A man is living out a lifelong dream now that he's finished his 737 flight simulator creation after three years of hard work.
Meet Alberto Paduanelli — a 43-year-old father of two and current medical device auditor from Sherfield-on-Loddon, Hampshire, England.
Paduanelli recently completed a life-sized flight simulator, something he'd wanted to do for over 20 years.
He said his passion for travel, and specifically aviation, began when he was just three years old, he told SWNS.
"I remember [when] I was three years old, my uncle came to visit us, as he was a pilot for the Italian military," he recalled.
He continued, "He brought me and my brother, as a present, a little floppy disk, which had this game flight simulator."
Paduanelli said he fell in love with the game because it allowed him to sit in a plane cockpit virtually and move the aircraft.
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"That was my first time seeing something like that, and for some reason, it was fascinating," he said to SWNS.
Paduanelli said that infatuation is what originally made him choose technology as a career path — saying the advances of simulators as he grew up were fascinating but were missing something.
"More and more simulators from different companies came out [on] the general market, and the process was the same: Install the game on a PC, connect a joystick and fly," he said.
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He added, "Although through the years, the simulation and controls were getting more and more realistic [and] you never felt like a real pilot because all you had was a joystick and a keyboard."
Paduanelli told SWNS that he used to dream about one day making his own simulation that made the experience feel as real as possible.
Three years ago, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Paduanelli said he knew it was finally his time to make the dream become a reality.
With help from his boys, ages 10 and 7, Paduanelli completed the 737 simulation after three years of hard work — and about $140,000.
"The construction required a high level of electronics knowledge, mechanics, construction, networking, calibration [and] software," he said.
Paduanelli said he felt like his college degree paid off throughout the process — but it was not a simple task.
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"I had lows, rarely highs, [and] it was horrendous to the point that I almost quit one day thinking that I was chasing an impossible dream, or perhaps I was trying to do something bigger than me," he said.
The simulation has been tested by captains who work for British Airways and Ryanair. They said his creation was impressive, according to SWNS.
"The British Airways captain said it exceeded his expectations [and] he even told me that my simulator has more modules than a real plane," he told SWNS.
Paduanelli plans to spend more time researching his simulator in the hope of one day allowing aspiring pilots to practice on his creation.
Fox News Digital reached out to Paduanelli for further comment.
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