Update on BA flight simulators at LHR
Jan 26, 2019, 9:54 am
#16
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FYI, DL sells simulator time to the public at its museum next to ATL airport. I don't think they have a 747 simulator and it's obviously not BA, but with advanced planning (check about opening hours and sim reservations, which are not included in the price of museum admission), it's easy to organize if you're traveling through ATL. [To get to the museum from the terminal requires a taxi/uber or perhaps use of the airport Hilton's "free" shuttle bus plus a short walk.] The museum itself has a 747 on display outdoors that you can enter.
Jan 26, 2019, 10:30 am
#17
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: YYC
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Really sorry to hear about Andy, he was the instructor for the session I was in and he made it very enjoyable. Even though it was 3 years ago, the sim experience has been a highlight for me. I have friends who work for Air Canada and were jealous that I could do something like that, so I'm saddened to hear that it's no longer possible. I hope Andy is able to find some other position. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.
Jan 26, 2019, 10:53 am
#18
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver Seigneur des Horaires des Mucci.
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What a shame
As an ex PPL this has always been on my bucket list
I have never been quite ready to attendine of the flyertalk sim evenings but they sounded great
Can’t believe its no longer possible
As an ex PPL this has always been on my bucket list
I have never been quite ready to attendine of the flyertalk sim evenings but they sounded great
Can’t believe its no longer possible
Jan 26, 2019, 3:54 pm
#19
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Londinium
Programs: BAEC Gold, BA Amex PP, Virgin Gold
Posts: 287
Very sad news. On the face of it, it appears very short-sighted - hopefully one day we'll be able to understand if there was something that seriously warranted yet another cut, this time one so cruel.
My sincere thanks to Andy for all of his hard work in making the evenings such a great success. One idea might be for those of us so inclined to maybe contribute to some sort of goodbye GoFundMe? KARFA is that something you'd be happy to set up?
My sincere thanks to Andy for all of his hard work in making the evenings such a great success. One idea might be for those of us so inclined to maybe contribute to some sort of goodbye GoFundMe? KARFA is that something you'd be happy to set up?
Jan 26, 2019, 4:42 pm
#20
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: London
Programs: BA GGL / GfL
Posts: 3,264
Many thanks for passing on the information KARFA, despite it being very disappointing and sad. If you are still in touch with Andy please do pass on my thanks for all his help in organising a really wonderful sim evening back in 2017 and the best wishes for the future, whatever that holds. I hope somebody with as much experience as Andy will be very quickly employed again in the Industry.
Pilot37
Pilot37
Jan 26, 2019, 5:17 pm
#21
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 4,160
Would this also be Andy Clubb who’s named as the contact for the flight safety awareness days, clinical human factors training etc etc?
https://www.britishairways.com/en-fr...or-individuals
if so, how thoroughly depressing. I note the dates on the FSA days haven’t been updated since 2015. Oh well I suppose this is what progress looks like!!
https://www.britishairways.com/en-fr...or-individuals
if so, how thoroughly depressing. I note the dates on the FSA days haven’t been updated since 2015. Oh well I suppose this is what progress looks like!!
Jan 27, 2019, 12:01 am
#22
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 54
As you know I help organise the annual FT outing to the BA simulators at LHR every year.
After the sim evenings at the end of 2018 I received an email from Andy telling me his department had announced a reorganisation and his current role would no longer exist. He was in discussions with another department within BA hopefully for a move across in which case he would be able to continue the sim evenings.
Anyway I have now heard this week that BA are stopping all corporate and private sims. Unfortunately Andy is being made redundant and he hasn't got a job elsewhere in BA. This is obviously quite depressing news, not just because of sim visits but because Andy has been extremely helpful in organising our sim sessions and he is a really nice guy. Regardless of what happened with our sim outings, I was hoping for a better outcome for Andy. I mention this as those of you who have come along in previous years, especially the regulars, may want to get in touch with him before he leaves just to thank him - I know everyone has always been very complimentary about him.
Andy has also passed on the following which I wanted to share as well:
"I always looked forward to the FlyerTalk evenings, all the guys and girls that came along were always very enthusiastic and inquisitive! It was always fun! Thanks for all your hard work in making them successful."
In terms of the sim evenings themselves, I am looking at some other options. I have kept in touch with one of the instructors from a previous year and we are meeting up soon to see if we can work something out with BA. However, it may not be something that is possible sadly. Andy did say if we needed qualified instructors he was willing to come in and take a group.
Also I know there are often questions on the board from people who are looking to book one off sessions on their own via the BA Flight Training site. The changes will affect that too and I understand BA are stopping selling access to the public for flight sim experiences. I have been told that public access ends this weekend.
Anyway, sorry for the bad news. We had five years of sim evenings and we have had 78 people come along. I do hope I can work something out with BA to carry them on in some form and I will update with the outcome of this.
After the sim evenings at the end of 2018 I received an email from Andy telling me his department had announced a reorganisation and his current role would no longer exist. He was in discussions with another department within BA hopefully for a move across in which case he would be able to continue the sim evenings.
Anyway I have now heard this week that BA are stopping all corporate and private sims. Unfortunately Andy is being made redundant and he hasn't got a job elsewhere in BA. This is obviously quite depressing news, not just because of sim visits but because Andy has been extremely helpful in organising our sim sessions and he is a really nice guy. Regardless of what happened with our sim outings, I was hoping for a better outcome for Andy. I mention this as those of you who have come along in previous years, especially the regulars, may want to get in touch with him before he leaves just to thank him - I know everyone has always been very complimentary about him.
Andy has also passed on the following which I wanted to share as well:
"I always looked forward to the FlyerTalk evenings, all the guys and girls that came along were always very enthusiastic and inquisitive! It was always fun! Thanks for all your hard work in making them successful."
In terms of the sim evenings themselves, I am looking at some other options. I have kept in touch with one of the instructors from a previous year and we are meeting up soon to see if we can work something out with BA. However, it may not be something that is possible sadly. Andy did say if we needed qualified instructors he was willing to come in and take a group.
Also I know there are often questions on the board from people who are looking to book one off sessions on their own via the BA Flight Training site. The changes will affect that too and I understand BA are stopping selling access to the public for flight sim experiences. I have been told that public access ends this weekend.
Anyway, sorry for the bad news. We had five years of sim evenings and we have had 78 people come along. I do hope I can work something out with BA to carry them on in some form and I will update with the outcome of this.
ill look out for the result of your investigation and join you all if it happens. I got part way through my PPL which I’m sure will do me no good at all in a 737. 😋
Feb 24, 2019, 4:21 am
#23
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Apologies for the delay in updating. There has been a lot of work going on in the background over the last month and I wanted to do a short update.
In terms of visits to the BA sims that is basically not happening. There was some vague possibility that we could somehow self organise and still use them, but tbh BA's position is no public groups. Sorry about that.
I mentioned that I have kept in touch with one of the instructors from 2017. We have met up a few times since this was announced. Plans are advancing to try and provide simulator experiences with him and a few other commercial pilots in the future at other simulators. This would be more regular than the once a year visits I organised on FT and with smaller groups each time (maybe 2-4 or so). It will pick up from where these BA visits left off and offer something different to the usual sim experiences you often see advertised in various places.
As this would not be a BA event I am conscious that it should not be organised on this board anymore. There should be a website and forum soon where we will run and organise it and I will provide links in due course so people can find it, see more information, and sign up. I am sure it will be of interest to a a few of the many people who came to the sessions over the last few years - we have been planning it on that basis.
Anyway, more to come soon. It is very sad to see our visits to BA come to a close, but hopefully what we offer in the future should provide an interesting alternative.
Yes that's right.
Apologies I missed this at the time. I must admit I didn't look in to this, sorry.
Yes it is permanent sadly - unless there is a change of heart at some point a few years in to the future.
In terms of visits to the BA sims that is basically not happening. There was some vague possibility that we could somehow self organise and still use them, but tbh BA's position is no public groups. Sorry about that.
I mentioned that I have kept in touch with one of the instructors from 2017. We have met up a few times since this was announced. Plans are advancing to try and provide simulator experiences with him and a few other commercial pilots in the future at other simulators. This would be more regular than the once a year visits I organised on FT and with smaller groups each time (maybe 2-4 or so). It will pick up from where these BA visits left off and offer something different to the usual sim experiences you often see advertised in various places.
As this would not be a BA event I am conscious that it should not be organised on this board anymore. There should be a website and forum soon where we will run and organise it and I will provide links in due course so people can find it, see more information, and sign up. I am sure it will be of interest to a a few of the many people who came to the sessions over the last few years - we have been planning it on that basis.
Anyway, more to come soon. It is very sad to see our visits to BA come to a close, but hopefully what we offer in the future should provide an interesting alternative.
Is this a permanent removal of the facility, or just a temporary closure for an indefinite period of time?
I see from other boards that BA is in the middle of an extensive flight crew recruitment exercise and that one of the bottlenecks in the process is a shortage of training capacity. Perhaps when they eventually find that they have more flight crew than they need, or more sim capacity than the training programme needs, they will have a change of heart and try again to make some money by offering sim time to outsiders.
I see from other boards that BA is in the middle of an extensive flight crew recruitment exercise and that one of the bottlenecks in the process is a shortage of training capacity. Perhaps when they eventually find that they have more flight crew than they need, or more sim capacity than the training programme needs, they will have a change of heart and try again to make some money by offering sim time to outsiders.
Feb 24, 2019, 5:10 am
#25
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
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@KARFA does this mean flight safety and human factors are all cancelled for the foreseeable as well? Or are they going to cook something up for those parts and just can the simulator (ridiculous optimism alert!)
Feb 24, 2019, 5:40 am
#27
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
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Feb 25, 2019, 4:24 am
#28
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Sorry I didn't have an answer, but it looks like endoman has confirmed they are still going.
Feb 25, 2019, 4:52 am
#29
Join Date: May 2016
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, Accor Gold
Posts: 1,430
Terrible news about Andy, an absolute gent and one of life's good guys. I really hope his talents are snapped up by someone in the very near future.
Also a shame about the sim sessions, but in conjunction with the news about Andy's employment, this only seems a minor inconvenience.
Also a shame about the sim sessions, but in conjunction with the news about Andy's employment, this only seems a minor inconvenience.
Feb 25, 2019, 6:15 am
#30
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: UK
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Only saw this thread. A huge shame as I was hoping to organise a visit for my birthday. Unfortunately no other level d 747s around I don't think.
However, if anyone wants to visit my fixed-base 747-400 sim (in London) before it is finished, I'm more than happy to accommodate people.
However, if anyone wants to visit my fixed-base 747-400 sim (in London) before it is finished, I'm more than happy to accommodate people.