Simulator

Bell 206B JetRanger

Helicopter Flight Simulator

For those that have an interest, I have put together these few pages of pictures to help show the ever changing process of building a home based helicopter simulator. The simulator is set up in my computer repair shop, so it gets commented on frequently by my customers. Just for the record, and I'll put this up front, this simulator has been built for less than $1,500 (Canadian). If you are asking how, then I will say that most of the computer related components were recycled and/or repaired from either equipment that was left behind by customers, or from my computer business sources. All of the flight controls are "homemade" and were built from pieces of scrap aluminum, steel, wood, and "junk" that had been laying around the shop. I will try to update the photos and information to these pages when possible, as I am constantly making changes to the simulator.

The Bell 206B JetRanger cockpit was salvaged from an accident that had caused some damage to the helicopter's left side. I was lucky enough to receive the cockpit from some very generous folks at a Bell Helicopter repair facility near me. All the flight controls, instruments, gauges, doors, seats, and windscreens had been removed before I acquired the cockpit. The floor pan had also been removed, so I used 3/4" plywood for the base and floor, and to stiffen the cockpit at the back. I fabricated a few aluminum panels for the inner and outer bottom door sills and repaired the left side damage somewhat with fiberglass cloth and resin.

Three (5") fold down casters were added to help move the simulator around the shop and make trailer loading easier.

Top down view shows one of the original "homemade" collectives made from scrap wood and aluminum tubing.

Recently (April, 2008) I have started building helicopter flight controls for other simulator builders and will be replacing my original controls with these newer controllers in the coming months. If nothing else the simulator makes a great test bed for experimenting and testing of new equipment.

This collective is one of the new all aluminum prototypes that I started building for other 206 simulators. It has a working mechanical idle release detent button above the throttle grip for realistic Bell 206 startup and shutdown procedures when using the Dodosim Adv 206 software and Flight Simulator 9.

Collective throttle grip potentiometer, starter button, and switches are wired to a Plasma-Lite V2 USB controller.

The original collective base uses plastic gears to increase potentiometer travel. This base is simply a couple of 3/16" thick angle iron pieces and a 1/2" bolt, with a little welding thrown in. The gears are "recycled" from an old printer. The spring keeps the gears meshed without any noticeable backlash. The black knob is used for the collective friction adjustment.

The cyclic controller is a "weight-balanced" system, there are no springs used for a centering effect, which means the controller grip will stay pretty much where you put it. Since the simulator controls are not actually connected to a set rotor blades by a mechanical linkage, small hydraulic dampers were added to give the cyclic a very slight feeling of mechanical resistance when the controller is moving.

The cyclic potentiometers are now driven with a small plastic pulley and timing belt. By using the belt and pulley setup the relatively short throw of the cyclic controller is converted to significantly more arc travel of the potentiometer, resulting in a smoother and more sensitive controller with no backlash. These timing belts are "open ended" and use a small light weight spring to take up the slack. My cyclic controller mechanism is welded steel and has considerable mass which makes the small springs attached to the timing belt ends unnoticeable in actual operation. The cog pulleys and timing belts shown here were taken from defective printers that were brought into the shop, but they can also be purchased from suppliers as stock items.

These pedals were originally built for placing on a concrete floor and were used by a number of curious flight enthusiasts wanting to try helicopter flying. I wanted to make them strong and heavy enough to take anything we could throw at them, thus the welded steel construction. They have been adapted to the simulator and although they work just fine, I'm considering new designs for pedals and want to replace these when possible.

The use of stepped plastic gearing allows for extended travel of the potentiometer, thus maximizing the output sensitivity for the tail rotor, resulting in a smoother and more precise tail rotor control. Isolating the gearing and potentiometer to it's own module keeps any extreme pedal pressures from damaging the lightweight plastic gears. To give the pedals a "feeling of mechanical resistance" a small hydraulic damper was added.

The pedals are using a 10K precision potentiometer (conductive plastic type) for the tail rotor control.

The standard Bell 206B instrument panels are simple and compact. This makes it easy to display on a single 22" LCD monitor.

Some of the buttons and switches used for startup and flight are located on the main instrument panel on a real 206. Since I am using a LCD monitor for my main panel and not a real panel, I tried to position the main fuel valve switch, warning horn mute button, caution light test button, and TOT light test button to locations near their original respective locations on a real panel. (the real buttons and switches along the top and bottom of the LCD main panel monitor)

It's possible to change from the general flight panel (shown above) to the IFR panel (below) with the touch of a single button.

7" LCD GPS screen, GPS Switch Panel (GoFlight RP48), GoFlight Push Buttons (GF-P8), GoFlight Radios (GF-166)

The working GPS LCD screen is from a portable 7" DVD player with a "video in" jack feature. The GPS screen displays the FS9 XML GPS gauge panel and is connected to a second video adaptor in the sims computer. The GPS functions are controlled with the GoFlight RP48 push buttons and rotary switches that are just below the screen.

Center console mounted switches for hydraulics, anti icing, and caution light control.

With FS9, and using the Adv 206 software along with FSUIPC, the switches on the overhead panel function the same as on a real 206 aircraft.

Wiring terminating at the Plasma-Lite V2 USB Controller and the ACE-4X expansion card.

This 10 button controller is used for quick view changes, displaying panels, zooming in and out, as well as to pause or reset a flight.

All of my "homemade" controls (cyclic, pedals, and collective) were mounted at a desk until the cockpit came along. Since I've acquired the JetRanger cockpit, the simulator now has all the functioning real buttons and switches needed for a realistic 206B turbine engine start and warmup, complete with realistic associated sounds, accurate flight characteristics, and shutdown procedures.

For the most part this has been made possible by the advanced 206 helicopter simulator software from DODOSIM Flight Simulation. (www.dodosim.com) The simulator can now be used effectively for 206 turbine transition training and IFR flight training as well as general familiarization with helicopter flight and procedures.