DEVELOPMENT STORY

Written by the founder of redgator UG, Andreas Pawlowski

The idea for this project came many years ago. As a passionate pilot in the real world, I also use the simulation offers of Microsoft in my spare time, later Prepare3d and X-Plane with various Airbus A320 Addon’s.

But somehow the fun stopped after a short time. Because operating the instruments with the mouse is not really practical. I would have preferred, like probably many other enthusiasts, to have a cockpit in 1:1 scale.

Original photo of an Airbus A320 cockpit

I probed the market for possibilities. However, I quickly discovered that the available equipment and options were either very professional and extremely expensive, or cheap but not very practical. In addition, there was the fact that the space required for this was a real problem. The veto of the wife was also not to be neglected.

So I had to find another solution – but which one? Preferably, I wanted to have a cockpit that I could put aside after flying.

Several years have passed since the first thoughts! But the thought continued to smolder in my head and just wouldn’t let me go.

That’s how it came about that I started developing our A320 desktop cockpit in 2018. A cockpit for the desktop, that was the basic idea.

Our prototype after first assembly

Thus, the A320 desktop cockpit was born from many sketches, visits to real simulators and experiences of real airline pilots. In addition, as many components as possible were to be reproduced from a “real” A320 cockpit. Quality and reliability played a major role. Several hurdles had to be overcome until I finally sat in front of our prototype in October 2019. It was overwhelming and terrific. The first flight was just spectacular and finally I could fly the A320 without a mouse.

In the meantime, we have already been guests at two trade fairs in the Netherlands and Germany. The demand for our cockpit solution was always incredibly high. The visitors there confirmed a great flying experience and joy in operating the individual instruments.

With our A320 desktop cockpit, I think we have created a high-quality product with a lot of attention to detail.

FSWeekend 2019, Lelystad

Nordic Conference 2020, Bremen