FRA-LHR-JFK, without leaving AKL! (Flight simulator experience)

[Mattg]

This week I flew in a Boeing 737-800 simulator in Downtown Auckland, at a place called 'Fly a Jet'. After getting a quick lesson about how to fly an aircraft, my instructor and co-pilot, the very friendly and helpful Roy, took me into the simulator. Sitting in the captain's seat, I prepared (with assistance) the aircraft for takeoff and away we went! For the first flight I chose to fly from FRA to LHR (you can fly anywhere in the world). Thrusting down the runway and taking off into the sky was quite a thrill, and it felt very realistic! Taking off from Frankfurt just before dawn, we got a great view of the city lights. After a rather complicated SID, or standard instrument departure (it reminds me of the convoluted arrival we took last time I flew there), we were on our way to London. We fast-forwarded to cruise to give me more time at the end and then descended towards London as the sun was coming up. We approached runway 27L and got a great view of the city on the right hand side. Luckily I didn't screw up the landing and we got safely and comfortably onto the runway at Heathrow.


Following this we took off again from Heathrow and did a short flight to London City Airport. Finally, we repositioned to New York and I took off from JFK for another very short flight, this time to La Guardia. The simulator is quite realistic and it was quite surreal to be flying around downtown New York & Manhattan!


I was very happy with what I was able to do in just over an hour, without ever leaving Auckland. Next time I would probably try a "challenging" landing into Queenstown or Hong Kong - or both. Overall it was a fantastic experience and the instructor was fantastic! I will definitely be doing it again.


Fly a Jet is probably not dissimilar to the B737 and A320 simulators in the Gold Coast, Melbourne or Brisbane, but there is one key difference - the price. The going rate in Australia seems to be about $275/hour, but Fly a Jet charges $185 (that's New Zealand dollars, so around AUD155) for a one hour city flight. There are other options for various lengths of time which are priced accordingly, with the lowest (30 mins) being just $89. I took a 75 minute "world flight" which cost $245.


This was certainly a fantastic experience! I had lots of fun and even learned quite a bit. It is very realistic and the next best thing to actually being a pilot. If you live in Auckland or find yourself there in the future, and you enjoy flying as much as I do, I would definitely recommend you give this a go. You do need to book in advance. Here's a link to their website if you're interested:
https://www.flyajet.co.nz/

 

[samh004]

Hmm, maybe something to try when I commence international travel at the end of the year. I'm already very much looking forward to the Bristol BE2E Fighter Simulator in LRE, on my next visit in August. I'd imagine it'll be quite a bit different

 

[BoyZeus]

I was very happy with what I was able to do in just over an hour, without ever leaving Auckland. Next time I would probably try a "challenging" landing into Queenstown or Hong Kong - or both. Overall it was a fantastic experience and the instructor was fantastic! I will definitely be doing it again.

I wonder if your could ask to do the old checkerboard approach at Kai Tak?

 

[Mattg]

I wonder if your could ask to do the old checkerboard approach at Kai Tak?

You certainly can, in fact they recommend it!

 

[erkpod]

I've done a couple of hours in the B737 sim in Sydney at Flight Experience. Great stuff. I've done circuits at Sydney, Queenstown, Heathrow & Kai Tak.

I've got a couple of vouchers for sims at Bankstown airport but haven't used them yet. One is a A320 sim & the other is configurable between various types of aircraft & is full motion (from memory).