David,
Go to www.flypfc.com and take your checkbook!
I gave up on the plastic stuff several years ago. You pay, but you ENJOY
the hell out of it, and it's built to last forever (lifetime warranty)!! Or
at least until technology leaves you in the dust, I recently had to go to a
DB-15/USB converter to keep the yoke airborne.
Here's a shot of my humble virtual cockpit, which doesn't hold a candle to
some of the IMAX configurations shown lately, but it keeps me happy for
hours on end, and out of the bars & alleys at night. (:-))
www.cox-internet.com/tazman/cockpit.jpg
Primary view is Sony 19" trinitron, left secondary 15", right is old
RGB/composite monitor (left over from IBM jr.!!) that has a external tuner
for in flight movies, to the right of that is the radio stack with weather
radar (cleverly disguised as a radio spectrum display), and Cirrus PFC Jet
Yoke. After many decades as a field service engineer on medical equipment,
you'll also notice the onboard Cat Scanner G. I discreetly moved the
porta-bar for the photo..... A Dell XPS 3GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 1GB ram, Radeon
9800, SB Audigy, and 200GB HD is the power plant, nestled down beside the
desk. What looks like a roll of toilet paper on top are actually paper
towels for the occasional hair ball or dr- er, coffee spill.......
Cheers'n beers.
Don

"R. David Steele" wrote in message
...
I recently toured the Purdue University's Aviation Technology Flight
School. They have a lab that is designed to train personnel from
Private Pilot right through airlines. What impressed me wasn't their
727 simulator (from Boeing) but rather that they had mock ups of
planes like the Cessna 172 that had real cockpits!

I guess that you can purchase the equipment from catalogs. Instead of
the second rate controllers from Best Buy, why not buy the more
expensive controls? And a good aviation rated seat.

Didn't the Smithsonian Aviation mag just have an article on folks who
have created extremely good, and realistic, simulators?

BTW, I find X-Plane more of a package for real gear heads.