Gallery: Jet2.com flight simulator
Agents and partners landed at Jet2.com’s flight simulator centre by Leeds Bradford airport to train as pilots and cabin crew. Ben Ireland joined them
“The runway will get bigger and bigger and come faster and faster”. Those words, uttered by instructor Adam Carr, were quite startling to hear when he was telling us how we were about to “land like a natural” in a Jet2.com flight simulator.
After what can only be described as an up and down experience – in which my make-believe passengers would have surely spilt a few drinks – I did manage to touch down at ‘Manchester airport’, in the snow, just about.
Grappling with the controls proved problematic for yours truly and although I held it steady for the approach, it was Phil Nuttall, managing director of The Travel Village, who impressed the most.
He was one of five winners from this year’s Travel Weekly Globes who were given a behind the scenes experience of Jet2.com’s £9.5 million simulator centre near its Leeds Bradford airport base.
As many as 180 pilots were trained at the facility last year, alongside more than 700 cabin crew on an intensive four-week course.
And as enjoyable – if not scary – as it was to take the controls of a Boeing 737-800, it was the extensive training of the cabin crew that impressed the airline and operator’s guests the most.
Those who think it’s just serving tea and coffee should know that to qualify to be on Jet2’s cabin crew, trainees must learn CPR, in case they need to resuscitate an “incapacitated pilot”; how to (calmly) find the seat of a fire at 35,000ft and put it out; and evacuate an aircraft full of up to 200 passengers.
They also have to learn the ins and outs of all the different aircraft they’ll be posted on and pass 33 exams – opening those big doors isn’t easy either.
We were subjected to “worst case scenarios” that involved extinguishing large (real) fires or a fuselage full of smoke, but the reality is that cabin crew are more likely to face challenges posed by cigarette smokers, overheated ovens and dodgy lithium batteries. Ensuring fires don’t spread by tackling them quickly at the source is taught. Wonder why all cabin crew have their hair up? It’s so they can wear smoke hoods to allow them to get in and among the danger. Trainer Paul Wood-Smith said: “What would be a small fire on the ground can cause huge panic in the air. It’s up to the cabin crew to stay calm, manage people and save lives.”
Fellow trainer Jen Platt added: “We try to make training as realistic as possible. The most rewarding part is seeing the candidates who are quiet and timid at the start really come out of their shell and boss people around.”
Gallery: Jet2.com flight simulator