woman flying a three screen flight simulator
Shannon flying the Triple Screen Flight Sim

Airliners, Helicopters, Fighters, Trainers, Spaceships !

Roger Dodger Aviation... Putting Aviation Within Your Reach

What's the story here?

Roger Dodger Aviation produces online training courses that help people build inexpensive home flight simulators with regular "home improvement" materials and off-the-shelf flight sim components. Enroll in the DIY project of your choice and don't forget to enroll in the free Builder Academy to learn helpful techniques for getting the most from your Flight Sim.

Why?

Roger Dodger Aviation was born from a desire to make aviation more accessible to people. What started as scenic flights and ground school grew into a comprehensive resource for helping people build their own home flight simulators. As a result, people from all over the world have used the DIY Flight Sims online training courses to craft simpits that match their unique needs and resources. 

Roger Dodger Aviation, LLC was founded in 2005 by Matt Thomas. Matt provided scenic flights over the Kansas City Plaza Lights and experimented with a variety of flight simulator services before settling on the DIY Flight Sim video concept in 2007. He produces all the online training courses and you might see him in a YouTube video sometime.

Matt Thomas of Roger Dodger Aviation
Matt Thomas, CFII

Matt Thomas, CFII

Matt Thomas is the owner and founder of Roger Dodger Aviation. He believes that many people have an inherent interest in aviation and flight simulators can help them in a unique way. He also has faith in people's ability to build, invent and create things that improve their lives with Do-It-Yourself projects.

Matt grew up with two major interests: building stuff and flying airplanes. These two interests appeared to be incompatible early in Matt's aviation career. Why? Because building stuff satisfied Matt's creative disposition, but flying did not. Flying a plane is not usually a creative effort because pilots follow specific regulations and checklists for safety reasons. Consequently, Matt found his calling by designing DIY projects for the home flight simulator market. His teaching experience was especially relevant and made him uniquely qualified to create the instructional videos and manuals that so many people depend on.

Parties, Fairs, Fund Raisers, Science Camps

Roger Dodger Aviation has participated in community events with great success. Every one of these events had at least one Roger Dodger flight simulator that participants got to try.

  • Simulated trans-continental flights to raise money for the Americans Diabetes Association
  • Science City watch party for the landing of NASA's Curiosity rover
  • Maker Faire at Kansas City Union Station
  • Science Day Camp for kids hosted by Mad Science
  • Wine Flights - flight simulator event with wine tasting
  • Experimental motion flight simulator

What happens next?

The best way to stay informed about new DIY Flight Sim products, updates, events, experiments, and more is to sign up for the monthly email newsletter: The Roger Dodger Insider