to engage with the huge international community around the flight simulation. Many sims offer you options to get easily connected with other community members.
Sims like Microsoft Flight Simulator even offer you a multiplayer option that lets you fly with others without installing any additional software.
Final Verdict
Setting up your home flight simulation isn’t something reserved for the techie geeks or real pilots. Whether you’re a flying hobbyist or a student pilot and want to improve your skill, this guide has offered you everything you need to create your own home flight simulator from scratch.
As you have already discovered in this guide, your budget and what you intend to use your simulator for will determine the kind of simulation you end up with. For a student pilot or certified pilot, you should set up a realistic home flight simulator possible to suit your training needs and requirements.
Remember that more realistic and advanced flight simulators will require more components, taking the cost high up.