I trained to fly BA planes in their huge Star Wars-style hangar
WE blindly trust pilots to get us from A to B – but how hard do they have to work to earn their seat at the front of the plane?
British Airways trains its pilots in a huge 1950s aircraft hangar at Heathrow Airport, which felt more like you’re on the set of Star Wars.
There’s no Luke Skywalker here, but it is impressively large, as one of the biggest dedicated airline training centres in Europe.
The huge building houses numerous giant pods on stilts, some moving around like an alien out of a sci-fi film.
These are the simulators – sims for short – where pilots spend hours taking off, flying and landing across different routes to gain experience.
Narrow bridges led to each white pod and inside, it looks just like a cockpit of the plane – replicated down to every single button.
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The only difference is there’s a third seat for an instructor, who controls the scenarios played out on a 200-degree screen that displays different airports, routes and weather conditions.
Every active BA pilot returns to the simulator hall twice a year to refresher training – and they invited me down to test how difficult it could possibly be.
Although faced with a million buttons, levers and switches, for takeoff I didn’t use nearly as many as I thought – I had to line up a circle with the centre line and adjust the control column with fractional movements.
Lifting off the pedal beneath my toes and nudging the throttles, I felt the seat rumble beneath me as eyes remained glued to the runway markings whizzing past, waiting for the magic words from the instructor, beside me.
“Rotate,” the instructor Chris Holden, Head of Flight Crew at British Airways and a Training Captain on the airline’s Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 fleets, yelled. That was my cue.
I gently pulled back on the control column and held it, and suddenly the plane was pulling up into the air, with the tarmac runway below quickly disappearing.
And we were in the air – complete with the grumble of tucking in the landing gear and the regular tremble of turbulence.
Once we levelled off above the clouds, I used the time cruising through the sky to grill the instructor and pilot about what really happens at 36,000 feet…
The truth about turbulence
First on my list was a thing all passengers hate – turbulence.
James Bushe, First Officer said: “A few bumps is completely normal – it’s no different to being in a boat on a slightly choppy sea – the boat rocks, but it’s safe.”
But what about dramatic mid-air storms? Especially ones we have seen in the news this year causing passengers to become injured during turbulence.
James added: “There isn’t any weather that scares us because we’re trained to avoid it, not react to it.”
Pilots will use real-time radar and live weather charts to see storms ahead of reaching them.
They will then adjust the course appropriately, sometimes even steering hundreds of miles around a storm.
What if an engine fails?
And when it comes to other nightmare scenarios, such as losing an engine over the ocean, there is an answer.
James explained: “Every commercial aircraft is certified to safely fly on one engine at all times.”
“They are designed to withstand huge forces, huge pressures that are beyond which anything, any beyond any level of turbulence that you would ever ordinarily encounter.”
There are also strict safety corridors across the Atlantic, which means planes are within safe gliding or diversion distance of an emergency runway.
He added: “From a passenger perspective, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.
“We discuss our diversion plan on every single flight during cruise.”
Flying secrets
Perhaps naively, I thought pilots kick back once at altitude with a cuppa and the newspaper.
Wrong – instead they monitor everything from fuel burn to how hot or cold the cabin is.
James said: “Most of the physical flying is takeoff and landing.
“The work in between is constantly planning for what we would do if something went wrong.
“Even on a crystal-clear, sunny day, we are constantly working to ensure we have a safe plan of where to go.”
Now comfortably at 36,000 feet and set to cruise all the way to Melbourne, Australia – British Airways’ new route launching in January – I was starting to think, how do I remain comfortable during hours of flying?
James said: “I think for a passenger, you’ve got to do whatever makes you feel best and stick to your routine.
“So for passengers who are travelling through the night, have dinner and go to bed as normal.”
And there is even something you can do to avoid jet lag.
“I just drink a load of water. That’s the secret to feeling good when you get off the plane,” he shared.
Making the most of flying
Having travelled all over the globe, James knows a thing or two about making the most of your experience.
James revealed: “Always do a little search for whatever you want to buy to see if you can get a better deal in the local area.
“Because nine times out of ten you can’t in duty free.
“But if you do end up in duty free, always find something that is really specific to the local area and you can either sort of eat, drink or share with your friends.”
Just because your holiday is finished doesn’t mean you can’t have anymore fun.
James said: “Contrary to belief, you can still visit the flight deck.
“Make sure to come at the end of a flight after landing, as we usually have more time and ask the cabin crew first.
“Pilots love aeroplanes and love talking about aeroplanes – so ask us anything because there’s nothing that makes me feel more excited about the job than somebody else asking me about the job.
“Look at all the controls and all the displays and ask away – there is no such thing as a silly question.
“Oh and don’t leave without getting a picture in the pilot’s seat.”
Make sure to look at a pilot’s uniform as well – the captain will have four stripes and everything else varies by airline.
Don’t discredit UK airports either, instead explore them, James recommends.
He shared: “Having experienced airports all over the world now, I would say that the standard of Heathrow is one of the best in the world.
“From the air traffic control in the air, from the moment you reach the channel and get back into UK airspace to the second you reach the gates, it is like a well-oiled machine.
“And once you’re in the air always look out the window – you never know what you might see, such as the Northern Lights or the snowcapped Rockies.”