Fly the world’s largest aircraft at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall

Flying across the globe on business is one thing but actually flying the plane is another. iPilot's A380 flight simulator offers a safer, cost-effective experience for the wannabe pilot.

Wolfram Schleuter, chief executive of iPilot, on the flight simulator at Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi. Ravindranath K / The National

If you travel the world on business, you might sometimes wonder what it’s like to fly the plane yourself.

Well, for those who fantasise about handling the controls of an Airbus 380, iPilot, Abu Dhabi’s first flight simulator, is a safe as well as cost and time-effective way of gaining access to the cockpit of the world’s largest aircraft.

For Dh999, you can have an hour’s flight with a trained pilot instructor. When I took the controls, iPilot’s Mena director Alastair Orr was my co-pilot. He tells me flying the Airbus is similar to driving a real bus. “I don’t want to undermine pilots, I know they hate that analogy. It’s a lot more fun than driving a bus,” he adds.

Mastering a real Airbus would take two years, so iPilot cram in the most fun and important aspects of flying.

My co-pilot tells me I can fly anywhere but he can’t find the ICAO code we need for Iceland’s airport, so I opt for London Heathrow instead. You can choose daytime or night-time settings and the weather you prefer to fly through. I play it safe with sunshine, and my co-pilot loads the scenery using an iPad mini.

For take off I’m told speed is of the essence, so I go maximum thrust and focus my sights on the end of the runway. The control rudders steer the tail fin on the ground, and the side stick steers the aircraft in the air. It’s all easier than I’d expected – making it hard to understand why pilots get paid so much. Now I’m able to relax and enjoy the view of London landmarks such as Canary Wharf and the Shard.

“The most popular destination is Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong, even though it’s closed now”, says Mr Orr. “It was one of the hardest approaches in the world, which is why it’s still so popular.”

But however challenging you make your flight experience, you aren’t allowed to crash – the plane will simply bounce back on screen if you try. “We take this experience very seriously. We don’t allow any crazy things,” says Mr Orr.

There isn’t the hydraulic platform that I’m told you’d get on flight training centre simulators, so you don’t get such a strong sensation of movement. But the screens are set to almost 180 degrees for an authentic panoramic view making my bumpy landing feel very real.

Q&A

German entrepreneur Wolfram Schleuter, iPilot’s chief executive, explains more about the experience:

How was the idea for iPilot born?

I received a gift voucher for my birthday from relatives for a flight simulator experience. I liked it very much, but it was designed for the pilots themselves to train on, so you had to pay a premium for it. I thought this would be really successful if we could make it about 60 per cent cheaper. With iPilot, you only pay Dh999 for an hour’s flight with a trained pilot instructor.

Can people also use it to conquer a fear of flying?

Absolutely. Often, fear of flying is fear of the unknown. We show people how safely the aircraft can fly, even when the engine stops. And flying through fog is actually easily handled. People use their fear in an almost playful way. We don’t see it as a psychology session, but as a way to actually show people, hands on, how to be in control of an aircraft.

Why did you choose the Airbus 380 for Abu Dhabi’s first iPilot store in Yas Mall?

This is the aircraft that Etihad has just started using, so the real Airbus 380 is now flying to and from Abu Dhabi. I think this will give us a big push. We also use the Airbus 380 in Mirdiff City Centre in Dubai and a Boeing 737 simulator in Dubai Mall.

What are your future plans?

We have seven stores in Europe and three in the UAE, and we’re looking to open stores in another 10 locations in the next two years.

* The author was a guest of iPilot.