Paul offers for sale the cockpit of his self-made 737: “It can reach 12.5 thousand”

When Paul leads us into the cockpit, it looks like a giant has erected in his garage. And since the simulator takes up about half the space, we immediately get to the reason why you want to get rid of it. “It’s not about the money,” said the self-builder. “But I need the space.”

What drives someone to recreate a very complex cockpit is a question that is not easy to answer. “I love challenges,” smiles Paul. “This is a challenge.” But the fact that his father flew with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines would undoubtedly have played a role as well. “I’ve always had a thing for flying,” explains the resident of the house. “Actually, I also wanted to become a pilot.” This did not happen, although Paul later mastered paragliding.

Search thousands of parts

What came of it is the assembly of this replica. Paul accomplished it in about four years, with the help of a number of friends. “Someone took an interest in technology. And that’s a good thing, because I wouldn’t have thought of that myself,” van Sommeren says.

He scraped the thousands of parts, buttons, levers, and meters that make up the cockpit. “There are stores where you can buy all kinds of buttons,” says van Sommeren. “There’s a lot to be found on Marktplaats.” “It’s very difficult to get these levers that can open the side windows. I finally 3D printed them in Denmark.”

low price

Everyone who wants to become the new owner of the cockpit must check out the suitcase. “It costs 12.5 thousand euros,” explains Paul. But there are negotiations.” By the way, according to Huisaar, this is a very reasonable price because he himself invested more than four times to build the simulator.