Way back in 2002 when I worked up at Aldergrove airport near my home in Northern Ireland, for a summer student job, I remember hearing a colleague talk about a trip he won to head off to a 'real world 767 simulator'. From then until now it is something I always fancied doing but never really got round to finding out more about it. Fast forward seven years, and now in a permanent job earning slightly more money, I find out about ebaft, the BA Training web site. Real world simulators open to the public? Sounds interesting!

After a few emails back and forward to the ebaft staff, I now had in my possession a voucher for an hour in the 737-400 simulator - exciting stuff! I eventually agreed on a suitable date with my friend and got the flights booked with Aer Lingus from Aldergrove into Heathrow on 19th August 2009.

For over six weeks I had to try and stay as patient as possible until the day would arrive. As expected, this dragged in and it seemed to take forever just to reach the start of August. A few flight simulator flights for BA Virtual helped put the time in though.

The 18th of August arrived and I was woken abruptly my one of those nasty things called migraines. "See if this doesn't go away by tomorrow", I thought. Thankfully it didn't last long as I was able to get some things sorted for the next day. I don't remember how many times I made sure I had my two forms of ID packed!

The next day was the 19th - the big day was finally here after so much waiting! Despite the horrible 5 am start, I still managed to rise with relative ease. Again, another check of the two forms of ID, quick breakfast, then off to Aldergrove. It always excites me going up there as I spent a good few summers working up there - they were good times. The online check-in with Aer Lingus meant we didn't have to go up too early, but we still had a bit of time to look around.

A few hours, and a few holds later, we had gone from the rainy skies of Belfast to the summer sun of London, and arrived at Heathrow. Thankfully there were not many delays, so we had a good few hours to soak up the sun and do a bit of plane spotting before heading off to the BA complex at Cranebank. We managed to catch the Emirates A380 landing - what an awesome machine that is! We spent a few hours soaking up the rays - sun, the smell of aviation fuel and lying at the perimeter fence of such a busy airport is some combination for sure.

An hour prior to my arrival at Cranebank I did actually start to get a bit nervous. Maybe it was the thought of the responsible job of making sure my virtual passengers all got back in one piece. My friend's wife definitely wanted him to get back from Heathrow, so it was a huge burden on my shoulders!

My first view of the simulator!

I would say I know the Boeing 737 pretty well in terms of systems, autopilot functions, and FMC programming, and would say I have mastered it for normal operations in Flight Simulator, however, the fact that I only use a joystick and no pedals seemed like an obvious disadvantage for the sim ride. Normally there is very little manual flying in my flight simming so I knew the simulator would definitely be different. I didn't expect much autopilot usage, so it was all going to be a big challenge. One minor aim of my trip was to see how well I actually could do if I was ever called upon to land a real 737 in an emergency. Surely I'm not the only one who dreams of being the hero passenger one day? Not that I ever want that to happen of course.

At 1 PM we made our way from Hatton Cross Station down to the Cranebank complex. After a few security checks we were invited to go across to the main reception. I introduce myself and am greeted by the very friendly staff. After a few formalities I met my pilot for the day, First Officer Fiona Woolley. What a nice job she has: a 767 pilot, but takes the simulator rides as she is currently on maternity leave. The first thing was an overview of the complex, the simulators, as well as some general details on what to expect from the day. Further conversation allowed Fiona to get an idea of my knowledge of the 737, and whether any of my experience was relevant. She seemed to think I wasn't a complete newbie so that was all very reassuring.

The Cranebank complex seemed absolutely huge as we walked through numerous corridors looking for the sim we had been allocated to. I expected to head off to the briefing room for my 30 minute briefing, but Fiona discovered the sim was already free, so it was great to get off to the sim early to do the briefing there. We arrived at the door and when it opened I couldn't believe the size of the thing - absolutely huge! Was I going to actually try out this baby? This is where the excitement really reached new levels.

Before we entered the sim there were a number of safety procedures, backup safety procedures, and backup backup safety procedures. "All very typical of BA", remarked Fiona. With the general safety briefing over I couldn't wait to get inside. The adrenalin was really pumping now and I couldn't wait to get at it. The first sight was the control panel at the back of the jump-seat where the examiners would select various failures from a huge control pedestal on the side wall. I began to stow away my belongings while staring all around me in amazement at this absolutely glorious box I was standing in.

By this stage I had explained to Fiona that I was familiar with the 737 systems and controls but that the new thing for me would be getting used to the yoke and pedals and how the controls will actually feel in 'real life'. She was well chuffed to know that she could skip the 20 minute section of her briefing which she normally has to rattle through for complete newbies. I really felt like I was special then, but was very aware that I was possibly about to be shown to be a complete blouse when it came to actually getting this thing off the ground. My friend had threatened to give a full flight report to all my other friends so there really was no pressure.

Fiona suggested some options for what we could do, and I was happy to go with whatever the norm was. Now I was ready to take my place in the left hand seat - wow this is awesome! Fiona explained that all the parts in the flight deck were real genuine parts and you could stick any part from the sim into the real 737 and it would work. They are obviously designed for training one day and then a real passenger flight the next. I was already dreaming about coming back here for my next trip as I moved my seat into position, belted up the harnesses, and got ready for the next 60 minutes of fun.

Preflight briefing before startup

As we had a bit of time to go until the money clock started ticking, I got to go from a cold dark cockpit to fire up the engines, and get the aircraft ready for flight. It was just awesome to be pulling dials, flicking switches and scrolling selectors, instead of the boring left-click, right-click of the flight sim world. It was an awesome sound when I was able to select the number 2 engine starter switch on and let the engines crank up. It felt really good to put my sim knowledge to use and actually get this thing up and running as if it were the real deal.

The first experience was going to be a full circuit so I could get used to how the aircraft felt. We would be climbing up to 3000 feet off runway 27L at Heathrow, turning downwind at approximately 090 then intercepting the localizer for a hand flown ILS approach. All the terminology sounded very familiar, and I nodded in agreement even though my thoughts were more on how I could cope with the mental trauma of trashing this thing into the dirt in front of a woman pilot if things went wrong!

Before takeoff, Fiona disappeared to the back console to push a few buttons. As she returned to her seat all the visuals burst into life. I was completely stunned. The twilight theme looked totally amazing, and Heathrow looked great with all the lights. I was almost sure I was actually at the end of the runway, looking down at the ground outside my left hand window. It was so realistic and the views and graphics were outstanding. I just was gobsmacked totally by this and I wasn't even off the ground yet.

Now that the sim was all fired up and ready to go, we did some taxi checks just to get familiar with the rudder pedals and the brakes. The brakes were mighty sensitive and this was probably the thing I struggled with so much throughout. I just found it really hard to keep the thing in a straight line, as one foot seemed to go down a lot harder than the other. Anyway, we were now ready for my first takeoff. The engines were running, the MCP set and the departure briefing complete.

Let's go...

It was something amazing to have the experience of actually advancing real 737 throttles. Back in flight sim mode I would watch the engines stabilise before engaging TOGA mode by clicking a mouse and letting the bird set off down the runway. I was amazed at how real this felt. I have no idea how the forces were modelled in the sim but my goodness it was realistic! 80 knots came very quickly as we had only around 4 tonnes of fuel onboard, and a 50 degree assumed temperature entered in the FMC. Before I knew it, I was pulling back on the stick, and easing into a smooth rotation - I am flying! Everything went really smoothly during the take off and Fiona promptly selected gear up, followed by flaps up not long after. I felt very comfortable with the controls and everything felt very responsive.

As we turned back towards the downwind leg Fiona chatted constantly about the 737 and its various features, and how it differs to the 767 she now flies. It was a real education. Just for fun she added lots of extra thrust and tried to get me to hold 3000 feet. This was like a gym workout - I hadn't been in the gym for quite a while due to being ill so I wasn't used to this hard work. Some more experimenting with the trim and we were cruising along nicely bang on 3000 feet, and breaking the 250/10000 rule at about 300 kts! For the duration the auto-thrust mode was engaged to let me concentrate on actually getting used to the controls. After an extended downwind we turned onto a localizer intercept heading, and once it came alive, turned onto the final approach track. I didn't want to let the autopilot do all the work so instead it was my aim to follow the flight director path for the localizer, and then the glideslope when it came alive also. As we descended on the initial approach I was overcorrecting a little too much but soon got to grips with the controls and worked out that only very small adjustments are needed. A few minutes later we landed smoothly right on the centerline - absolutely perfect stuff. Fiona remarked that I was the first person (non-pilot) she ever had who landed bang on the centerline first time, so I was well chuffed! Everything was fine as I slowed the aircraft down, although the manual braking was a bit hard to get used to for sure.

For the next scenario we erased the assumed temperature entry in the FMC and did a full thrust take off - the power and the feeling of acceleration was just amazing. Everything else was pretty similar except this time it was a much tighter circuit with shorter final so everything happened a lot quicker, but by now I was getting much more comfortable with the controls and trimming out properly for level flight. We had no autopilot enabled throughout and only the auto-thrust enabled to maintain our speed window setting, so it was great fun to fly everything manually. I was surprised when Fiona said that most of the time in the real world, the A/P is not engaged to around 6000 feet as most pilots fly SIDS manually, and some even fly the aircraft to the landing from the top of descent. I always imagined that it would be climb-out and final approach that would be manual, but that every other section of the flight would be autopilot on. She said some guys just prefer to fly it all manually, so I guess this varies between crews.

Once two circuits had been completed I was able to fit in four different landings. Things started with a manually flown ILS approach breaking out of the clouds at 300 feet, then a full visual approach using only the PAPI's (Precision Approach Path Indicators), followed by a 20 knot crosswind, and finally a max rated 40 knot crosswind.

Descending on the approach before breaking out of the clouds at 300 feet

An example of the stunning visuals on final approach

I was pretty pleased with my performance up to now and Fiona was full of praise, but I had my doubts about the old crosswinds. The 20 knot crosswind wasn't a problem, a nice little kick of rudder to straighten up during the flare, and the aircraft settled nicely onto the runway. My confidence was well up by now and I was ready for anything. Unfortunately the clock was up but Fiona wanted to go over the time just to see if she could catch me out!

The final scenario was a 40 knot crosswind. Apparently first officers are only rated to fly a max of 26 knot crosswinds so I knew this was going to be nearly impossible. The scenarios started like a saved game in flight simulator with the aircraft maybe 5 miles out on the approach, and, after a short pause for the system to recalibrate, we were soon pointing maybe 10 degrees off course steering into the wind. It was a great feeling to get the approach going so smoothly. I kept thinking I can really do this - it seems easy so far. Was it really? Everything was going perfectly until just about when the flare began. I gave quite a kick of rudder to straighten out onto the runway heading and let the bird settle onto the runway not too far off the centerline but just as I thought I was done there was a might bang with a grinding noise - I had burst a tire! I was gutted! I managed to keep the aircraft heading down the centerline with this really annoying noise constantly reminding me that I had failed. Fiona seemed to think it was not too bad a landing and that the sim was being slightly hard on me but I think getting the thing down in that wind was still a decent achievement. On reflection, I had probably just been a little harsh on the rudder, and too much sideways movement would have been hard on the tires.

Very satisfied pilot after the flight simulator experience!

I really was buzzing despite the slight set back but at least I knew my passengers should be OK, and there shouldn't have been too many serious injuries in the back. Once we came to a final stop on the runway Fiona and I ran through the shutdown and returned to a ground-power powered setup.

My amazing hour was almost over. Fiona finished up with a debrief and was full of praise for my performance. I was beaming like a 3 year old on Christmas morning - I really was so impressed by the realism of the simulator and I never thought it could possibly seem so real. I think it was the best £200 I have ever spent. I'm only 24 so perhaps that may change as I get older but hey.

Before I knew it I was unbuckling the harness and stepping out to join my friend who had escaped his jump seat. He too was beaming and thought it all was mighty fun, although he seemed to think all my mates should be told about the burst tire. Next time he will fly too so he knew not to say too much as he isn't really into the flight sim and probably would do more damage.

Within a short time we were crawling out the simulator door after a few photographs, and had to say bye bye to this amazing box. I already knew by that stage that I had just experienced something unforgettable and without doubt I wanted to go back.

Special thanks must go to first officer Fiona Woolley whose professionalism, attitude, and humor helped make this a very special and enjoyable day. While I was flying my friend in the back was also asking lots of questions and I know he learned a lot from the day too. I would also add my best wishes for the birth of their new arrival later in the year all being well. Incidentally Fiona had heard of the virtual airline BA Virtual that I fly with online so I was well chuffed that 'we' were so widely known. I didn't expect that many real world pilots would know that BAV even existed, so that was a pleasant surprise.

In conclusion, well I struggle for words to sum up how I feel. A week later as I write this I am still buzzing and I enjoy recalling to friends and colleagues how much fun I had at Cranebank. The next step for me now is to start saving again. If I had the cash I would be back tomorrow but for now I think it is back to flight simulator, and flying online with the fantastic BA Virtual community. Oh yes, and what about the dreams I mentioned earlier? Well even though I think I did really well on the simulator, it could just be ever so slightly more difficult to stay as composed in the real thing during an emergency. I hope now that such a situation never happens!

Jonny Caldwell
Northern Ireland
http://www.jonnycaldwell.com