British Airways’ investment benefits pilots

While the money may seem like a lot, the benefits of this simulator could increase safety.

10:09 01 May 2013

British Airways (BA) recently used £10million to finance and implement their latest efforts to equip pilots. A new line of aircraft is set to be revealed soon, the A380, and BA wanted to ensure that pilots received realistic simulator training as a means of improving the transition.

 

Some may question the effectiveness of using such an amount to finance a simulator programme, but BA feels that it is money well spent. They stand to recover part of the costs as well by allowing the public to use the simulator for a price. 

What does this recent improvement mean for pilots?

 

• Familiarity—pilots will be able to use the latest acquisition to gain familiarity with the cockpit of the A380. It is an exact replica of the new model’s cockpit to ensure that pilots will be able to easily identify and use all the proper controls. 

 

• Realistic—pilots will experience very realistic settings, air conditions, and even flight emergencies to ensure that they will feel comfortable dealing with the real thing when, and if, the time comes for that. 

 

• Practice—the latest finance investment means pilots will be able to spend hours on the simulator to improve their skills and fine-tune them to coordinate with the bulk of this new “Airbus”.

 

• Safety—the realistic simulator may improve safety, though flights are typically the safest way to travel anyway, and will hopefully eliminate potential hazards of flying a brand new plane.

 

With all things considered it appears that this finance investment is probably worth the money. The larger planes will react differently to weather and other typical situations due to its bulk, so preparing pilots with simulators is the first key to ensure that everyone is familiar and comfortable with the new type of plane, while ensure the pilot’s safety.