There are several options available to the person interested in learning to fly. The first, and perhaps most obvious option, is to take flying lessons. A more grounded alternative is to simply use a flight simulator, which can give you the feeling of flying without actually doing so. Instead of renting time in a simulator somewhere, Australian hobbyist Matthew Sheil built his very own Boeing 747 flight simulator. It has real-time weather, air traffic control, Qantas Airways food, a complete hydraulic motion system and is controlled by 13 computers. His reason for building it is that "crashing is less fatal" with a simulator. Interested in trying to build your own? All it will take is $230,000 and about 10 years.

[via gizmodo]

Any avid equestrian will be able to tell you that the initial cost of a horse is not what makes any form of horseback riding such an expensive sport. Horses must be fed, housed and properly cared for - all of which are ongoing expenses, on top of training and general equipment. With one piece of equipment, the Racewood Riding Simulator, a novice rider can now eliminate those ongoing costs while s/he learns to ride.

Such machines were previously only available to large scale training facilities and were limited in scope. This riding simulator is designed to walk, trot, canter and steer realistically, performing all levels of flatwork, a unique feat that is accomplished with the help of programming from Equitech Software.