My DIY Cockpit
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2026 5:15 amHello,
I have been working and still have not finished making a cockpit that allows me to feel what it was like while learning to get multi-engine flying with a real C310.
The first phase was to get all the instruments of my cockpit to perform identical actions to the real C310R cockpit. This was quite an effort. The biggest effort was to get all 8 FIPs to work. Now that is understood. I had to add a USB 2.0 controller card to my PC as it did not have the sockets for USB 2.0. Also, I had to acquire USB 2.0 hubs, and the cables had to be 2.0 USB cables. The reason for this is that Logitech did not update the drivers in the USB 2.0 FIPs, and so they only work reliably when we did as we did.
As my friend does work with the intensive use of ChatGPT and took care that ChatGPT remembers all the work it did with John, today, even when I worked with ChatGPT, it knows my system.
So now I am pursuing a few projects with my cockpit. First, I am working with ChatGPT so that it can develop a step-by-step instruction to use Touch Portal to implement a camera position control that I can operate using my Android tablet. It already takes into account that this had to be implemented in a way that it would not be impacted while implementing the other projects. He took this into account just by remembering the other projects and the current implementation on my PC. It did a wonderful job of designing the content of the tablet screen with Touch-Portal by taking into account how I was planning to design the tablet interface. Camera control has to take into account that this can happen outside the cockpit, inside the cockpit, and from a third-person camera positioning, while having the same screen design of my tablet. Additionally, MSFS 2024 allows up to 10 predefined camera positions.
The next project I am pursuing is to add a Hangar Control implementation for my cockpit. The reason for it is to overcome the steps to execute apps to follow to get my cockpit up and running to the final result of having the position of my plane shown on the charts of Navigraph charts. I am pretty old and have a pretty bad health so remembering the sequence of steps to achieve the final result is very hard to remember. Also, ChatGPT includes in its step-by-step guide to do the power cycles by software and not by physically removing and plugging each USB connection for each FIP on my hubs. Also, at the very beginning, it is a requirement to execute a script to disable the power management feature of Windows for all USB devices. Windows power management switches most of the FIPs off to reduce the power consumption of the connected USB devices. HangarControl can implement the sequence of using different apps and delay the continuation so that each app can finish its task before continuing to the next app. The same is true to overcome the limitations of Windows managing the enumeration process. The third project will be to add the proper ATC functionality i.e. by having one button on my Brunner yoke to offer the PTT functionality.
I want to end this presentation of my DIY cockpit by mentioning that my goal to achieve with MSFS 2024 that my cockpit in the sim is identical to that of the real C310 planes I used to fly. Just analog instruments and I only fly GA planes as they were when i used to fly real planes 3 decades ago. I confess that sometimes I use the multi-panel to have the autopilot to focus oy watching the areas I do fly.
I have been working and still have not finished making a cockpit that allows me to feel what it was like while learning to get multi-engine flying with a real C310.
The first phase was to get all the instruments of my cockpit to perform identical actions to the real C310R cockpit. This was quite an effort. The biggest effort was to get all 8 FIPs to work. Now that is understood. I had to add a USB 2.0 controller card to my PC as it did not have the sockets for USB 2.0. Also, I had to acquire USB 2.0 hubs, and the cables had to be 2.0 USB cables. The reason for this is that Logitech did not update the drivers in the USB 2.0 FIPs, and so they only work reliably when we did as we did.
As my friend does work with the intensive use of ChatGPT and took care that ChatGPT remembers all the work it did with John, today, even when I worked with ChatGPT, it knows my system.
So now I am pursuing a few projects with my cockpit. First, I am working with ChatGPT so that it can develop a step-by-step instruction to use Touch Portal to implement a camera position control that I can operate using my Android tablet. It already takes into account that this had to be implemented in a way that it would not be impacted while implementing the other projects. He took this into account just by remembering the other projects and the current implementation on my PC. It did a wonderful job of designing the content of the tablet screen with Touch-Portal by taking into account how I was planning to design the tablet interface. Camera control has to take into account that this can happen outside the cockpit, inside the cockpit, and from a third-person camera positioning, while having the same screen design of my tablet. Additionally, MSFS 2024 allows up to 10 predefined camera positions.
The next project I am pursuing is to add a Hangar Control implementation for my cockpit. The reason for it is to overcome the steps to execute apps to follow to get my cockpit up and running to the final result of having the position of my plane shown on the charts of Navigraph charts. I am pretty old and have a pretty bad health so remembering the sequence of steps to achieve the final result is very hard to remember. Also, ChatGPT includes in its step-by-step guide to do the power cycles by software and not by physically removing and plugging each USB connection for each FIP on my hubs. Also, at the very beginning, it is a requirement to execute a script to disable the power management feature of Windows for all USB devices. Windows power management switches most of the FIPs off to reduce the power consumption of the connected USB devices. HangarControl can implement the sequence of using different apps and delay the continuation so that each app can finish its task before continuing to the next app. The same is true to overcome the limitations of Windows managing the enumeration process. The third project will be to add the proper ATC functionality i.e. by having one button on my Brunner yoke to offer the PTT functionality.
I want to end this presentation of my DIY cockpit by mentioning that my goal to achieve with MSFS 2024 that my cockpit in the sim is identical to that of the real C310 planes I used to fly. Just analog instruments and I only fly GA planes as they were when i used to fly real planes 3 decades ago. I confess that sometimes I use the multi-panel to have the autopilot to focus oy watching the areas I do fly.