World’s Coolest Dad Builds Fully Functional Boeing 737 Cockpit in Kids' Bedroom
It's every kid's dream to fly, but eventually reality sets in that without wings, taking to the skies is left to the birds. Well, screw that. Laurent Aigon, a 40-year-old from Lacanau, France, gave his children wings in the form of a fully functioning Boeing 737 cockpit he assembled in their bedroom. It sits next to their bunk bed, this enormous and awesome thing that's so authentic, the Institute of Aircraft Maintenance at Bordeaux-Merignac Airport has asked him to give a lecture.
Aigon is a waiter at a local restaurant and bar, though his passion has always been avionics. He grew up in Beutre, about 650 feet away from Merignac Airport, and he would daydream of one day being a pilot as he watched planes takeoff and land. When he was 12 years old, he got his first taste of being a pilot courtesy of Microsoft's Flight Simulator program. Alas, as he grew older, he took a different path and admitted "a little laziness" kicked in when it came to the thought of flight school.
Image Source: Sudouest.fr
Now a grown man, Aigon and fellow aircraft aficionado Jean-Pual Dupuy, who he met five years ago, decided to build a realistic simulation cockpit. They ordered pieces off of the Internet one-by-one until finally, after thousands of hours of research and work (and euros), they had done it.
Five networked monitors simulate a world outside of the bedroom, allowing Aigon and his children to rise above the clouds and fly to faraway destinations before returning home (always safely) and going to sleep. Remarkably, Aigon taught himself each of the cockpit's many controls along with correct flying procedures, and he's now able to fly the virtual plane as a real pilot.
Where will he go from here? His dream of being a pilot has shifted; he now hopes to build aircraft simulators for a living.
Aigon is a waiter at a local restaurant and bar, though his passion has always been avionics. He grew up in Beutre, about 650 feet away from Merignac Airport, and he would daydream of one day being a pilot as he watched planes takeoff and land. When he was 12 years old, he got his first taste of being a pilot courtesy of Microsoft's Flight Simulator program. Alas, as he grew older, he took a different path and admitted "a little laziness" kicked in when it came to the thought of flight school.
Image Source: Sudouest.fr
Now a grown man, Aigon and fellow aircraft aficionado Jean-Pual Dupuy, who he met five years ago, decided to build a realistic simulation cockpit. They ordered pieces off of the Internet one-by-one until finally, after thousands of hours of research and work (and euros), they had done it.
Five networked monitors simulate a world outside of the bedroom, allowing Aigon and his children to rise above the clouds and fly to faraway destinations before returning home (always safely) and going to sleep. Remarkably, Aigon taught himself each of the cockpit's many controls along with correct flying procedures, and he's now able to fly the virtual plane as a real pilot.
Where will he go from here? His dream of being a pilot has shifted; he now hopes to build aircraft simulators for a living.
