Here’s the beta cockpit from Brian McMullan, who uses the middle seats out of his wife’s Honda Odyssey van that he thinks it’s a much nicer seat than what’s in the C172M he actually flies in.

Builder: Brian McMullan
Location: Louisville, USA
ICAO: KLOU, Bowman Field Airport

Project Notes:
Picture of my “beta” cockpit — yes, it’s angled cause the LCD is old recycled one and bad viewing angle if flat.

The material is just a wooden desk, with wooden “frame” for the Saitek gear and LCD instrument display, then 1/4″ styro board (like used for school projects) on front of it all. Hey, it works…

The seat? That’s one of the middle seats out of wife’s Honda odyssey van! It latches in/out of wooden red base just like in/out of car, so it goes back and forth as needed. It’s a much nicer seat than what’s in the C172M I actually fly in.

The first sketch is the measurements of a C172M cockpit (climbed in and measured it out, all in centimeters…I didn’t measure the distance of pedals front to back…)

The second sketch includes Saitek parts on a tabletop (no FIP, but it fits between instrument LCD and Saitek radio panel)

Here’s the photo I flew with my son in the real plane in September.  He fell asleep shortly after takeoff.