Piloting A380 on flight simulator challenging
Simon Axby, right, leader of the simulator team at British Airways, teaches Karen, a British journalist based in Dubai how to pilot an Airbus 380, at the U.K. airliner’s headquarters at Heathrow Airport in London, Wednesday.
By Kim Jae-won
LONDON ― Steering an Airbus 380, the world’s largest passenger airliner, is an honor only given to veteran pilots with at least 10 years of flight experience.
British Airways (BA) has placed 12 A380 orders with the European company, and the first one was delivered to the U.K’s biggest airline Thursday.
This reporter, along with two others, got a chance Wednesday (local time) to take the helm of the luxury aircraft ― not a real one though, but a simulator.
Thanks to the highly-advanced technology, the experience was close to that of flying a real one.
The pilot’s seat was surrounded with hundreds of switches and buttons. However, under the guidance of Simon Axby, the leader of BA’s simulator training team, we learned about it step by step.
Dieter, a German journalist based in Cape Town, took the pilot’s seat first. The veteran motor editor of GQ magazine in South Africa seemed to be nervous, even though he has driven hundreds of cars.
In fact, he did well during the plane’s virtual take-off, drawing applause from all of us, but then there was the problem of landing. The aircraft trembled severely and he failed to land safely at Cape Town International Airport.
The editor complained of the grip. “It is very sensitive. I can’t control it.”
Next to take the chair was Karen, a British journalist based in Dubai. She chose to land at Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok Airport, one of two destinations for BA’s A380. Karen, a self-confessed poor driver, proved no better as a potential pilot, failing in her efforts to land.
Finally, I took the seat, and tried to land at Los Angeles, the other destination for BA’s A380.
I could see the runway clearly and moved the stick to adjust it on the landing approach, but I directly hit a building at the airport. Fire engines came out and it was a very embarrassing moment.
To comfort me, Axby, the instructor, said that landing is not easy, even for pilots, so many of them use automated programs.
“People think that a pilot did a good job when an airplane made a smooth landing, but most of these are done by computer.”