Yesterday I flew the Concorde sim at the Brooklands museum. Just two words: do it! It’s an amazing experience. Not cheap, but if you can afford to fly the real thing, you can afford it – equivalent to 3-4 hours of spam-can flying.
It’s an all-day event, of which you spend about 30 minutes flying the sim, and the rest of the afternoon watching other people do it. There were four of us, three experienced pilots and one non-pilot (the wife of one of the other pilots). I did an extended circuit of Heathrow, and for my second flight a circuit of the old Kai Tak in Hong Kong.
The sim is the actual BA sim, which used to be at Filton, carefully reconstructed by enthusiasts. It doesn’t move but it is an actual Concorde flight deck, complete with authentic 1970s instruments. The only “modern” thing is the external visuals, which use MS Flight Sim.
There are two ex-BA Concorde pilots as instructors – the actual names vary – who right-seat and instruct you through the flight. That in itself is a great privilege, meeting them and chatting with them.
johnh wrote:
The sim is the actual BA sim, which used to be at Filton, carefully reconstructed by enthusiasts. It doesn’t move but it is an actual Concorde flight deck, complete with authentic 1970s instruments. The only “modern” thing is the external visuals, which use MS Flight Sim.
I’d love to fly it. Friends of mine did when it still was at Filton, but I am told that apart from the missing motion, it is in many regards better today than it was when it actually was used to train pilots. Here’s a video showing Capt Mike Bannister demonstrating the Sim.
Some information on the sim
http://www.concordeproject.com/simulator.html
The picture at 00:37 in that video, second from the left, is the lady who taught me to fly in 2011.
