Back in 2019, my dad and I kicked off an awesome project: building a custom simulator so we could jump between racing cars and flying planes from home. It all started with the PC. We researched, sourced every single component, and built our very first custom computer, figuring out how every part works together from online guides and videos. That’s really how I first understood PC architecture and electronics. The next big challenge was the physical rig. While the Next Level Racing seat was perfect for cars, we needed it to handle flight controls too. So, we had to get creative! We bought extra materials and fabricated custom brackets and mounts ourselves to hold the yokes and throttles. Turning that off-the-shelf seat into a dual-purpose cockpit was my first real experience adapting and hacking hardware—a hands-on lesson in mechanical design and problem-solving that definitely set the stage for my work in FTC