Integration of JSBSim and Unreal Engine for Flight Simulator Development: A Case Study on the Cessna T-37

Abstract This study presents systematic procedures for the development of a cost-effective flight simulator by integrating multiple software tools into a unified simulation environment. The simulator framework combines both Microsoft Flight Simulator and Blender for 3D realistic CAD model generation, JSBSim as the aerodynamics and flight dynamics model, and Unreal Engine as the primary simulation platform. The Cessna T-37 aircraft is used as a case study to develop the simulator. The development process includes the preparation of the 3D CAD model, the integration of the aerodynamic data, and real-time control surface animations, ensuring an immersive and accurate representation of the aircraft behavior. The JSBSim is implemented to handle the flight dynamics while Unreal Engine is used for visualization and interactivity. Additionally, the simulation includes an analysis of the aircraft’s natural modes, such as phugoid, short-period, rolling, spiral and dutch-roll modes, to assess its dynamic stability. The response characteristics of these modes are examined to ensure consistency with theoretical expectations and to identify nonlinear effects present in the simulation. The results demonstrate the feasibility of integrating open-source tools for flight simulation and highlight the efficiency of the proposed cost-effective framework in replicating realistic flight performance.