What is Project Pocket380?

I've been using computer-based flight simulators regularly for years now, and I can see the available software getting better and better every year. Still, flight simulation in front of a PC can be very unrealistic, mainly because the controls don't feel right, let alone the vision out the window and the motion feedback (or, rather, the lack of it). So I've been playing with the thought of building a home simulator flightdeck -- a replica of that of a real aircraft with most, if not all, controls in the proper places. In a nutshell, Pocket380 is my personal project whose aim is the realization of a fully functional Airbus A380 replica flightdeck for home use.

Why the Airbus A380?

The decision to copy the A380 flightdeck didn't take long. Although there is limited information about its flightdeck at this time, it's clear from photographs that it uses glass instruments only, so most of the functionality is actually implemented in software. This not only relieves the builder from modelling all the mechanical gauges, it also makes it possible to build the flightdeck now, working with any flightdeck software, and upgrade easily to software that more closely models the A380 whenever that becomes available. Also, the A350 flightdeck is very similar, the main difference is related to the smaller number of engines and the presence of mechanical trim wheels (which aren't normally needed, in fact). This allows me to also use the A380 flightdeck to control an A350 for flights into airfields not prepared for the A380.

Many home flightdeck builders copy the A320 series or the B737NG flightdecks not only because these are modern airliners, but also because they use very few mechanical gauges, most instrumentation is glass and can therefore be modelled using (inexpensive) computer screens. I'm convinced that the A380 makes modelling even easier because it has no mechanical gauge (apart from the magnetic compass), there is no motion feedback in any of the controls (not even the trim wheels, as they are not present!), and even the rudder limiter that the A320 series introduced has been eliminated. The only "feedback" left on the A380 is that of the sidestick stiffening up when the autopilot is engaged, but I think I can live without that.