A few days ago my husband, got the chance of a lifetime. He took the controls and flew a Boeing 737 Jet Aeroplane!
He accelerated the plane down the runway and managed an almost perfect take off from the Gold Coast airport. He then manoeuvred the plane into position, correctly approached the runway and safely landed at Brisbane airport about 30 minutes later.
My husband isn’t a pilot. In fact,he has never flown a plane before!
But don’t worry, it was all completely safe. This was a Flight Simulator. It all takes place in a full sized exact replica of a 737 cockpit.
Stuart was given a pre-flight briefing by the very experienced instructor, who then became his First Officer when Stu took over the controls himself. He verbally guided him through the flight.This is an amazingly unforgettable experience. I will let Stuart tell you about it himself.
Did you enjoy the experience and what was the best part?I did enjoy this experience. The best part was sitting in the mocked up cockpit with all the controls used in a real 737.
Would you recommend it to other people?Definitely – if you enjoy flight simulators this is the way to do it.
Do you have to have flying experience?No, a knowledge of the principles of flying helps but it isn’t needed and not having any experience doesn’t take anything away from the experience.
Was the instructor friendly and did he explain everything?He was friendly and explained everything clearly and in layman’s terms.
How is it better than a Flight Simulator game on the computer?Sitting in a real cockpit that took the flight simulator to a whole new level. You weren’t sitting at a computer pretending to fly a plane with your mouse and keyboard or joystick it was as if you were flying the real thing.
Did you have fun? Was it worth doing?It was fun and yes, I would definitely do it again if I had the chance.
Josh, my 3 year old and I were able to sit right behind Dad, the Captain, as he took control of the flight deck.
They have made sure that everything is very close to the real thing. It would make an awesome gift for the man in your life or indeed anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of a pilot and loves the idea of flying a plane for themselves.
There are Flight Simulators in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast and in Sydney.
Gift vouchers are available from GiftItNow.com.au and they have some great specials on at the moment.
Melanie
