Sim Innovations

Sim Innovations develops software and hardware solutions for flight simulators. Its main application, Air Manager, lets users create and control 2D aircraft instrument panels. The software serves people who enjoy flight simulation as a game, private pilots, and commercial pilots who use simulation to practice flying skills. Sim Innovations also supports people building their own simulator cockpits, from simple home setups to professional training systems.

Air Manager Flight Simulator Software

Air Manager allows users to build their own aircraft instrument panels. These panels show flight instruments and controls on a computer screen. Users can run the application on the same computer as their flight simulator or on another computer.

The software connects automatically to supported simulators on a local network. These include X-Plane, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024, FSX, and Prepar3D.

With Air Manager, users can load an aircraft panel and operate its controls using their fingers. They can change frequencies, move switches, and work with other controls shown on the screen.

Building a Flight Simulator Cockpit

Sim Innovations provides tools for people who want to build more detailed flight simulator cockpits. Air Manager can work with an ordinary touch monitor to display aircraft instruments.

Users can operate dials, buttons, and switches by hand or combine the software with the Knobster controller.

Air Manager also connects to Arduino boards and the Raspberry Pi Pico. Users can create connections between simulator software and hardware through Lua scripting.

The application supports Flight Illusion and RealSimGear hardware. It can also work with real aviation hardware as part of a simulator project.

These options make it useful for people creating home cockpits and those planning professional simulator systems.

How Sim Innovations Started

Ralph became a commercial helicopter pilot in 2010. He wanted to combine his interest in aviation and simulation with his knowledge of electronics.

In January 2013, he asked his former classmate Corjan to help build virtual instruments for a Eurocopter EC135 helicopter simulator.

Corjan worked as a software engineer and had ideas for improving the project. After development during evening hours, Air Manager 1.0 was released on December 4, 2013.

In 2017, Ralph and Corjan made Sim Innovations their full-time work and opened an office in Amersfoort.

Community and Technical Support

Sim Innovations has an active user community where people share ideas and help each other build flight simulators.

The company also maintains contact with users and listens to suggestions, bug reports, and feedback.

Its software is used by thousands of people around the world.

For pilots and aviation fans, Sim Innovations provides a way to build and control aircraft instruments outside a real cockpit. It connects flight simulator software with physical controls and gives users choices in how they build their own systems.