The Biggest Decision.

[coolmanak]

Hello everybody. I am right now being forced to make the biggest decision of my home cockpit 'career'. Do I do a full both-sided cockpit, or just one side?

Now I don't just want a simple answer, I would like to see the pros and the cons of having both or just one side.

And to let you know, I don't plan on actively having a second person in the cockpit at all times.

[Rodney]

Depends on what you can afford and what your build talents are. but the one deciding thing for me was that it does take at least 2 pilots to safely fly the aircraft.

[paulj]

In my case it depended on a couple of things.
Amount of space available, and cost.

I only have enough space for the Capt.side. I would love to have the complete thing but it's just not possible.
Of course, one of the benifits of this is I don,t have the extra expense of having to buy another monitor for FO displays, nor do I have to have 2 of each com1, nav1,nav2 or efis units

However I would gladly spend the extra if I could fit them in.

Paul

[ivar hestnes]

It is very nice to have a buddy in cockpit for a nice flight and a cup of coffee. Not so cosy if you have to place the copilot on your lap

And for the realism, a full setup sure improves the good feeling, also when flying alone. It cost some more, also some more work, but in my opinion well worth it. But space available is of course a big issue.

What aircraft are you going to build?

[salautom]

just my opinion, if you have space for a full size, I should go for that, and of course you can use a lot of dummy's for the co-pilot side (even the lcd's make a nice print), then later when your budget permits, you can always replace the dummies for real one's

[BHawthorne]

If you have room for it, I say go the full shell. Prioritize spending for the side you want to fly and piecemeal in the other side over time. IMHO, the whole point in making a simpit is to achieve an immersive flight experience. That's best done by having everything there.

[coolmanak]

Thanks! Well, the votes are in, and I'm building a full one.

I'll give you a little information on my project, as I'm relatively new here.
I'm building an A321 fixed base home cockpit. Now when I say A321, most people say just to call it an A320. However, the overhead and fuel management system of the A321 is slightly different, as it has a different fuel pump system then the A318/19/20. The A321 cockpit is also the same as the A318 Exec. I'm using cockpitsonic panels and hardware, but a customized frame.

My Airbus project has only one disadvantage over the Boeing 737NG I was originally going to do...Take a look: http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/prod_info.php?id=553

EDIT: Actually there are a lot of other downsides in terms of price. Take a look at all this: http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/a...p849uqejff83v5

[coolmanak]

By the way, does anybody know a realistic USB headset that's fairly affordable?

[AndyT]

Logitech makes a decent USB headset. Its not super realistic but then headsets have come a long way in the last 20 years.

Some swear by Logitech and some swear at them. Like anything, its a personal choice.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/we...ones/&cl=us,en

On the other hand, if you would like some force feedback in your USB headset, then eDimensional has 2 models to choose from. Both are Teamspeak certified.
http://www.edimensional.com/index.php?cPath=22

I'm sure there are others out there, but these will get you going for now. Personally, I like the AudioFX set from eDimensional. It's less expensive and still has all the features I would need.

[coolmanak]

Thanks for the suggestions. Do you know if there's a jack-to-usb converter?