Hello from South Carolina

#1 · September 10, 2018, 8:33 pm

Quote from Hangar45 Admin on September 10, 2018, 8:33 pm
(Original thread started on 12-05-17 by DonnyRay)

Hello, I'm Don Jones. Welcome to Hangar45 and the Learjet sim community.

The information in THIS post was originally written a long time ago when I was working on my second Lear cockpit. That cockpit no longer exists. I refer to it as “rig #2”. For information on my current cockpit please see Hangar45 postings with the phrase "L45-1001" in the subject line.

Rig #2 was largely built entirely from scratch except for some cockpit components that were real aircraft parts. It used Project Magenta RJ and other software commonly used with PMRJ. Interfaces were done with Phidget boards. A fair amount of the functionality of rig #2 was implemented in hardwired logic which was designed from information contained in various technical manuals. Rig #2 required 4 PCs. I used one for FSX, one for the captain side PMRJ instruments, one for the 1st officer side PMRJ instruments, and one for the Phidgets software. The last work I did on rig #2 was in March 2008, just before it was dismantled. (We moved to a new house.) I never reassembled it. Instead, I decided to restart the project with a clean sheet design that could more faithfully replicate the aircraft and it's operation. So THIS cockpit, rig #2, was retired.

There were many design features in rig #2 that seemed like a great idea at the time but eventually were found to be a closed solution. Some parts weren't durable enough to survive grandkids. Other things didn’t work reliably. That, and the discovery that rig #2 could not easily be equipped with a motion base, led to the decision to retire rig #2. Very much like the early Lear 23s, she was a good airplane and great fun to fly but she needed a lot of improvements.

I'm a licensed pilot and an electrical engineer by training and profession. In 2010 I retired from NASA's Johnson Space Center near Houston Texas. I designed some of the systems and hardware used on the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle (SS) programs and was a member of the team that designed and built the ISS Flight Control Room (FCR) in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Mostly, I'm a hardware guy. A long time ago I wrote operating systems for large mainframes. But I don't do much software these days, and I don't envy those that do.

I'm always happy to help Hangar45 members in any way I can. "If it's got wires on it...." I can probably help.

Welcome aboard!

DonnyRay

(Original thread started on 12-05-17 by DonnyRay)

Hello, I'm Don Jones. Welcome to Hangar45 and the Learjet sim community.

The information in THIS post was originally written a long time ago when I was working on my second Lear cockpit. That cockpit no longer exists. I refer to it as “rig #2”. For information on my current cockpit please see Hangar45 postings with the phrase "L45-1001" in the subject line.

Rig #2 was largely built entirely from scratch except for some cockpit components that were real aircraft parts. It used Project Magenta RJ and other software commonly used with PMRJ. Interfaces were done with Phidget boards. A fair amount of the functionality of rig #2 was implemented in hardwired logic which was designed from information contained in various technical manuals. Rig #2 required 4 PCs. I used one for FSX, one for the captain side PMRJ instruments, one for the 1st officer side PMRJ instruments, and one for the Phidgets software. The last work I did on rig #2 was in March 2008, just before it was dismantled. (We moved to a new house.) I never reassembled it. Instead, I decided to restart the project with a clean sheet design that could more faithfully replicate the aircraft and it's operation. So THIS cockpit, rig #2, was retired.

Donj 19

There were many design features in rig #2 that seemed like a great idea at the time but eventually were found to be a closed solution. Some parts weren't durable enough to survive grandkids. Other things didn’t work reliably. That, and the discovery that rig #2 could not easily be equipped with a motion base, led to the decision to retire rig #2. Very much like the early Lear 23s, she was a good airplane and great fun to fly but she needed a lot of improvements.

I'm a licensed pilot and an electrical engineer by training and profession. In 2010 I retired from NASA's Johnson Space Center near Houston Texas. I designed some of the systems and hardware used on the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle (SS) programs and was a member of the team that designed and built the ISS Flight Control Room (FCR) in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Mostly, I'm a hardware guy. A long time ago I wrote operating systems for large mainframes. But I don't do much software these days, and I don't envy those that do.

I'm always happy to help Hangar45 members in any way I can. "If it's got wires on it...." I can probably help.

Welcome aboard!

DonnyRay

#2 · December 18, 2020, 10:37 pm

Hello DonnyRay,

We are also from Houston, actually Sugar Land. Back in the day, late 60s, I was a Naval Aviator working at the Naval Air Weapons Development Center and had much interface with Lockheed and NASA.

After the Navy worked for Ross Perot at EDS in Dallas. Also wrote systems for mainframes and later for client server. Did operating systems and online software. In the 70s and 80s worked with several ex-IBMers at EDS that worked at NASA in programming for Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Do you go back that far?

Moved to East Tenn when we retired. I too started the second one after moving.

Good luck

Meta

HANGAR 45 FORUM

Hello from South Carolina