Have you heard of Stacksteads International Airport? Not many people have, but I recently packed my bag and headed to Stacksteads, just outside Bacup, to embark on a bit of a journey with Flightdeck Experience that’s sure to put this Lancashire town on the jet-setters map.
Vicky and Steve Everson have worked tirelessly to turn their hobby into a business; one that offers visitors the chance to take full control of a Boeing 737-800 flight simulator. Steve scoured the country, collecting aircraft parts to build his own simulator from scratch – and It’s very impressive.
It actually feels like the ‘real thing’ as you walk down the air bridge, open an actual aircraft door and enter the cabin, before turning left into the cockpit which is equipped with all manner of sounds and vibrations, to recreate the engine’s thrust. Connected up to a huge amount of technology, you sit in the actual cockpit of a former aircraft, which also has a few rows of seats of an aircraft interior behind. There’s even a galley, lighting technology to change the mood and an intercom. You are now the pilot of Flex Airlines!
Having flown many times around the world and being familiar with aircrafts to a certain but limited degree, this was the first opportunity to actually ‘have a go’ for myself, and of course, it’s not as easy as it looks. I can now fully appreciate the level of training that pilots got through, the skill, flying hours and experience required to be able to deal calmly with every eventuality. Steve allowed me to take the controls and attempt to land at a variety of airports including Innsbruck, Hong Kong, Luton and Gibraltar and offered plenty of sound advice about how to safely get the aircraft onto the runway, which actually seems straight forward, but in ‘reality’ was very, very difficult. This is of course the challenge and what’s more, if you have guests accompanying you sitting in the aircraft cabin, they can see (via computer screens) what would be seen out of the window at your chosen airport. I managed to land the aircraft on a couple of occasions, but the beauty is that if you’re not successful, you can just hit the reset button and there’s no harm done!
It was a great introduction to find out what it’s like to fly a plane, understand lots of terminology – pitch, yaw, horizon, reverse thrust, flaps and much more. Steve’s passion is evident and you will be certain of a fantastic experience and I got the opportunity to try something that I never thought I’d be able to have a go at - and all without a passport.
Happy landings...Book a flight today
Tim Dixon
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