I "flew" an Airbus A320 in a simulator

Number_35

Number_35

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This was a delightful gift from my wife. We took off from YYJ (Victoria BC, on Vancouver Island), and did a short hop over to YVR (Vancouver BC).

Then we attempted several landings here (YWG - Winnipeg Richardson International). We may have been able to walk away from one or two landings.

I think I improved quite a bit over the course of the session, but am not ready for the big leagues yet (massive understatement). 😉

My F.O. was young pilot from Europe, who moved here to learn to fly. He's building up hours, hoping to be hired by a carrier here.

Very enjoyable (though humbling) experience.
 
Number_35 said:
View attachment 287877
This was a delightful gift from my wife. We took off from YYJ (Victoria BC, on Vancouver Island), and did a short hop over to YVR (Vancouver BC).

Then we attempted several landings here (YWG - Winnipeg Richardson International). We may have been able to walk away from one or two landings.

I think I improved quite a bit over the course of the session, but am not ready for the big leagues yet (massive understatement). 😉

My F.O. was young pilot from Europe, who moved here to learn to fly. He's building up hours, hoping to be hired by a carrier here.

Very enjoyable (though humbling) experience.
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Did you try sliding your seat back while holding onto the stick and thrust levers after take off to see what would happen? 😊

Pretty neat to see how well the low speed protections work by pulling the stick full back ( even more so if you bring the TL to idle as you do it ).

Pretty easy to fly with auto trim.

That was a very thoughtful gift from your wife which is the most impressive part to me.
 
We lease our simulators out for about $1,500/hour. Dry. No instructor.

Once in a while, we will auction off time in the simulator, with an instructor, wet, for charity. They typically go for a couple of grand for those few hours.
 
I should add that a new full motion simulator is around $50 million (US). Might be a bit more. The list price and what we pay are proprietary information. I know that we got a “2 for 1” special on the 747-400 simulators we bought in 1998 - we got both for $50 million, a substantial discount.

Add in 27 years of inflation, and go back to retail prices, and they might be a lot more than $50 million. They’re like custom yachts - no list price - and if you have to ask…

Then, you have to have 440V 3 phase power, space for the host computer, and a 3 foot thick concrete floor to provide enough mass to keep it from tipping over during abrupt maneuvers. So, the space, too, is quite expensive.
 
Astro14 said:
I should add that a new full motion simulator is around $50 million (US). Might be a bit more. The list price and what we pay are proprietary information. I know that we got a “2 for 1” special on the 747-400 simulators we bought in 1998 - we got both for $50 million, a substantial discount.

Add in 27 years of inflation, and go back to retail prices, and they might be a lot more than $50 million. They’re like custom yachts - no list price - and if you have to ask…

Then, you have to have 440V 3 phase power, space for the host computer, and a 3 foot thick concrete floor to provide enough mass to keep it from tipping over during abrupt maneuvers. So, the space, too, is quite expensive.
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That sounds expensive, until one considers the cost of training on a real aircraft. I'm sure someone has done a cost-benefit analysis and has determined that the simulators are the way to go.
 
Number_35 said:
That sounds expensive, until one considers the cost of training on a real aircraft. I'm sure someone has done a cost-benefit analysis and has determined that the simulators are the way to go.
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The last time I saw stats on the 767, it costs > $12,000/hr to operate. If an airline would need two 767s sitting at the training center to fly and they each flew 12 hours/day the real costs would be astronomical compared to the SIM. I would also bet that less practice flying would get done and there would be fewer opportunities for trainees to make mistakes when there aren't hundreds of people sitting behind them.
 
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Number_35 said:
Unfortunately not - but it was surprising how real it felt when the horizon tilted as we banked into a turn.
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I hope you get the chance to fly a full motion SIM someday. The technology that has gone into making a simulated (fake) situation seem 100% real is astounding. You are flying the real airplane, but you can hit the pause button to discuss training then resume. Try that while flying a real airplane. As an instructor there are many times I wish I could have paused the airplane to help a student get the most out of a lesson, but it doesn't work that way.
 
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Number_35 said:
That sounds expensive, until one considers the cost of training on a real aircraft. I'm sure someone has done a cost-benefit analysis and has determined that the simulators are the way to go.
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Isn't the point also training for things that might not be safe to try in the real world? In addition to programming for all manner of different scenarios.
 
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