It started when I was seven. My uncle handed our family a copy of Flight Simulator 2.0 and that was that: the keyboard became a yoke, the screen became a windshield, and the idea took root that I was going to spend my life chasing the feeling of being in command of a real aircraft.
Growing up in Italy, I subscribed to a weekly magazine called Imparare a Volare ("Learn to Fly") and devoured every issue. Aircraft structure, the physics of flight, instrument navigation. ATP from Sublogic came next. Crude by today's standards, but it taught me the language of aviation and the language never left.
For decades, the dream stayed pinned to the back of my mind while I built a career in a different field. But the cockpit kept calling. So I started saving, researching, planning, and eventually buying (switch by switch, panel by panel) the components of a real Boeing 737-800NG flight deck. SISMO avionics. FlyByCockpit seats and frame. ProSim software. Three 4K projectors and a curved screen for the visuals.
Today, that simulator stands in Hampshire and welcomes guests from across the UK and beyond. Real Boeing 737-800NG pilots, including one retired airline captain, and an experienced senior flight instructor run the sessions alongside me. We've trained nervous birthday guests, helped aviation enthusiasts and aspiring pilots experience the 737 flight deck, and given retired airline captains the rare gift of one more flight.
If you've ever looked through an airliner window and wondered what it feels like on the other side of the cockpit door: welcome aboard.