New award option: QF simulator for 115k points

[Newk]

I did this yesterday with asg29e. Fantastic experience and I think Qantas are on a real winner here. A great way to create and maintain brand loyalty. As others have said the sim is awesome beyond belief. That said I also got a lot out of the whole safety training demonstrations too. Can you believe one of the best things was putting on and blowing up a life jacket?
Anyone who thinks this is some computer game thing like Darling Harbour and North Adelaide is kidding themselves. This is a ridgy didge tour of an actual Qantas training facility (did you know they put many tens of thousands of employees through there every year and sometimes it runs 24/7).
So many people I have talked to about this have said something like "oh yeah there's one of them just down the road". Errrr no there isn't. The sim we were in cost $30 million if I remember correctly and had an associated room full of computers to run it.

Oh yeah and we "met"* some Qantas pilot by the name of De Crespigny

*well he walked past us in the corridor and said hello to our instructor.

I would suggest that anyone thinking about it gets organised. I think if the offer is still open in a year or two I'll do it again

 

[markis10]

So many people I have talked to about this have said something like "oh yeah there's one of them just down the road". Errrr no there isn't. The sim we were in cost $30 million if I remember correctly and had an associated room full of computers to run it.

Thats probably 1992 dollars, its not unusual to have a sim that is more expensive than the real thing to purchase.

 

[eosphoros]

I did this yesterday and I too echo everyone's sentiments regarding how awesome this experience was. Extremely informative, fun, and educational. This isn't some coughpy 737 sim with no moving parts; this is a proper sim on hydraulics, with parts built by Boeing. After doing some take-offs and landings on 16R, did a nice flyover Sydney, then to Chek Lap Kok, before my instructor showed me the old Kai Tak approach. Then we proceeded to do a landing at LHR in adverse conditions.

That said I also got a lot out of the whole safety training demonstrations too. Can you believe one of the best things was putting on and blowing up a life jacket?

That was an absolute blast. Loved seeing the massive room with the pool and simulated ditch conditions. The life jacket blowing up took me completely by surprise. It really does puff up quick! At least now if I ever find myself in such a situation I will have some familiarity with it! What was funny was that I was told I was one of the good ones as some P1s that did the tour didn't even know where the tag was. (Shows how much the cricket video draws peoples' attention.)

I thought the other really cool thing was the briefing room! After seeing that briefing room, what I really want now are Skybeds for my living room! Of course, I have no idea where I would be able to source one.

Oh yeah and we "met"* some Qantas pilot by the name of De Crespigny

Haha I "met" him too. And by met, I mean he was standing a metre away during the A380 evacuate demonstration. I had an interesting conversation with my tour guide about his book.

All in all, it was well worth the experience and a great way to maintain brand loyalty. Would absolutely recommend it!

 

[Newk]

Thats probably 1992 dollars, its not unusual to have a sim that is more expensive than the real thing to purchase.

correct
IIRC we were told that it remains one of the most expensive simulators ever bought by any airline. Again IIRC the current A380 ones are only $20 million. And the A380 ones now only need computer equipment that takes up the space equivalent to a small cupboard.

 

[Newk]

"I thought the other really cool thing was the briefing room! After seeing that briefing room, what I really want now are Skybeds for my living room! Of course, I have no idea where I would be able to source one."


The TV there was pretty cool too. Very high quality

 

[eosphoros]

The TV there was pretty cool too. Very high quality

Yes nice and large Samsung in there. My instructor had a little trouble operating the iPad for the pre-sim briefing haha.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Here's #1 - Qantas 747 Flight Sim Landing - YouTube

Well done....rough landing!!

 

[wafliron]

For those who have done the simulator experience, how long did you get in the actual sim? I note Chris mentioned that he got >3 hours in his TR, but wondering if that's due to the 747 sim problems he experienced, or if most people are getting more than 1 hour?

 

[ChrisFlyer]

For those who have done the simulator experience, how long did you get in the actual sim? I note Chris mentioned that he got >3 hours in his TR, but wondering if that's due to the 747 sim problems he experienced, or if most people are getting more than 1 hour?

It wasn't quite that long (I mentioned that my 'sim time' was roughly 3:30-6, which included the induction and also the time spent waiting between sims)... Time spent in the sim when it was working was probably about 1:10 in the 747 and 20 mins in the 767

 

[eosphoros]

For those who have done the simulator experience, how long did you get in the actual sim? I note Chris mentioned that he got >3 hours in his TR, but wondering if that's due to the 747 sim problems he experienced, or if most people are getting more than 1 hour?

I had about 1:15 in the sim itself.

 

[wafliron]

It wasn't quite that long (I mentioned that my 'sim time' was roughly 3:30-6, which included the induction and also the time spent waiting between sims)... Time spent in the sim when it was working was probably about 1:10 in the 747 and 20 mins in the 767

I had about 1:15 in the sim itself.

Thanks for clarifying - clearly I misread your TR Chris!

 

[Newk]

For those who have done the simulator experience, how long did you get in the actual sim? I note Chris mentioned that he got >3 hours in his TR, but wondering if that's due to the 747 sim problems he experienced, or if most people are getting more than 1 hour?

I would guess we had between an hour and an hour and a half. It went sooooooo quickly that I want to do it again. Here's roughly what we did once in the sim

Taxiing around Sydney runways using rudders then the tiller
Take off..a few
Flew around Adelaide looking for our houses. Asg29e had better luck finding his. I just saw the general area of mine
Cranked out some steep turns to check out the handling
Practiced turning with engines failing/failure on one side
Landings (several each) at Adelaide, Sydney, LHR, Cairns
Landing at LHR in a snowstorm on autopilot was a highlight

I am trying to get a video on to youtube and will link in a later post if I can work it

 

[wafliron]

I would guess we had between an hour and an hour and a half. It went sooooooo quickly that I want to do it again. Here's roughly what we did once in the sim

<snip>

Thanks Newk - it sounds like there's enough time to do a lot of stuff when you list it all out like that, but I'm sure the time flies by (no pun intended) when you (or I, in Feb!) are actually in there! I need to start figuring out the list of things I really want to get done during my sim time...

 

[Newk]

Qantas Sim - YouTube

cranking out the turns over southern Adelaide

edit to add: I'm working on posting a landing one. Accursed computers and the interweb nonsense
Also in "real life" there is none of that flickering