KARFA

Just to add, Doubletree is 15 minutes walk to BAFT, and you can get 5.5% cashback via TCB.

12939

I am planning to stay in London for the weekend, so for Mrs 12939's benefit, we will probably stay in central London. Wouldn't rule out a post-sim drink though!

Thanks KARFA for setting this up. I'm really looking forward to it.

KARFA

Thanks 12939. So that weekend I have an early flight from LGW but it is just a daytrip so I am back in London in the early evening. I will be staying either near LGW or in central London on Saturday night before heading back north on Sunday.

If a few of us are staying for a post sim drink I will stay near LHR purely because of expense as there are a few good options sub £50. flatlander and Toonfan any thoughts on your Friday night plans?

Toonfan

Thanks for checking the hotels Karfa.

I have gone for the Doubletree as I needed a Hilton stay - it has a bar :-)

KARFA

I think when I initially looked at the Doubletree the lowest rate I could get was £77, and I wasn't keen on paying such a premium over the Premier Inn or Jury's Inn. However, I think there is a sale which has kicked in today so there is a much more reasonable price of £43.55.

Go on then, I'll join you and book the Doubletree for the Friday night.

KARFA

Toofan sent a PM to me this weekend to share his comments on the Emirates aviation experience in North Greenwich. Coincidentally I was also in London and had a 1 hour session booked at the fixed base 737 simulators run by ipilot in the Westfield centre. I just thought I would put some of my reply comments here as well as they may be of interest to the other do attendees and possibly more widely.

I am a big fan of these ones and often go there when I am in London for a weekend. I have tried both the 777 and the A380 simulators, but my preference is the A380 lately mostly because I like the side stick. It's good for a 30 minute play and not too expensive.

In some ways the Emirates simualtors are nice there are only a limited amount of controls you can use (yoke, rudder, toe brakes, throttle, gear, and reversers) as it helps you to focus. The first time I went on a fix based full 737 simulator there was so much going on I found it harder to really concentrate on the basic stuff and to just fly the plane. I would recommend the ipilot simulators in the Westfield centre in London to try a fixed base. There is a 1hr night flights option for £89 which I thought meant you could only book times after 8pm, but this was the second time I have bought that voucher and booked for a Saturday afternoon and they didn't say anything when I turned up.

My session yesterday was quite intense. The instructor I had was different from my first visit, and he really pushed me and made me work hard. We started with a quick circuit around Heathrow just as a reminder of some basic stuff. We then did an ILS landing at Cardiff. The first try it was a bit too easy to look out at the runway so second go he set it up with minimum visibility so the runway only became visible around 5 seconds before touchdown - that we really great and very intense. Amazingly to me as we emerged from the fog there was the runway right ahead - in fact when he said look up I was somewhat surprised to see a runway which was much closer than I had expected as I had been concentrating on the instruments so much. We then did a visual landing at LBA (my suggestion ) and a visual landing at Innsbruck. It was a really good session and he taught me a lot, and it was very intense.

My tips if anyone goes would be:
- don't bother doing anything which involves setting a route in the FMC and setting up a flight director at first as it just wastes your time when you only have an hour
- do lots of landings and maybe some circuits
- do an ILS landing or two, Cardiff is a good choice for this
- don't bother doing gate to gate stuff or setting up the aircraft from cold, I did that first time and it was interesting but during a 1 hour session it does take up too much time

For the visit to Cranebank Toofan also was wondering how the session would be run. On the day I don't know how they are going to split it up. It might be nice to have say 30 minutes before swapping and then having your other 30 minutes later on so you can try and have a breather. I will ask closer to the date how they normally run the session.

KARFA

I forgot to add when I posted this yesterday, the first time I went to ipilot I was given a voucher for 47% off future bookings - not sure if everyone gets this, or if not how they select who to give it to. Using the voucher means that a 90 minute session costs only £163 which is pretty good value.

s2spero

i will be in london over the weekend. i would like to meet for a drink. what s the schedule???

KARFA

Hi s2spero. Our timing for Friday 10 October is we are starting at 1750 and should be leaving BAFT at 2210. There are four of us doing it (myself, 12939, flatlander, and Toonfan). I am staying at the DoubleTree Heathrow Airport and I think one of the others is staying there, and I am sure we may be going for a few drinks after to debrief and unwind either at or near the hotel. You are more than welcome to join us for drinks if you are around.

KARFA

So it looks like we have all paid and this mini FT Do is on for next Friday. The four of us are there from 1800 and should be leaving around 2210. Hopefully we will be going for a bar to unwind, and if anyone is around LHR on Friday night feel free to say so and you can come and join us for a drink. Two of us are staying in the Doubletree so I suspect we will either head there or somewhere near BAFT.

Photos and possibly some videos to follow after the event.

KARFA

One thing to add for reference if anyone wants to book a simulator session with BAFT - I can confirm they do accept amex and it did register as BA spend on my BAPP so x3 avios.

flatlander

3 of us are staying in the Doubletree

matthandy

Are spectators allowed?

KARFA

I'll ask. I think I was told that the flight deck can accommodate 5 in total, so instructor, person flying, and three on jump seats, so I don't know whether another person can be crammed in. Do you fancy sitting on someones lap

KARFA

So looks like we have all made it in to the heathrow area so do is on and we are making are way to Baft to the simulator.