My guess is Jay would have to spend some $ on advertising to get that
kind of thing rolling; then he'd have to charge for the "air combat"
arcade-type play -- does he have more than one simulator $et up? If not,
wouldn't be much fun for 20 people to stand and watch while one (or two)
are at the controls. You'd have to have support staff on hand to monitor
the sims, keep them working. Would people actually use the *hotel* for
overnight stay? or just show up for the sim play? Would sim play be
enough to cover the overhead of the whole hotel? Would people hanging
around for sim play disrupt actual paying hotel guests? What if a paying
hotel guest wants to use the sim? Would the insurance cover *customers*
on the premises for non-hotel purposes?
We've allowed anyone and everyone to "fly" the Kiwi flight sim anytime
they'd like, ever since we built it back in '05 -- hotel guests or not.
Remember, this is a prototype of EIGHT sims were building for a new aviation
exhibit (slated to open in Summer of '09) at the Iowa Children's Museum --
so we "kid (and parent) test" it at every opportunity.
You should see the finished products! Unlike the Kiwi, they look and feel
like real airplanes, and we've incorporated all the ergonomic touches that
the Kiwi lacked. They are so cool, I doubt we'll be able to control the
mobs of kids that will be clamoring to get into the museum next summer!
:-)
From there, it's just a short step to taking flight lessons. We're working
with our local FBO so that they'll be involved with the exhibit, and
hopefully offer a discounted "discovery flight" as part of the museum
experience.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"