My mind is full of questions...
- how much it is going to cost?
- how long is it going to take?
- where to build?
- what skills i need?
- do i need any help?
- what is the right scope of the project?
I am full of questions that i need to answer to myself.
Project Cost & Duration:
About the cost and time, i realized that this is going to be an expesive and time taking hobby. But hey, what's the use of money if it can't help you follow your heart? So the best way i am going to handle it is by planning it carefully and building it over years (that is what it took for many people on the web who have done this before me). After careful consideration, the best approach for me seem to be pre-allocating X dollars per annum and spend it without worrying every time i have to order something.
Space
Ofcourse basement is going to be the new home for the project. However, one big problem..i live in NewEngland and for 7 months a year the basement is a freezer. I have to do something about it unless i want to freeze myself.
Skills
About the skills...I know i have a lot to learn, some very fundamentals like how to solder and some as complex as control systems. Of all the things, one that most concerns me is the design of connected yoke and rudder pedals, hydraulics and mechanics involved in connecting and interfacing them with the system. One crucial skill i am more comfortable with is computers and programming. Ironically, i have a masters in mechanical engineering (with specialization in Machine Design..huh!) and the only mechanical engineering i practiced is - 'none'. Ever since i came out from the school, i am a software engineer by profession. I know i studied designing complex mechanisms to trace specific motion profiles while in school and learned to solve some complex problems there. But still i am a lot nervous about the very thought of it. Other day, i am reading about the forces acting on a flight and i am ashamed at my in ability to draw out the force field, write the equations, and resolve the forces on my own. Gosh, i can't even remember the equation for resolving vertical and horizontal component of a force vector!! Is it a "F cost(Theta) or F Sin(Theta)?" Shame on me.
On the other hand, programming, though a different kind this time (i know writing business applications is so different from writing control systems logic) i am up for the challenge. In general, i have some engineering background that i can count on for this project.
Help
When it comes to help...i realized many pioneers who built wonderful, impressive sim systems at home have a friend or a partner working with and helping them out in most cases. Also, more importantly they have strong background in Aero industry and some how connected to it through friends or some like. In my case, this is going to be a disadvantage since i don't have a partner. I am on a solo flight here...
Scale and the scope
This is the most difficult part for me. I am ambitious and i want it all - the best, biggest and the craziest stuff. But the reality wants me to define some boundaries and set limits. So here is what i decided... i donot want to limit myself in my ambition, i am going to do this as long as it takes and as long as it is fun. I will aim for the bigger and the better but in a modular fashion. Each step builds on the previous one and adds to and enhances it. I can't escape but use my years of software project management experience here. Why not?
So, I recall the golden rules of software PM:
1) Requirements are bound to change during the course of the project
2) rather than fighting the change, be prepared to deal with it.
So how do we deal with the change? The answer in my profession(atleast the one i believe in) is - "Architecture centric, use-case driven, iterative and incremental" process.
That is exactly how i want to approach this project. I will have a system architecture that allows me to build the system in small incremental iterations, each iteration delivering some value so that i won't loose interest in the project waiting for a big kahoona to fly overhead some 7 years later....
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