My Virtual Cockpit

In this post, I'll share my own cockpit that I use for flight simulation. I'll also share what I recommend buying, or what's going a little over-kill.

Honeycomb Aeronautical Alpha Flight Controls & Switch Panel

This is, in my opinion, the best flight simulator yoke! It is affordable, has 90˚ of rotation on either side, and X-Plane picks up even the slightest movements of the yoke, which can be a problem in affordable yokes. It also comes with a switch panel which includes all of the light switches, two master switches, two avionics switches, and a starter key.

Late 2013 27-Inch iMac

Almost every flight simmer uses a PC, but an iMac works just as well! Don't get me wrong: this is not my preferred computer, but I am listing the things I actually use. I would recommend getting a newer iMac, but it works (sort of). This computer has a 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 36GB (four 8GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory, and I have upgraded it to a 2 terabyte hard drive. I am not an expert at the inside of a computer, so that could be wrong, but here is the link for the technical specs if you would like to check it out.

Early 2019 9.8-Inch iPad Air

This is just my personal iPad and I have the app FltPlan Go installed on it. FltPlan Go connects to X-Plane and is used to track the plane using GPS and make a route (which I have not learned how to transfer to the iMac yet). It is basically a free version of ForeFlight. I absolutely love this iPad, but it is getting a little old now, so if you were buying a new one it could be a good idea to get the new iPad Air or iPad Pro. The iPad has a 256-gigabyte hard drive and WiFi only. Again, check the specs if you would like.

Honeycomb Aeronautical Bravo Throttle Quadrant

This throttle is an awesome product that I very much recommend! It is not perfect for flying Cessnas (or other single-engine aircraft) because of the design, but it is great because it can be switched between almost any aircraft.

X-Plane 11

X-Plane is what ties it all together. It is amazing! Truly outstanding graphics, an almost fully functional cockpit, and around the world flying in over 10 planes (not mentioning X-Plane.org which is where you can buy free or payware mods for almost anything).

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you learned at least something about flight simulator cockpits! I'm working on a cockpit panel, so subscribe to my blog to be notified when it comes out!