Hello fellow space travellers. As i am working on a full motion simulator, i have been casting about google in search of a simulator forum. Finally, i used the search key "space simulator forum" and found you.

I am a 71 years old, retired the first of this year from a 52 year programming career. My terrestrial flight log book has 375 hours of strictly single engine land aircraft. I am an avid SciFi buff and collected a few movies. Along the way discovered an interesting full motion flight game from 1983 known as Saker-one out of Detroit. The pilot sits inside a globe which then floats on a column of air. The pilot can roll the globe, including pitch and yaw. The inventor has died and the game is no more.

It is my intention to re-invent it using updated hardware and software. The PC will likely be used for the basic game and display graphics. The globe's attitude control will fall to a Raspberry Pi and a 6 axis sensor that i have purchased. The control system will have a panic mode for stopping the game and i plan on the control system automatically reorienting the globe, like right side up as the air stream fades.

The initial version will use a vertical tube 10 foot diameter and about 15 foot high. The height is because the 10 foot diameter globe will only be lifted a little ways. If the project is a success, i envision using a longer tube that has a horizontal section, a section at about a 30 degree angle and a vertical section. The horizontal section permits simulating taking off and landing from a runway, carrier deck or space craft like Battlestar Galactica. Can you also imagine Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2? The angled section simulates climbing and the vertical section high acceleration into space.

This first globe has a 5 foot high cabin, so the pilot can enter without contorsions. Remember, i am 71 and not as limber as some of you. I envision a slightly larger globe that would accomodate two cockpit couches. So we could have two pilots or a pilot and gunner. Can you say "pilot training"?

Here is a web link to the project http://www.dragon-n-unicorn.com/simulator/index.html