About this site and the author

Hi, I'm Luis Chardon. I've been a full-time Software Developer for the past 25 years and I'm passionate about writing code. During my free time, I'm a maker / tinkerer / gamer / musician, and recently added certified private pilot to that list. I'm writing this blog to share my experiences and insights while building custom instruments for Microsoft Flight Simulator and X-Plane.

The instruments I design are with compatibility and cost-efficiency in mind, using off the shelf components when possible, allowing them to integrate seamlessly with existing products from Logitech, Honeycomb, and more. Additionally, I focus on adding features that I found lacking in commercially available alternatives which I have identified while training for my private pilot certificate and instrument rating.

In this blog, I will cover how to use SDKs to communicate with the simulators, some Arduino basics for programming the devices, some basic electronics and 3D design concepts for creating and 3D printing custom parts.

I started this project in December 2021, and combines a lot of my passions—coding, gaming, aviation, 2D graphics, 3D design and electronics. If you share any of these, I hope you'll find some value on this blog and can get something from it.

And don't forget to checkout My Flight Deck and My Flight Instruments to see what I've built using the concepts explained on this blog!

Thanks,

Luis

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