Just a thought here. Instead of having the seat move so that people can get in it and roll/slide up into the cockpit area, how about having part of the fuselage slide backward along with the seat, so people can get into the seat more easily (not all can squeeze into a tight spot so it would allow more people to enjoy the experience). It would keep people from possibly hitting their head. Once seated, the fuselage slides up into place with the cockpit portion as if it were all one piece. This way you could have a much more robust sliding mechanism underneath for strength and reliability. Less maintenance.
KISS! Simple answer. Some sealed roller bearings riding inside of some channel iron. We have used them to make many slide-out units. Simple to shield to keep little fingers out of contact with the rollers.
I love the idea of the 'inner experience' of flight. I also think that I know what Kermit wants for the seat mechanism, but not sure the team have quite grasped it yet! However it will be great when it is finished!
I think that all 'inner experiences' are made in conjunction with input from our surroundings. The 'inner experience' Kermit relates to also comes from flying the real deals. So I think, as a basis, the visitor should get the most realistic experience, even if pulleys are needed. The difference to a simulator, is that this experience is a more passive one, absorbing the environment and its atmosphere. Yet, touching a control for 'inner reflection' and feeling bungee cords, may alter the 'inner experience' in an unintended way.
Love the Idea but your guys are building a Air frame not a attraction. Might want to look at the scale and size of it. Ya its cool to say this is the exact size of the Spirit of St. Louis, but you need to build it as an attraction with accessibly at the fore front. Like you said you do not want to many distractions. One huge distraction is how tight and confined that space is. A bit of a uncomfortable feeling is a good thing but too much will become a distraction to your audio message that is the hard thing is the balance. Thanks for the update and cannot wait to see more.
Kermit, make all the instrument panel and 2 side windows with screens. One huge floor to ceiling screen. Keeps the safety but you can then bring in the sounds etc.
HI KERMIT !!--MY FAVORITE AEROPLANE,--IS THE "LOCKHEED-VEGA"-A PERFECT "ART-DECO" DESIGN,--AND LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOUR BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE AGAIN-& THE SOUND, OF THAT ENGINE "TICKING-OVER"--!!-WOW !!
Sounds great for visitors. Another attraction could be a B-25 cockpit situated on a simulated flight deck recreating the weather and pitching deck that Doolittle faced before taking off from the Hornet.
Another idea for a seat track could be to just rob one from a junker Cessna, and remove the stop mechanism. This would give you a proven, off-the-shelf track and roller system made for that exact purpose. You might have to find longer tracks than the standard 172 would have, but you could also probably get the same or similar track from the rear of a 400 (414, 425, etc)series Cessna. It's an option.
It's a great idea I like the tactical part of the experience, sitting in the cockpit mockup. Maybe the addition of video projections (multiple screens?) outside and a voice narrator could bring this into becoming a kind of diorama experience, eg. its dark outside, you look out of the side window and down and see the ocean in the moonlight and a narration of an actor playing as Lindbergh is telling of his exhaustion and stress as he is out in the middle of nowhere and in the darkness. That would be a cool experience :) Cheers,
Im just a simple guy from the Netherlands but i would love to visit Fantasy of Flight...Seems like these guys, like Kermit, Paul and Ken are such familiar faces now...Together with the beautiful collection... Will you ever meet up with Mr BLakey from BlakeY engine services???
Interesting Kermit, I've seen the outside of the Spirit of St. Louis many times at the Smithsonian, but it would be interesting to see the cockpit since unlike other planes I've flown you can't see out the front, or how tight the space was or was not.
Kermit, my friend. recruit a few "imagineeers" and let them invent...then approve or not. You have to sell the vision and then let others make it...your talents and time are too valuable to stay in the weeds too much. You're a good man with exceptional ideas. We are behind you on this but you have to let some of the little things go to the"kids" that can make the Dream reality. Rock on, Sir... Rock on.
Roller Blade wheels would work well, small have there own ball bearings and don't cost much. Use an angle beam for the track and you could mount wheels on top and bottom of the track and that would hold it on like a roller coaster.
Kermit, might I suggest you find a live theater tech director somewhere, and entice him to share a few hours of his experience? Possibly someone from a local university theater, or a dinner theater, or something like that. There are all kinds of theatrical rigging products available off the shelf that could be adapted to that seat roller problem, and most of them will be a lot smaller than those wheels. There's also plastic caning material that is a lot cheaper than getting real caning done for the seat. It can look very close to the real thing. That seat is a wear surface, and is likely to get cuts and holes poked in it from people having junk in their hip pockets. That's a very common problem with theater seats. You will probably need two seats, one in use, and one to replace the one in use when it gets compromised. The one not in use can get new caning without taking the attraction down. A theater TD that has been around for a few years will be able to suggest all sorts of solutions that I suspect your people are unlikely to find on their own, simply because they know airplanes, not tech theater. And what you are building is a theatrical experience, so it makes sense to get someone onboard (at least part time, or occasional consultant) that knows theater.
I was totally happy when I sat in Blanik L-13 to get my wings with my six foot two inch statue. Now I got one in my garage and and smaller people comes in and say it is gramped. So when you have a goal like learning to fly or go to the moon your motivation gives the space for you, heck the others.
Great idea for your attraction going step by step to ACT III. If you want to let people experience different cockpits in the long run, why not do a mockup of.a P-51 (or P-47) cockpit, and for comparison a mockup cockpit of a Bf (Me) 109? Though the latter might restrict admission simply by size.
Kermit - a question, a bit off this subject. Years ago, I think early '80's, I saw a Spirit of St Louis replica at Republic airport, Farmindale, NY. The young dashing pilot was dressed in a replica Lindberg flying outfit. Was that you? Yes or no, a found memory.
Australia ( I did Matt Dennings Boomerang bits).......... Kermit,.....When NASA brought the HUMAN Experience to Australia , Brisbane was the only city to see it...........Kermit, ......when I went to see this ,they had THE EAGLE,....set up so you could walk into the back of it and be inside the Eagle as it sat on the luna soil..............( Kermit - as I stood in Neil Armstrong position with my hands on the flight controls : looking out the forward cockpit widows I could see for the first time in my life the horizontal lines scribed on the plexiglass ,I could see everything NEIL Saw!!! , ......then as I was totally immersed in the Experience, I noticed a man had stepped up into the EAGLE next to me as Buzz Aldrin ,position........he was staring out the same windows...as me HE WAS in total silence.....he was my own age ..........THEN IT HIT ME..!!!!!........I turned to him & said............Hey my name is Richard Stewart....I'm a pilot ,engineer............HE said ,Oh wow , he wasn't a pilot or engineering he was just a man ,then I said.............." hey ", ....I wonder if TWO ALIEN'S,.....are standing in THEIR ",Eagle in their world like us today..........he laughed & said ....WOW that's a deep THOUGHT.........then we parted.......I said gee we spend all this money on space exploration,& today two blokes had this experience and we will never see each other again ...............Kermit .........I totally understand what your trying to do ........here is a thought for you ..................250 000 people that day went through the gates...!!!................I have all the autobiography of all the greats .............. Kermit............. temperature, cold, hot, smells HUMAN Experience craves the past ............they want to live in that reality for a fleeting moment.............."...Human experience ",.......... Kermit "money is the obstacle that holds back the Dreamers.....free them of the financial stress & you win............we had a Flight training facility here at Gold coast ,Heck field........I'm not involved with the facility but I walked in one day & said how many female student pilot candidate do you have on your Flight training.....they said three at present...........then I asked .......which one would you say is the most passionate about there flying ..??? They said this GIRL........I said WHY her......they said she is working three jobs to pay for her flight training..at present...............So...I said ok she is the one........I then said Make me out an invoice for Her flight training to completion ..fully qualified Pilot...........they did ...then I said ...today I Will PAY THE FULL TRAINING TO FULLY qualified pilot... ........ THEN I told them she is not to know who did this ....only tell her that her FLIGHT TRAINING was paid for because ,Her passion for flight and her spark inside proved to me that she was worthy of the universe stepping up to take away her financial stress & get on with flying without that burden on her family or self...why because I can & I wanted to ignite a spark within her whole community............I told the school call me when she graduates................she has no idea who I am & I have no idea who she is or what she looks like I don't even know HER NAME............. Kermit I hope you get to read this text ...............Kermit ....your on the ball ....it's black ( stand on the ball with all your energy) and the adventures will full into line like a true tai dragger....................
You guys are doing a great job. Maybe take the parts you're working with to Granger, or Dixie Bearings and tell them what you're trying to do and let them show you what they have that will work.
I admire the ambition, but what about building all of this in the virtual world? The technology is at the point where you could accomplish a lot of of what Kermit's vision seems to be.
