Central Alberta man's passion for flying leads to building lifelike aircraft simulator

After flying for nearly 40 years and building his own airplane, a recreational pilot in central Alberta has a Boeing 737 Max simulator to enjoy retirement with his feet firmly on the ground.

Bob Roberts, a retired Syncrude employee from Camrose, Alta., always wanted to fly a jet airliner. After learning how to take off, cruise, and land a 737 Max on YouTube for more than a year, he decided to build a simulator.

"I have a full-blown 737 Max in my backyard in a departure lounge that I built," Roberts said. "I've been passionate about flying since I was five years old."

It took him almost a year and a half to construct and configure the simulator that uses satellite imagery to recreate airports around the world accurately. The simulator's cockpit is even vinyl wrapped with Roberts' virtual airline name: CamAir.

"Every single button and switch in that cockpit works identical to the way they work in a 737 Max," he said. "So when you start the plane up, it's cold and dark — that's what pilots call it.

Bob Roberts Boeing 737 Max simulator (Supplied/Meghan and Nicole Films).

"Every screen is black. There's nothing on. You have to go through the entire checklist to get it all up and running. You've got to fire each engine up," he added. "There's a ton of things that you need to do. The immersion is exactly what you'd expect to see in a real jet.

If a flight takes an hour in real life, it takes the same amount of time in the simulator, including features allowing him to fly in real-time weather conditions and connect with virtual air traffic controllers.

"The screen is actually 270 degrees around the cockpit, so when you look out the side window, you see what you see if you're in a real airplane looking out the side," he said.

While teaching himself how to fly a 737 Max, Roberts said the most challenging part was learning to use a flight management computer.

"Trying to compare a Cessna to a Max is like trying to compare Mount Everest to a molehill," he said.

Roberts said he often brings friends over for flights in the simulator, and his brother Dave often co-pilots. The simulator's realism made Roberts' wife have air sickness while on one simulated trip.

Bob Roberts (right) and his brother Dave Roberts (left) as they co-pilot the Boeing 737 Max simulator (Supplied/Meghan and Nicole Films).

"It's so realistic in the rolling and pitching that she said she had to go take a Gravol," Roberts said. "It was pretty funny."

A favourite destination to visit for Roberts is Hawaii, so he plans to fly there in his simulator.

"Unfortunately, when I open the door, I'm still in Camrose," Roberts said, as he laughed. "At the end of the day, I'm flying it because I love the actual flying aspect. So I don't feel that disappointed."