Software developers [Andy borka] and [Jason Fayre] love aviation. They are also completely blind. They developed a software called “conversation flight monitor”, which enables anyone with impaired vision or blindness to conduct flight simulation, as you experience in the blurred video below during recess. What attracts them to use aviation and flight simulators?
This fascination with flying is not limited to people with vision. Who doesn’t want to experience the feeling of the cockpit of modern airliners? I still remember the awe I felt when I glanced at the flight deck of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 when I was 9 years old. In the years to come, I will be dazzled by rows of lights, buttons, switches and meters. I want to know how all this works. I want to be a pilot. A few years later, I found flight simulator 4 on a 286. I was fascinated all my life.
This is a problem for people with impaired vision. Flight simulators are very intuitive in nature. They lack a text-based interface, so that screen readers can help visually impaired people use the simulator. Enter the flight monitor.
[Andy] and [Jason] have worked with the PMDG simulation team to create a text friendly interface for the 737 and 777 produced by PMDG. These surreal aircraft can be used in prepar3d flight simulators, and their combination blurs the boundary between flight simulators and flight training. By modifying these aircraft with an accessible control panel, the talking flight monitor allows completely blind flight simulator users to take off, navigate and even land without seeing the screen.
The audible flight monitor uses more than 70 keyboard shortcuts to make flight possible. Autopilot control and full manual control of aircraft simulation are possible. Maintain compatibility with standard simulation software, so that the tutorial of programming flight computer not controlled by flight monitor is still valid. It even includes its own voice, so it can be used without a screen reader.
We salute [Andy] and [Jason] for their hard work, diligence and the real application of hacker spirit. Thank [Mike stone] for this wonderful suggestion.
[Note: the images in this article are made by a group of blind flight simulator users who do not care about visual quality. They deliberately blur the images.]