About CockpitConnect
A hobby project where aviation passion meets engineering creativity — built in the Netherlands by Dennis van Dalfzen.
CockpitConnect is a personal project centred around building realistic home flight simulator cockpits from scratch. It documents the full process of designing, manufacturing, and wiring physical cockpit hardware — and connecting it to simulator software such as X-Plane 12.
The project spans multiple aircraft types, starting with a Boeing 737 MAX and a Cessna 172SP with a full Garmin G1000 glass cockpit. Each build is documented in detail: CAD drawings, part lists, wiring diagrams, firmware, and step-by-step build logs — all available on this site.
Behind the scenes, CockpitConnect also refers to the ESP32-based communication layer that links physical cockpit controls to simulator datarefs over WebSockets — making it possible to swap between PCs and simulators without reconfiguring anything locally.
My name is Dennis van Dalfzen and I live in the Netherlands. I work as a professional software engineer, which means I spend most of my working days in front of a screen writing code. The cockpit builds are the counterweight to that: a creative, hands-on hobby that gets me away from the keyboard and into the workshop.
The motivation is simple — I have always been fascinated by aviation, and I enjoy making things with my hands. Building a cockpit combines those two interests with everything I already know: 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC, electronics, soldering, and writing software. No part of the build is outsourced; if something needs to exist, it gets designed and built here.
This site exists to document the process honestly — including the mistakes — so that other home cockpit builders can learn from what worked and avoid what didn't.
What Goes Into a Build
FDM and resin printing for bezels, knobs, brackets, and structural cockpit frames.
Precision MDF and acrylic panels with engraved legends, cut directly from Fusion 360 DXF exports.
CNC routing for larger wooden and acrylic structural parts that exceed what a laser cutter can handle.
Custom PCBs and hand-soldered assemblies with ESP32 microcontrollers, encoders, switches, and LEDs.
Working with physical materials — cutting, gluing, finishing, and painting panels and structural components.
Professional software engineer by trade — writing firmware, simulator integrations, and the tooling that ties everything together.
CockpitConnect is a place to document and share the work that happens in a home workshop in the Netherlands, built around a genuine interest in aviation and a drive to make things.
The name comes from the original goal: a reliable software layer to connect cockpit hardware to the simulator, without the fragility of USB-based setups. That goal grew into a full documentation site as each build became more involved and more worth sharing.
If you are building your own home cockpit and find something useful here, that is exactly the point. Feel free to reuse designs, steal ideas, and adapt whatever fits your project.