Flight Simulators

Yes! All of our flight simulators are professional standard and many (especially the airliner sims) are indeed used by licensed pilots. The quality is second to none and it's a very realistic experience. You'll soon get immersed in the whole sensation of flying and forget you're in a simulator!

Yes and no. You can indeed learn to how to fly a plane by clocking up time in a simulator, but it doesn't give you any qualifications to actually fly a real plane.

No, definitely not! Many of us have tried the flight simulator programmes on games consoles and computers and they are nothing like these high-powered simulators. Even if you have a fairly decent home set up with joysticks and a seat, you probably won't have anything like these full cockpit set-ups.

Yes you can. Several of our flight simulator centres offer 'fear of flying' experiences as part of their programme. It's a really good way to get over the anxiety you feel when taking a flight and should help you be able to fly off on holiday without the panic.

Yes you do. The software is so sophisticated now on simulators that many have an impressive database of over 24,000 different airport and airfields around the globe. What you'll do and where you fly is usually discussed with your instructor as part of your pre-flight briefing.

Yes, a great question! These are legendary airports for various reasons. St Maarten's is the one where you fly in straight over the beach, Innsbruck is a very narrow valley in the Austrian mountains and Kai Tak is the former Hong Kon airport that meant a final approach in amongst the skyscrapers. They are often mentioned as they are by far the most popular airports (alongside local UK ones) that participants want to try.

Yews, some are actually real, in the sense that they are ex-airworthy airframes used to create the cockpits for the simukatirs. So you could be sitting in an ex-Romanian Air Force L-29 Delfin, or on the slightly worn seat of Airbus A320-111 that has flown hundreds of thousands of miles on commercial routes for GB Airways. Others are highly accurate replicas, that may incorporate genuine flight deck instruments.

Yes. Often there's room inside the airliner cockpits for one or more in the 'jump' seat. Some sim operators have a cabin set up with several rows of airline seats where friends and family can be 'passengers' on the flight. In the case of the fighter jets and smaller aircraft simulators, there's usually an area where you can spectate and watch screens that are showing what is happening inside the cockpit.

No. If you want to go for a Private Pilot's Licence (PPL) you'll need to take flying lessons in real aircraft. If you're keen to find out what it's like flying a light aircraft, you can buy a trial flying lesson from us. We've got flight training schools onboard around the UK so you can get a feel of what flying for real is like.

Many of the instructors who host these simulator sessions are indeed qualified pilots. On the Boeing and Airbus simulators, many are working commercial pilots. Others are retired, whilst some are ex-RAF working in pilot or avionics capacities.