The Flight Director visits FSimUK 2026 at Aerospace Bristol to try home cockpit hardware, new sim software and a real 747 cockpit, and talks to pilots.
What the video covers
Written in our own words. It only describes what the video shows and says.FSimUK 2026 and Concorde Alpha Foxtrot
In this video The Flight Director travels to Bristol for FSimUK 2026, a two day flight simulation event, to see what the hobby looks like today and what developers are working on. The event is held at Aerospace Bristol, home of Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the last Concorde ever built and the last one to fly. She made her final flight on 26 November 2003, landing at Filton. Inside he is struck by how compact the cabin is, with just 100 passenger seats, a narrow aisle and tiny windows.
Home cockpits and hardware
On the show floor he finds people building entire cockpits in their spare bedrooms next to companies making desktop flying more realistic than ever, including small 3D printed Airbus panels sold at an affordable price. Because he is moving from Mac to PC, he asks UK flight sim PC builder Wired2Fire for advice: balance the components to your budget, and for Microsoft Flight Simulator at high resolution aim for 64 GB of RAM, an AMD 9800X3D processor and at least a 5070 Ti or 5080 graphics card. He stresses that you do not need a large setup to get started. He tries the Octavi IFR1, which puts the main avionics on a single device for Windows and Mac, a compact force sensitive joystick, and Thrustmaster's upcoming TCA Sky Yoke, which works on PC, iOS, Android and PS5. At Moza he tries an Airbus style side stick on a force feedback base. Fellow creators describe how the graphics went from cubes and squares in Flight Sim 95 to photorealistic scenery on affordable hardware, and at the X-Plane stand he finishes second in a landing challenge before dropping to fourth.
ATC, a real 747 cockpit and the big question
Beyond ATC presents itself as a replacement for the built in air traffic control, with clearance, ATIS, ground, tower and sector controllers. At 744 Experience visitors step into the real cockpit of a British Airways Boeing 747, saved from scrap during the pandemic, with every switch connected and no replica parts. He also sees a system that moves 10 million virtual passengers around Europe on connecting flights, and EFBX, an electronic flight bag that links your SimBrief plan, briefing and ground services in one flow. Keith, the organiser, explains that the first edition was planned in about four months. Then comes the question behind the video: is flight simulation just a game? A former Flybe airline pilot says it is definitely more than that, as many pilots used flight simulation to stay current when they were grounded during COVID. It will never replace a Level D simulator or the real aircraft, he says, but you can operate an aircraft very effectively from a home PC. Another guest says simming teaches you to listen to ATC and read charts, which helped him on real training flights. For some it is a hobby, for others the beginning of a career in aviation.
