No matter how expensive a home sim you make, it won't ever get be even a quarter of what an actual entry amateur plane costs to buy and maintain. It's not even the plane itself either, it's all the recurring costs like storage, maintenance, spare parts, fuel, certification fees, taxes, etc. The only cheap flight option for a recreational pilot is bushcraft light planes. And they will still cost more than the sim setup, while you'll only be able to fly it on certain places, during certain weather, at certain times of the year. The rest of the time you'll still have to pay all the storage and maintenance fees. Planes are incredibly expensive.

All that hardware and then just.. a chair.

Most people mention the costs of owning aircraft vs a sim, but there's another possible reason: health. People come in different shapes and forms and not everyone who loves aviation is able to get II or even III medical class. So flight simulation is their only option to be a "pilot".

I mean, on VATSIM (popular aviation simulation network) there's a group of visually impaired people who have made a special interface so they can fly an aircraft even though they can't see!

Simulation (of any kind) gives many people what they can't get in any other way. And as with any other hobby, as long as it's not damaging to other aspects of your life, let people enjoy what they want

The double-standard on display here is just disgusting. Sure, it's perfectly fine to modify your home entertainment system into a fake airplane but I try a little remodeling to make work feel more like home and it's all "security will escort you off the premises" and "we're taking away your pilot's license". Boils my blood.

That's just a mid-range setup. The real simmers have at least 3 monitors.

Some of those things for PC flight sims are straight up real cockpit pieces. Dude is simply buying his plane one bit at a time until he can assemble the whole thing.

I've installed Internet for a dude who had a setup this gnarly. And to top it all off, he lived on a piece of land attached to an aircraft museum. He really loves planes.

Do you know how much it costs to annual a Cessna 172? You could build 3 of these rigs a year for what the aviation equivalent of a 1988 Toyota Camry costs to maintain and fuel.

Planes are expensive AF to maintain

Only a single monitor, and then it's not even an ultrawide?

What kind of a low-rent setup is this?

The FAA and similar entities won't let pilots do all the fun and crazy shit they want to do that they can do in sim games.

Try buzzing a neighborhood in your plane, watch how fast you lose your pilots license, much safer doing this stuff in a sim.

I'd say good chance this guy does have a plane.

I’m doing the same with my work from home set-up. I even have a mannequin dressed up as a “boss” who hovers at my shoulder while I try to get stuff done .

Why so few monitors??

The $20 chair is definitely a statement of priorities and my favorite part of the image.

It's not even a full motion setup, you can go way more expensive and still be cheaper than an actual plane

Chair isn't even articulated, 6/10 tops, I wonder if he even has force feedback.

Someone posts something kinda cool.

Doofuses of the internet: we must find all the faults to prove how much smarter we are

This is probably a work in progress. And this person may not have the same preferences and priorities as you for their own personal setup.

Pretty cool with the overhead and side panels.

just buy a plane

Yeah, I don't think you can get a Mig-29 or a F-16 off e-bay, amazon or craigslist.

Indeed they are.. (picture 14)