Aerospace engineer Michael Rechtin managed to build an insane full-motion flight simulator that includes a motorized chair setup that tilts to match the pitch and roll of an aircraft. What does this mean? A highly immersive experience for piloting RC planes or virtual aircraft in simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The heart of the simulator is a plywood chair, cut precisely with a CNC machine, sitting on a strong pyramid-shaped base. It uses two big NEMA 23 stepper motors with 10:1 gearboxes to tilt the chair, mimicking pitch (nose up or down) and roll (wing tilting). For flying RC planes, the setup works with FPV goggles that show video from a camera on the plane. The chair moves in sync with the plane’s flight data, giving a real “in-the-cockpit” feeling. A “buddy system” lets a second person take over with a regular RC controller to avoid crashes during flights.
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A 3D-printed joystick and throttle, attached to the chair’s armrests, use potentiometers to pick up your inputs. These are handled by a microcontroller (Teensy 4.0 board) and sent as flight commands to the plane or simulator. As an aerospace engineer, Rechtin used pro skills to make sure the mechanics and electronics work smoothly. The closed-loop stepper motors and a universal joint create natural, lifelike motion.
Rechtin added a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B to make the electronics simpler for hobbyists to put together. The Pi’s flexibility (running Linux, managing USB inputs, and handling motor control through GPIO) makes it a smart pick over using a Teensy and a laptop.
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