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Old Mar 30, 2015, 12:48 pm
  #1  
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Lightbulb Air enthusiasts please help! (where to fly a simulator)

Hello, I am new to the world of Flyertalk but my boyfriend is a huge enthusiast. He is a keen Vatsimmer and regularly reads blogs/news concerning the air industry (sorry if this terminology isn't correct, as I said, i'm new!). It's his birthday soon and I would love to get him a flight for his birthday, as in allowing him to fly a plane out of a simulator. His favourite plane is an A330, I assume you can't fly one first time because they're huge but is there a similar smaller sibling of this aircraft in which you can learn to fly? We are from the UK but currently living in Russia so can go in either country or any other European country. Can anyone recommend a place/plane/country in which to do this? He's never flown a plane before but has been in simulators and knows his stuff re controls from vatsimming.

Please help as I am clueless and want to make it a birthday to remember!

Many thanks!
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Old Mar 30, 2015, 4:20 pm
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Air enthusiasts please help!

I can recommend the Lufthansa flight simulators in Frankfurt or Munich, check out http://www.proflight.com
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 12:10 pm
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If you look on the British Airways Board they are arranging a trip on the BA Simulators - the ones which move etc.

If not I believe that there is one which doesn't move in London in one of the Westfield Shopping Centres.

T
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 4:51 pm
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I think there's one out at London Luton airport that's open to the public.

If you're not dead-set on a passenger jet, you might find more availability in a Cessna sim at a flight school. They do have some that are full-motion. He's probably more into the big jets though if he's into X-Plane/VATSIM.

If you're flying on points and distance isn't a problem, there is a 737 simulator at the Delta Museum in Atlanta, on the grounds of their corporate headquarters.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 5:22 pm
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Originally Posted by TravelerMSY
I think there's one out at London Luton airport that's open to the public.

If you're not dead-set on a passenger jet, you might find more availability in a Cessna sim at a flight school. They do have some that are full-motion. He's probably more into the big jets though if he's into X-Plane/VATSIM.

If you're flying on points and distance isn't a problem, there is a 737 simulator at the Delta Museum in Atlanta, on the grounds of their corporate headquarters.
Since you are in Russia you can ask around for a real 30 minute flight in a real MiG trainer.

Addendum: friend who did this emailed back, for those that are interested it is $10,000 USD, payment via Ben.

Last edited by tentseller; Apr 1, 2015 at 8:44 am Reason: Found the price
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 7:31 pm
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I can't personally vouch for them, this company has locations in Paris, Amsterdam, and Miami

http://www.flyanairliner.com/product...n-experiences/

Thinking from the above poster that perhaps a real aircraft flight might also be of interest, this site has a list of numerous locations that sell rides in warbirds and other aircraft that may be of interest. A lot of the places on the list are in the US and Canada but I see a few in Europe.

http://www.warbirdalley.com/fly.htm

Hope you find something that works, sounds like an awesome gift idea for your boyfriend!
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 7:39 pm
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I don't understand how these places can get away with charging such exorbitant amounts of money for 1/2 hour of fun?

You can get a real flying lesson for $100 at most local airports in the US. I understand that it's not a passenger jet, but you get to actually go up in the air.
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Old Mar 31, 2015, 9:09 pm
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I have my PPL and would love to fly a sim. When I was 13, I got to fly a United 747 simulator in Denver. has anyone tried the Lufthansa simulators in Germany? A Bonanza or Turbo Lance with CFI is near $300 so these sims are comparable.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 8:36 am
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There is a nice A320 simulator in Cologne:
http://www.yourcockpit.de/flugsimulator.html

The website seems to be only in German, but they speak English as well.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 9:06 am
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In the USA, the Mall of America (near Minneapolis) has a place that lets you play with flight simulators for various military aircraft, historical and modern. It's called A.C.E.S.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 9:51 am
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If you are looking for the real thing, there is an A330 sim at Gatwick - full motion. It's expensive, but if you want him to have a birthday to remember, he'd definitely love this. It's very easy to fly - if he's a keen flight-simmer, he won't have any difficulty.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 10:47 am
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Originally Posted by mikeyjones4652
I don't understand how these places can get away with charging such exorbitant amounts of money for 1/2 hour of fun?

You can get a real flying lesson for $100 at most local airports in the US. I understand that it's not a passenger jet, but you get to actually go up in the air.
I Flew a full level D in thailand where they train bangkok airways he gave it me for half the price about $350 for an hour. He gave me a tour as he's british and there was quite a lot of technicians just to load the simulator up, i saw all the computers outside of the sim.
That's probably why it costs more than a real flying lesson.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 11:08 am
  #13  
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Originally Posted by mikeyjones4652
I don't understand how these places can get away with charging such exorbitant amounts of money for 1/2 hour of fun?

You can get a real flying lesson for $100 at most local airports in the US. I understand that it's not a passenger jet, but you get to actually go up in the air.
Yea,-but you cannot crash that one

And BTW a real simulator is way,way more expensive!!
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 11:15 am
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Originally Posted by geirfugl

And BTW a real simulator is way,way more expensive!!
Interesting. That would never have occurred to me.
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Old Apr 1, 2015, 12:47 pm
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Emirates have a simulator (moving) for a A380 in London - looks like a lot of fun. Not sure about prices.
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