Last edit by: KARFA
It’s back again! Simulator choice this year is 747 and 777, but no one will be forced to fly on something they don’t want though, and I would imagine the 747 is the one most want (and should try).
Previous Trip Reports for the 747-400 Simulators
- Some photos and videos from 2017 here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And a TR by florens here.
- Some photos and videos from 2016 here, here, and here.
- Some photos and videos from 2015 here, and here.
- Jagboi’s TR http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...l#post25536244
- My TR from the 2014 outing here.
- GodAtum has tried them and did a report here.
Cost
Each simulator holds 4 people and one instructor. The total cost of a 4 hour session in one simulator would be £1,700 (this is cheaper than BA offer to the public), and this would give around 55-60 minutes of time per person on the controls – although we would rotate during the session so this would be split in to a number of smaller time chunks. Please note that the prices on the BAFT website are quoted as £1,700 excluding VAT per simulator, but we have been offered them for a price of £1,700, including VAT.
As we are charged per simulator generally a group in multiples of 4 would be ideal, with cost per person being £425. If we only had three people for example we would still have to pay £1,700 so the cost per person increases to £567 per person, although we would each get a bit more time at the controls. If we end up with 5 though it may well make sense to go to 1 simulator to reduce the cost and have say 45/50 minutes each per simulator.
Basically once we confirm numbers we can make a choice if we don't have a multiple of 4, although a multiple of 4 would be ideal.
Payment
Once the date is confirmed and booked each person would pay their share directly to BAFT, this is likely to be around September or early October when payment is due. It would be non-refundable so if you don't show you would unfortunately not get your money back, but this stops those that do show all of a sudden having to cover any no-show's share. If you do commit and pay and find in a few months you can't make it one option may be to see if a friend, work colleague, or other FT'er can come and take your place and they can pay you directly for your share which you have already paid to BAFT.
I will ensure that we are absolutely not going to be in a situation on the day where I am asking those that have come along to dip in to their pockets to cover any additional cost. Sorry this seems a bit harsh, but I don't think anyone wants to turn up finding instead of £3,400 divided by 8 it is suddenly only divided by 6.
Dates & Times
Unfortunately weekends are not possible for a group booking, so the options are weekdays. My own preference would be a Friday and probably 1900-2300 as (coming from the regions) I would only need to take half a day off work and wouldn't have to worry about getting back for working the next day. For those in London or around the South East you could come in the evening and there would be no need for any holiday being used.
If we booked for a date more than 3 months in advance we can hopefully get our choice of date & time. I have already confirmed with BA that the dates offered below are available.
The dates being offered are:
- Friday 26 October 1900-2300
- Friday 2 November 1900-2300
Location
The simulators are all now at the new Engineering Base at Heathrow near Hatton Cross tube station - they used to be at Cranebank which is where we went in 2014, but they were moved last year and our 2015-2017 visits were at the new facility. More details here.
As this is part of a secure area you would need a passport or other photo ID to enter.
Threads from previous years:
October 2014 -> FT Flight Simulator Outing to BAFT Cranebank and Trip Report here
October 2015 -> FT 747-400 Flight Simulator Outing to BAFT Heathrow
October 2016 -> FT BA Flight Simulator Outing to Heathrow
October 2017 -> FT BA Flight Simulator Outing to Heathrow
FT BA Flight Simulator Outing to Heathrow [UK] – 26 October & 2 November 2018
#136
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 40
Waiting for my flight this morning. I am absolutely shattered, shows how exhausting a sim session can be. We certainly had a challenging and fun session in our group last night, hopefully the other groups did too. I feel after 5 years I have perfected the no-flare landing I’ll go through my photos and videos over the next few days and post them on here. Please feel free to add your own.
Thanks to everyone who came over the last two weeks. I hope you all enjoyed it and it was great to see some repeat victims as well as some new people. Please don’t hesitate to submit a ba.com/welldone for Andy as well, without him I doubt we would be able to do this.
Thanks to everyone who came over the last two weeks. I hope you all enjoyed it and it was great to see some repeat victims as well as some new people. Please don’t hesitate to submit a ba.com/welldone for Andy as well, without him I doubt we would be able to do this.
#137
Join Date: Aug 2006
Programs: BA Blue
Posts: 361
Crash and Burn
KARFA
Thank you for arranging such a great evening and for the consummate display of flying a big jet, I've got 19 minutes of mostly level footage of your approach and landing which looks good but the contrast between inside and outside is too high unfortunately.
I enjoyed the evening immensely and my thanks to yourself, Sam, Dan and of course Ron for putting up with my cack handed attempts to fly a simple circuit without crashing and burning. Links and some of the video and photo's will be up as soon as I can get a free hour or two to sort and upload, especially the part where the stick shaker kicks in.
As I said above the video from my DSLR is reasonable but the action cam footage is really too dark, I've started a crash and burn savings account and am hoping to join you again next year to try and complete both a take off and landing and if possible get better photo's and video of the whole evening.
I'll be doing a BA well done for Andy after I finish this post.
Thank you again for all your hard work and here's hoping for another chance to tame the big beast, at least to me, of the 747.
DMF
Thank you for arranging such a great evening and for the consummate display of flying a big jet, I've got 19 minutes of mostly level footage of your approach and landing which looks good but the contrast between inside and outside is too high unfortunately.
I enjoyed the evening immensely and my thanks to yourself, Sam, Dan and of course Ron for putting up with my cack handed attempts to fly a simple circuit without crashing and burning. Links and some of the video and photo's will be up as soon as I can get a free hour or two to sort and upload, especially the part where the stick shaker kicks in.
As I said above the video from my DSLR is reasonable but the action cam footage is really too dark, I've started a crash and burn savings account and am hoping to join you again next year to try and complete both a take off and landing and if possible get better photo's and video of the whole evening.
I'll be doing a BA well done for Andy after I finish this post.
Thank you again for all your hard work and here's hoping for another chance to tame the big beast, at least to me, of the 747.
DMF
#138
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Londinium
Programs: BAEC Gold, BA Amex PP, Virgin Gold
Posts: 287
Thanks a lot KARFA for another great year - it would be great if we could organise another before Nov 2019 as it was absolutely fantastic!
Thanks to Andy and the pilots
BoeBus & team
Thanks to Andy and the pilots
BoeBus & team
#139
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 21
Thanks a lot Karfa for organizing this, it was an excellent evening. Andy was great, the pilots were great, and I realized I wouldn't mind doing that more often (plus, I have friends interested !).
Looking forward to the pictures and videos, and thinking that I should probably learn the 747 operating manual and checklists for next time..
Looking forward to the pictures and videos, and thinking that I should probably learn the 747 operating manual and checklists for next time..
#140
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: London
Programs: Mucci Blue, BAEC Gold, Blockbuster Video card
Posts: 1,378
Yep echo the above - really appreciate the organisational skills. Had a great time.
I am currently away working in Madrid at present so haven't had a chance to do anything much apart from look at the footage taken with my phone of my last 'landing' (let's be generous here) and wince. The kind soul (forget which of you had my phone at the time) who also made a point of snapping the 'pod scrape' report on the instructor screen - you're not funny!!!!! :-)
I'll review the other footage including the little bodycam thingy (just being used as a camcorder - no-one was actually wearing it although maybe we could try that next time) and post the stuff that's useable when I get a chance...
I am currently away working in Madrid at present so haven't had a chance to do anything much apart from look at the footage taken with my phone of my last 'landing' (let's be generous here) and wince. The kind soul (forget which of you had my phone at the time) who also made a point of snapping the 'pod scrape' report on the instructor screen - you're not funny!!!!! :-)
I'll review the other footage including the little bodycam thingy (just being used as a camcorder - no-one was actually wearing it although maybe we could try that next time) and post the stuff that's useable when I get a chance...
#141
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 21
Forgive me for snapping the pod scrape screen, I thought it was a nice accomplishment/award/badge ! Plus I entered the simulator wondering how the crashes were rendered, and was glad to see a "near-crash".
#142
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: London
Programs: Mucci Blue, BAEC Gold, Blockbuster Video card
Posts: 1,378
Haha - I seem to recall I gave you all the joys of a TOGA party too!!!!!!
#143
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: LHR & JER
Programs: BAEC Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 253
I thought I might share Dave Wallsworth's latest YouTube video of a B787 landing in Jo'burg. Whilst Dave was a passenger and filming it was Mark Grigg landing the plane and he was our great pilot/instructor in the B777 on the first sim evening.
This was also the first BA 787 flight to JNB.
This was also the first BA 787 flight to JNB.
#144
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,951
I thought I might share Dave Wallsworth's latest YouTube video of a B787 landing in Jo'burg. Whilst Dave was a passenger and filming it was Mark Grigg landing the plane and he was our great pilot/instructor in the B777 on the first sim evening.
This was also the first BA 787 flight to JNB.
This was also the first BA 787 flight to JNB.
Sorry for being so slow posting photos and videos from the second evening. Here are a selection of the photos from the sim I was in.
Full album can be found here https://photos.app.goo.gl/QyEhc11wWJVGHVzU9
#145
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,951
Also some videos here. I made a bit of a mess up, I have an external microphone which fits on the flash shoe on my camera - sounds is much better than the internal mic. Anyway turned off the mic during our half time break to save the battery and then promptly forgot to turn it back on after. I was flying immediately after the break and Pascoe was doing a bit of filming. So sadly the videos of me have no sound! Entirely my fault of course. They are in the linked playlist but I haven't posted them here.
Full playlist here
Full playlist here