A320 Flight Simulator Experience / exhibit at Aerospace Bristol
JetEx worked with volunteers from Bristol Flight Simulator group, to create an Airbus A320 flight simulator for Bristol Aerospace, (now known as Aerospace Bristol) which is a fantastic aviation museum, located at Filton, Bristol.
The Aerospace Bristol museum is home to the last Concorde to ever fly - which is a stunning sight to behold, but the museum also has many other interesting things to see, including an A320 flight simulator exhibit - a visit to Aerospace Bristol is essential for anyone with an interested in aviation. https://aerospacebristol.org/visit
The A320 flight simulator at Bristol is based on an illuminated but non-functioning cockpit replica supplied by Airbus. The cockpit was originally part of a cabin interior demonstrator mock-up housed at the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France. It was shipped to the Brabazon hanger at Filton, Bristol in 2015 where modifications were made over a number of months to convert it to a functioning (if very basic) flight simulator. Finally it was moved over from the "Brab hanger", to the Aerospace Bristol museum, in preparation for flight simulator experiences.
It was fascinating and humbling for us to work with the volunteers at Filton, most of whom have long and interesting careers with aerospace engineering, having worked on some of the most iconic aircraft, (and spacecraft) of the 20th century.
JetEx sponsored the Bristol flight simulator and with assistance from Bristol Aerospace volunteers, we converted the non-functioning timber mock-up to a simple functioning flight simulator.
Unlike the 737 full flight sim we use for our flight simulator experiences, which has a wide visual system, and can be flown from either cockpit seat, the flight simulator at Bristol is designed to be flown from the captain’s seat only, with a single channel non collimated view, and only the left side-stick functioning.
JetEx supplied a large display screen for the out-the-window view and replaced four of the non-functioning instrument displays with LCD screens. We fabricated new static analogue instruments to accommodate the LCD screens which were oversized for the aircraft panel openings and snagged with the original cockpit simulator instruments. We fitted potentiometers (devices that measure movement) to the flight controls, throttles, flaps and speed brake, and interfaced them to flight simulation software.
The A320 flight simulator at Bristol has basic functionality including joystick, throttles, flaps, speed brake, toe brakes and a number of switches.
Although not nearly as good as a full motion simulator, the Bristol flight simulator was originally designed to deliver flight simulator experiences giving a taste of the real thing, but for logistical reasons, and to preserve the exhibit, Aerospace Bristol have decided, for now, to run the A320 flight simulator as an exhibit only, consequently, instead of being interactive as originaly envisaged, the simulator operates in a playback mode displaying a flight simulation of Bristol airport .
JetEx continues to support the Aerospace Bristol A320 Flight Simulator.