Teens build fighter jet flight simulator for Maker Faire – the Viper

"As a researcher at Pixar http://www.pixar.com/ , I invent things for a living. But there have been moments of discovery with the boys when some really elegant piece of the puzzle clicked. Those are the most satisfying moments of discovery I’ve ever had."

It began with a ride on a fighter jet flight simulator at the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Joseph DeRose, 13, and his older brother Sam DeRose got off the ride and gushed about its coolness. Then they turned to each other and Sam, 17, said, "We should make something like this, only better."

The Smithsonian’s flight simulator had a 30-degree range of pitch – the way its nose went up and down – but it could roll 360 degrees on its axis. They wondered: "Couldn’t we do 360 on both pitch and roll?"

the Viper: https://sites.google.com/site/mf2012theviper/

The Maker Faire: http://www.makerfaire.com.

Full Story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/15/DDUE1OE7NL.DTL