There and Back dedicated to Aviation, Airmanship and the Craft of Flying - by Owen Zupp & Robert Brus

Simsational

And the pleasure began from the moment Qantas Captains Andrew Foxton and Rob Ford opened the door to the massive flightdeck of the A380 simulator.

These dimensions are afforded by virtue of the actual flightdeck being positioned ‘between levels’ with its floor space dictated by the width of the main deck below. It is so large in fact that the physical dimensions of the simulator’s flightdeck had to be trimmed aft of the instructor station so that it would fit in a normal simulator bay.

The simulator provides all of the sensory cues to reinforce that this aircraft is at its maximum weight. The time to reach flying speed is further lengthened by the strong philosophy of derated takeoffs that exist with the type; even at such high weights. The reasons for this are diverse and range from lower maintenance costs to a reduced airport noise footprint.

Now is an appropriate time to confess to having had some trepidation about the side-stick. Having only known the Boeing yoke for my 14 years in airlines, my sidestick record was not good. One attempt at a friend’s Microsoft Flight Simulator after a Christmas barbeque that went rather badly and resulted in me wanting to bend the stick past the limits of its gimbals.

As a first timer I was suitably impressed, no more so than when I was encouraged to stall the aircraft on final approach in the landing configuration with the thrust levers closed and full aft and roll input. We should have fallen out of the sky, but despite my best efforts the A380 powered up, limited my bank angle and carefully set the pitch attitude to recover.

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