EAA museum offers wild ride in jet fighter
Simulator captures thrill of flying an F-16

By Stanley A. Miller II, Journal Sentinel Staff, September 4, 2001

Oshkosh - The EAA AirVenture Museum has a new F-16 fighter simulator, fully fueled and armed with Sidewinder short-range heat-seeking missiles and a Vulcan 20mm cannon primed for acrobatic aerial combat.

EAA Museum

If You Go

Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 for senior citizens (62 years old and older), $6.50 for students ages 8 to 17, and free for children younger than 8. The $5 fee for flying the FS2000 simulator is in addition to admission. There is a maximum family admission charge of $21. The EAA AirVenture Museum is just off Highway 41 at the Highway 44 exit in Oshkosh. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call the EAA AirVenture Museum at (920) 426-4818.

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And for $5 a ride, visitors can climb into the cockpit with a co-pilot and play "Top Gun" for five minutes, soaring through a virtual combat theater displayed on a 58-inch screen.

The MaxFlight FS2000 full-motion simulator uses a 360-degree mechanical system to send pilots looping and spiraling in a realistic 3-D environment while spinning and shaking them in their seats.

Adam Smith, museum director, said the simulator was a popular attraction during the last EAA convention, drawing about 1,600 visitors. The long lines and rave reviews motivated the museum to make the simulator a permanent addition to the facility at the cost of $150,000.

"Flight simulators have been around for a while, and they've been getting better and better," he said. "The experience is difficult to describe. You can't get the full experience until you've been in there.

"We're confident this is going to be popular," he said. "I've ridden it . . . it doesn't make you feel nauseous. Everything seems natural. It's a full sensory experience, and you can feel the G-forces on your body."

Pilots climb into a silver two-seated module, which has fold-down shoulder harnesses and lap belts - much like a roller coaster - to keep them in place. The front hatch closes from above, sealing off riders from the outside.

The pod twists, spins, rotates and lurches according to the commands sent through the joysticks, which have various buttons used to machine gun or missile down enemy aircraft.

As pilots roll and dive to avoid enemies, the roar of machine guns fills the cockpit, and a mechanical voice drones "target destroyed" each time gunners successfully blast the enemy.

The game's visuals are fueled by high-end GeForce3 graphics chip technology from NVIDIA Corp., an industry leader, and the software is powered by a Pentium 4, 1.4-gigahertz processor. But museum executives say the true thrill is being physically shaken, rattled and rolled while having complete control over the action.

The video game environment places pilots in an ocean battle theater in which they're required to take off from an aircraft carrier. The system's software can run other flight environments and missions, including Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2000, a popular Windows PC game.

Curator Alan Westby said the museum plans to add more missions with different aircraft and areas for visitors to fly in, although there is no set timetable.

Westby suggested future simulator programs could include flying some of the 300 planes in the museum's collection.

"A jet fighter doesn't really fit in with the other planes in the museum, but we knew it was something people could identify with," he said. "That is what's really cool about the open architecture of this software. We want to take advantage of that."

While the simulator's movements aren't violent, it's easy for riders to get jostled about as they fly around.

Whip the joystick to the left or right, and the plane executes barrel rolls that easily shift you around in your seat.

Yank the joystick back forcefully, and the fighter climbs, pushing pilots into their seats. The museum recommends that pregnant women and visitors with health problems avoid the stress of the simulator.

The museum also has an arcade-style video console playing the simulator software so visitors can get used to the controls before they strap themselves in.

Brian McClintic, marketing director for MaxFlight Corp., said the simulator is one of only two in the country, with the other at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in Michigan. The few other MaxFlight simulators are in South Korea, the United Kingdom and Egypt.

Arvedon said the Lakewood, N.J.-based company also makes roller coaster, monster truck and bobsled simulators, with about 350 of them around the world.

"Our main focus up until a year ago was the entertainment industry," he said. "Now we're finding we're at a point to make the next step into civil aviation and military aviation."

Last updated: Friday, September 20, 2002 04:27:59 PM