British Airways Sims @ Cranebank

[Camlet]

Spent four incredible hours in a 747-400 simulator yesterday afternoon at BA's Cranebrook training facility.

My instructor Stuart was outstanding. Full briefing of main cockpit controls and display, then multiple take off and landings at Heathrow, JFK and Geneva. He changed settings to bad weather, used TCAS, made me land at Heathrow and taxi to gate 514 T5.

Apart from a brilliant immersive experience I can't begin to describe the respect I have for BA's facilities and training programme. There must have been seven or eight different simulators (777, 737, 767/757 and A320). Each costs c 10 million a pop. Many airlines use BA's facilities too. BA's flight crews really must rank as some of the best trained in the world.

If you ever wondered what it's like to fly a 747-400, I can't recommend the experience enough.

[Regiment]

Do you mean the Cranebank facility?

I would absolutely love to do it but I can't get past the £450 an hour.

[Camlet]

Regiment said:

Do you mean the Cranebank facility?

I would absolutely love to do it but I can't get past the £450 an hour.

Sorry, yes Cranebank. I agree the cost is heavy but did it with my son as a very special "for me" birthday treat. Waited quite some time to do it. Although the cost is heavy it's worth every penny ( assuming you're a nutter like me). The experience is truly remarkable.

Edited by Camlet on Sunday 29th June 10:08

[Regiment]

I really wish I could afford it, did have a play with some of the simulators at Cranwell but they're nothing like what the big commercial airlines use. Girlfriend used to be an air traffic controller for NATS, so might be fun to do it together with her one day .

[djc206]

Awesome. I've had a go at flying a Hawker 900 at flight safety at Farnborough for free but 747 would be fantastic

[surveyor]

Had an hour on a 737-300 earlier this year. Great experience, but was not happy with the supplying company. My mother booked who had not a clue. I'd fancied a go in a 747 or 777 etc. They just pushed her onto the cheapest simulator.... Same price for us so bigger profit for them.

[Camlet]

surveyor said:

Had an hour on a 737-300 earlier this year. Great experience, but was not happy with the supplying company. My mother booked who had not a clue. I'd fancied a go in a 747 or 777 etc. They just pushed her onto the cheapest simulator.... Same price for us so bigger profit for them.

That's bad form. Did you chase for compensation? I was asked by BA which plane I wanted, they were very professional.

[surveyor]

Camlet said:

surveyor said:

Had an hour on a 737-300 earlier this year. Great experience, but was not happy with the supplying company. My mother booked who had not a clue. I'd fancied a go in a 747 or 777 etc. They just pushed her onto the cheapest simulator.... Same price for us so bigger profit for them.

That's bad form. Did you chase for compensation? I was asked by BA which plane I wanted, they were very professional.

Nope - not a big firm - pretending to be bigger than they are, and they'll just blame my mother for not asking for the right plane.... Just noted for future reference.

[r1flyguy1]

I did my skills test on BA's 744 sim and agree they are expensive.

For fun I hired the 744 at European in Bournemouth, it's an ex-SA full flight CAA approved sim and just as good as BA's and for your info cheaper too

May be worth a look there

[mrloudly]

When Britannia used to have their sims at Luton, 757,767 I used to get in them quite often. Good friend of mine (Britannia pilot) knew the sim engineers and the going rate was a case of lager
for a session ;-) This was usually in the middle of the night during planned maintenance, obviously when none was required ;-) It's great to play in them, but as my mate reminded me "you must remember careers
can be broken in them"...

[Mabbs9]

Often it's spare capacity that dictates which sim is available. Obviously with such a big investment, they need to be worked hard so start early and finish late.

Just for general interest, we have more sims, the newer sims are located elsewhere (ie A380/B787). Glad you enjoyed the experience. What we didn't hear was how your landing went?

[Testaburger]

Mabbs9 said:

Often it's spare capacity that dictates which sim is available. Obviously with such a big investment, they need to be worked hard so start early and finish late.

Just for general interest, we have more sims, the newer sims are located elsewhere (ie A380/B787). Glad you enjoyed the experience. What we didn't hear was how your landing went?

I suspect this (availability) was the case, as Mabbs suggested.

At my lot, we have a a 777 count of 58 and increasing, whereas our 744 fleet is rapidly being retired. Subsequently, on top of normal training, there are large numbers of 744 crew transitioning on to the 777, so all three 777 sims are in use literally 24 hours a day.

FYI my most recent landing was in a stiff crosswind at night. It was bang on the centerline, at the start of the touchdown zone; th trade-off being it felt like I'd been struck by lightning...

[Mabbs9]

Testaburger said:

I suspect this (availability) was the case, as Mabbs suggested.

At my lot, we have a a 777 count of 58 and increasing, whereas our 744 fleet is rapidly being retired. Subsequently, on top of normal training, there are large numbers of 744 crew transitioning on to the 777, so all three 777 sims are in use literally 24 hours a day.

FYI my most recent landing was in a stiff crosswind at night. It was bang on the centerline, at the start of the touchdown zone; th trade-off being it felt like I'd been struck by lightning...

Sounds v similar to my outfit . Gonna miss the old 744.