Home flight simulator is former Marine's escape

Retired avionics technician Johnnie Poole knew he wanted to redecorate a spare bedroom in his west Augusta home, but he didn't start with paint chips or fabric swatches. He started with AutoCAD, a hefty piece of engineering software used for drafting and architectural drawing.

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Channing Sherman/Staff

The control panels on the simulator come from an Israeli F-4 Phantom, an American F-15 Eagle, and a Japanese-built Mitsubishi MU-2B corporate turboprop.

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Channing Sherman/Staff

The control panels on the simulator come from an Israeli F-4 Phantom, an American F-15 Eagle, and a Japanese-built Mitsubishi MU-2B corporate turboprop.

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"The Hangar"

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"The Hangar"

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Johnnie Poole has converted a spare bedroom into a "Mancave" called "The Hangar" using a piece of the fiberglas hull of a 22-foot sailboat, parts scrounged from a salvage yard and bought off E-bay.

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Johnnie Poole has converted a spare bedroom into a "Mancave" called "The Hangar" using a piece of the fiberglas hull of a 22-foot sailboat, parts scrounged from a salvage yard and bought off E-bay.

The bedroom is now a mancave you'd expect from a former Marine. He's combined a piece of fiberglass hull from a 22-foot sailboat with a few parts scrounged from a salvage yard and eBay to build a flight simulator.

Mr. Poole calls it The Hangar.

Technically, it's still a spare bedroom.

There's a fold-down queen bed for nights he's up late flying. There is also a desk built from flaps of a small aircraft, and a ceiling fan crafted from a five-bladed propeller.

"Pieces came from around the world," he said.

"I've got the missile warning panel from an Israeli F-4 Phantom, a panel from an American F-15 Eagle, and main panels from a Japanese-built Mitsubishi MU-2B corporate turboprop."

Switches in the cockpit control the computer simulation, displayed on three wide-screen monitors.

"The landing handle actually makes the gear go up and down in the computer. When I look left, the scene shifts left," he said. "You can feel the wheels touch down and rumble on the tarmac."

The rig cost around $5,000. The Hangar has been a work-in-progress for two years, Mr. Poole said. "I've wanted to do this for awhile. I have the greatest wife in the world."

Contact Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.