The simulator is absolutely unique in the world. It is a 7m long, 3000kg cockpit of an original aircraft that has flown for over 37,000 hours. It has been restored with the utmost care and functions exactly the same as it did back then. Every switch, every fuse, every light and every instrument is working again. This Caravelle wiring system is very complex, so the original checklists must be used to operate it.

 

Due to its size, the simulator is a so-called fixed-base simulator that does NOT move. However, the 220° panoramic view as well as the vibration and noise create a feeling of movement that makes you completely forget your surroundings.

 

The Caravelle simulator has a portable instructor station into which all the necessary parameters (e.g. weather, time of day, airport, position of the aircraft, technical failures, etc.) can be entered before and during the respective flight. The simulator largely complies with the requirements for synthetic flight training devices of the Federal Aviation Office according to JAR-STD 3A (FNPT II). However, we have not yet approved it. If there is increased interest among customers and student pilots in doing basic training on the Caravelle, we can also approve the simulator for this purpose.

 

X-Plane Commercial License: the most realistic flight simulator program used by many airlines and NASA. It calculates flight behavior not using tables but using a 3D model. This results in very precise, balanced (and therefore real) flight characteristics. As real pilots, we in particular do not want to make any compromises here. X-Plane is far from perfect, but it is the best available at the moment.

 

A “super brain” with a high-performance graphics card operates the visual system, an dditional computers operate the instruments and the system logic – a very complex system built by professionals. Several additional sceneries, such as the entire areas of New York and Miami, have been installed by the company Drzewiecki Design. Flying past Manhattan at low altitude is a breathtaking experience!

 

The bi-visual screen is displayed by three projectors with the latest software without “cut edges”. This means that you can look left and right from the original windows and have a realistic panoramic view.

 

This projection surface, which is over 30m² in size, is one of the largest flight simulator projections in Germany.

 

Instruments & warning lights

Various systems have been developed: Some instruments are controlled true to the original, i.e. they were not even opened but simply connected to modern chips. That sounds easy, but it is a real nightmare and cost a lot of nerves and money. The background noise is absolutely original due to the complex mechanics of the instruments. Most of the gauge instruments, however, have been converted. Stepper motors from the automotive industry were used for this. These are the same high-resolution motors that also display rpm and speed in modern cars. The technology for connecting these motors to a PC was developed specifically for the Caravelle Simulator. Furthermore, all lamps and warning lights are connected – they have been programmed accordingly and work as they did back then.

 

For maintenance reasons, the old, broken light bulbs were replaced with modern LEDs. These last

around 30,000 hours and do not generate any heat. All switches are original, with a few exceptions. The forces on the control columns correspond exactly to the forces from back then. All this information can be found in the Caravelle maintenance manuals that we have.

 

Vibrators

Powerful vibrators are installed under each seat, which give a very realistic feeling of flying and make the seat shake when starting…