Va. man builds flight simulator in his living room

ASHLAND, Va. (AP) — A homeowner in Ashland has built the cockpit of a Boeing 737 in the middle of his living room.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/VV7k22) reports Alvaro Coronado is afraid of flying and decided to face his fear by learning the sounds and movements of the plane.

The building process involved trial and error and some unconventional thinking.

He used plumbing pipe to form the shape of the flight simulator’s nose. Layers of thin metal sheets form the roof and are nailed to plastic material around the piping. Hard spray insulation foam holds everything together.

Using flight-simulating software, computer monitors display the changing view of the sky and Earth.

Coronado says he never went to flight school or engineering school. With a grin, he says he attends “YouTube University.”

___

Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up