We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
THE CONDITIONS ARE clear, there is barely a cloud in the sky and a Boeing 737-800 is cruising east above Dublin Bay.
Oh, and I’m flying it.
Luckily for people on the ground and off it, I’m not in an actual plane and nobody is counting on me to land the 130 tonne aircraft.
Instead I’m in a warehouse a short drive from Dublin Airport at Simtech’s facility, safely ensconced in the right-hand seat of their 737 simulator, which is used to train pilots from all over the world. Simtech is a specialist provider of flight simulation and pilot training services and was founded by Sé Pardy and Fergal Keogh, in 2004. They recently sold a stake in their business to private equity firm Renatus Capital Partners and Martello Group, a specialist aviation, leisure and real estate group.
Beside me is Bob Sheehan, the company’s engineering manager, who has worked on these simulators for nearly 40 years. He says that while not a pilot himself, he would class himself as the next most qualified person most flights he’s been on.
After showing me the circuit, Bob turns the simulator over to me. With him watching, I take the plane up to 3,000 feet and around 25 miles from the runway before turning around. The simulator itself doesn’t move, but the experience makes you feel like it is. The simulators are programmed using the data and parameters from test flights. It’s as real as you would expect a €9 million piece of equipment to be.
By now, there are a number of things going through my head. Firstly, this is difficult. Which is probably obvious and I was under no illusions that it would be easy, but the sheer level of instruments and information that a pilot looks at and receives is massive and ever-changing.
The other thing that’s painfully obvious is that controlling the plane is physically tiring. The steering column is heavy but responsive. Bob likens the movements to a car’s steering wheel. When you start driving, you think that you have to pull the wheel back and forth, but you soon realise that subtle movements will do that.
A jet’s steering column is similar except: a) there are four directions you can go and you have to pay attention to them all and b) the plane weighs about 174,200 pounds and is contending with wind, weather and atmospheric pressure so doesn’t always go exactly where you’d like it to.
Training
The simulators form a vital part of pilot training, be they cadets (Aer Lingus, Stobart Air and Cityjet have simulators on-site) or those taking the step up from smaller planes to jets.
Many will spend four-hour blocks being run through everything from taking off in great weather to landing on one engine. The training is intensive, but it has to be, given the nature of the job.
That job being one that is in huge demand. The global boom in air travel means that Europe alone needs a lot of new pilots. According to Boeing, the world’s largest aeroplane manufacturer, 104,000 new commercial airline pilots will be needed in Europe over the next 20 years. UK regional airline Flybe recently confirmed that the airline’s expansion plans are being held back by a shortage of trained pilots. Last February, US airline group Republic Airways filed for bankruptcy, blaming a pilot shortage for forcing it to ground planes.
While airlines used to fund training in the past now it is, primarily, trainee pilots themselves who finance their own training. This has resulted in a growing trend of people who have had financially successful careers in technology or finance industries, for example, using their earnings to fund their training.
With that in mind a pilot training exhibition, Pilot Careers Live will take place in Croke Park Conference Centre on Saturday 4 March. It will feature talks on training and the working life of a pilot.
Pilot Brian O’Keeffe graduated as a commercial pilot last year after training with Atlantic Flight Training Academy. He now works with Norwegian Airlines flying primarily from Oslo.
“I worked in Australia so that I could finance my training. I would urge anyone interested in a career as a pilot to take the plunge and follow your dreams; it’s a fantastic career. Pilot Careers Live is a great first step where you will learn about how to make your dreams a reality.”
Coming in to land
For Bob, the aviation industry is one of those things you “either love or you don’t”. He’s imparting this knowledge at the same time as guiding me in to Dublin Airport.
Essentially, there is a green rectangle on one instrument known as the localiser, which gives you the centre spot of the runway. As the pilot, you’re trying to line yourself up with that, while occasionally checking the horizon.
Then you’re keeping an eye on the attitude indicator:
Those pink bars supposed to line up with that small black box, but the lines move around, requiring constant slight but firm corrections.
You’re also watching your glideslope, a pink diamond that comes into view closer to the runway, your airspeed, your altitude and various other inputs as well as your heading and the horizon.
As I glide in, I notice that the centre spot of Runway 28 is not exactly in the centre of the plane. So, either they’ve moved the runway, the instruments are wrong or I’ve made a mess of this.
With just around 1,000 feet left, Bob is reminding me to shade to the right – but not too far to the right. With a descent rate of 700 feet a minute, there’s not a lot of time for adjustments or to look at the Poolbeg towers or the Old Airport Road lovingly recreated on my left.
I desperately try to guide the plane to the concrete and then there’s a small bump and, with the barest of margins, the back wheels, or “main bogeys” hit solid ground, avoiding the grass.
Letting Bob handle the parking, I relax for the first time in our short 20-minute flight. My arms are tired from the column and my mind is exhausted from information overload and total concentration.
But I can also see why pilots love flying.
Simtech offer gift vouchers for simulation experiences.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’s no surprise that there’s a shortage of pilots, their pay and conditions have completely deteriorated in the last few years. Being forced to pay for their own training is one of them and it’s almost completely outsourced now. There’s no job security.
The way technology is advancing I think the idea is not to have them at all within the next 20 to 30 years.
I don’t think commercial passenger aircraft will ever be completely pilot-free. Even expendable combat drones have a remote pilot rather than a fully autonomous setup. I don’t think aviation authorities would be happy with a bunch of automatic aircraft carrying hundreds of people that could be downed by a simple script error. I can see aircraft autopilots being expanded but that a pilot will present as a manual override if necessary.
Aer Lingus and other big European airlines pay for it. Ryanair make u pay as do other low cost carriers.
Ryanair make cabin crew pay for their training ffs!
And their uniforms as well !
Airlines won’t get very far if they don’t invest in people
€9 million, get outta here. That isn’t a simulator. Simulator: a machine designed to provide a realistic imitation of the controls and operation of an aircraft. This is what a 737-800 simulator looks like – https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2258/1880495876_b0a94abbcf_b.jpg
I’ve been playing Flight Simulator X for years. A great tool for anyone interested in flying. Most modern planes (including the 737) have a kind of autoland ability where you can use the autopilot and the ILS system to keep you on the glide slope and lined up with the runway. You’ll land hard, and you’ll need to know a few things about speed, and how to program the navigation, but it’s better than nothing if ever you’re on a plane and both pilots suffer simultaneous heart attacks!
Isn’t landing like, mostly autopilot these days?
Not sure how that would have worked out yesterday at Heathrow judging by the reports on the news.
Well this is odd then considering a pilot told me this.
Oh look… a convenient article about it. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/amp.usatoday.com/story/5283931/
I have conducted an autoland (where the autopilot lands the aircraft) once in the last 7 years and approximately 5 times in total in the last 17 years of flying. So no, the autopilot doesn’t land it all the time.
Jon
Once in 7 years?
Do you not go to work when it’s foggy?
This post is bogus. The managing director referred to is female. No way that’s possible.
I wouldn’t say conditions have deteriorated awful bad, Not as many perks but still quite a few, Almost every airline makes you pay for it in some way or another, Aer lingus initially you are bonded and they take it out over salary over years, Ryanair is up front but a very good pay package aswel, There just isn’t enough pilots out there and it’s nothing to do with pay or conditions, or job security you will get a permanent contract almost everywhere if that’s what you want, Simple issue is it’s expensive, Hard to get the funds, it’s all private not like college, no grants no help from anyone, Banks are very very hesitant to give any money so becoming difficult to secure the funds to train. Also chances are you’ll have to do your training in England to abroad, Atlantic is close by and very good here in Ireland but it’s extremely i popular and very hard to get a spot into it!! Anyone that’s thinking about it go to a careers day even one of Atlantics in cork you won’t regret it !
An auto pilot can’t operate properly in turbulence so the airplane must be hand flown. There are different requirements for different levels of visibility as regards to when a pilot takes control of his aircraft on final approach. As regards to what’s normal, hand flying or auto-landing, different pilots have different preferences but my understanding is that most of the time, it’s the auto pilot landing the airplane.
The reason the airplane thumps down on landing is to make sure the wheels don’t skid, soft landings mean bald patches on very expensive tyres. When the runway is wet, this is even more important so as to make sure the wheels break the surface tension of any puddles and don’t aquaplane off the runway.
Someone should’ve told poor old Paul how to trim the airplane and remove all excess force from the control column, then he wouldn’t have been so knackered. Done properly, you don’t need more than the strength of two or three fingers to control the airplane.
As for how hard it is for a complete novice to land an airplane, Mythbusters have an interesting episode on it. The real difficulty is in navigating, monitoring the systems, keeping situational awareness of weather and other traffic(both in the air and on the ground) plus communicating with Air traffic Control. Where pilots really shine is problem solving in a crisis. Keeping you alive in an emergency is everyone in the crew’s primary job, serving you snacks and pandering to your complaints is secondary. Bear that in mind next time you feel like getting snotty with them.
Keen eye Pete
On the ball!
A financial firm with a Gmail account that gives out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Seems legit.
have your say