I started my quest for the perfect un-powered flight simulator in 2000 and have had numerous failures and a few sucesses. It is much harder than it looks to make this work properly. FMS made a few small changes in my design of the "Dreamflyer" and created a multitude of problems. January of 2008 I was informed that I was not smart enought to create a better design. That is like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

I resigned from FMS and proceeded to learn "Solidworks". It took a month or two to put my ideas into the computer, but when you start with a clean sheet and no restrictions anything is possible, the "Cloudwalker" is the result.

From my previous failures I had a pretty good idea of what wouldn't work and of the problems I want to remedy.

Space utilization and ease of entry were the two biggies. Many pilots didn't have one because they didn't have space to park it. The new design uses almost half the floor area and removing the roll and base frames made entry a breeze.

As the design progressed I realized it had many other advantages. The first was that I would be able to offer yaw. This adds a great deal of complexity and cost but if desired can be implimented. My old Holy Grail, the yoke is now far more practical. I have built the parts but haven't assembled it yet. The computer tells me it willl work, but I'm not saying much until it flys on it's own.

Many inquires have come in from people wanting to put an enclosure on the unit. With the "Dreamflyer" is was possible but very impractical. The "Cloudwalker" will allow a full enclosure and while I haven't done it yet I can see no real problem. Properly done the weight would be centered over the CG and not cause any frame flex or require extra trim weight.

After designing a yoke I remembered all the requests for a car simulator. It was a natural. In the "Cloudwalker" Driving simulator stepping on the brake will cause it to tip forward, accelerating will make it tip back. Turning will rotate it in the direction required and further turning will make it bank in the opposite direction. All these movement simulate the G-force experienced in a real car being driven hard. All things concidered it should make for a rather exciting simulated driving experience.

I do not intend to produce these designs or sell plans, only build a few prototypes. My experiences with the "Dreamflyer" have convinced me that I do not have the ability or desire to take it to the next level. What I'm doing is developing the product that can be manufactured and offer it for licencing. The reaction to my previous design has convinced me that this design will be successful.

These are drawings of the product in the various configurations.

"Cloudwalker" Stick

"Cloudwalker" Yoke

"Cloudwalker" Driving

The prototype is still very crude and requires tweaking but the concept is proven and after throwing another $5,000 or $6,000 it will probably be perfect!

This video is the first test of the prototype

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