Our lucky desk pilot gets chance to fulfil an ambition - sort of
Like most boys, I dreamed of becoming an airline pilot when I was young. The flying public can today breathe a sigh of relief it was one ambition I never realised.
Flying Lufthansa's Airbus A380 simulator at the airline's Flight Training Centre in Frankfurt was dead easy - with the autopilot on. It was the "hands on the control stick" bit that was tricky and landing … that was another matter entirely.
Sitting in the co-pilot's seat, the idea was I would lift this 500 tonne airliner, with a notional 560 passengers on board, off the runway at San Francisco International Airport, do a little swing over the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco Bay and return without spilling the passengers' drinks.
My colleague on the flight deck, Lufthansa's chief A380 training Captain Geert Pruss, would do all the difficult bits - like adjusting the throttle settings and the flaps, watching the speed and calling "V1" when we are thundering along the runway fast enough to actually "have slipped the surly bonds of Earth", as the poets say.
Before we roll, I'm given a tour of the instruments; glass electronic displays whose functions Capt Pruss explains and which I promptly forget.
They glow passively, waiting to clang, flash and buzz at the slightest push of the wrong button.
"We have an initial clearance to 3,000 feet," says Capt Pruss.
"When we hit 130 knots I'll call 'V1' and all you do is pull back on the stick. That's the altimeter," he says, indicating a little number wheel. "When you get to 3000, level out."
The A380 does not have the usual two-handed central control stick but a computer-game joystick you just have to touch to input manoeuvres.
So, off we roll, gathering speed, the airport buildings rolling by and a traffic jam on the nearby motorway. On the command I pull back and up we go.
"Well that was easy," I think, while Capt Pruss does all the serious work, such as retracting the landing gear, adjusting the flaps and watching the engine performance. We get to 3,000ft and fly straight through it.
"You're a bit high," he says as we power on up towards 4,000ft. "The air traffic controller won't be pleased."
This state of the art, US$20 million-plus (Dh73.45m) device, sits on a set of hydraulic legs that raises, turns and lowers the cabin so that, inside, the training captain and his student, surrounded by high-definition graphics that can recreate any weather conditions at any airport in the world and can work through any procedure or emergency the controller cares to throw at them.
Lufthansa's 4,800 pilots come through the airline's simulators - it has 20 at Frankfurt alone - for evaluation at least four times a year. That is twice the industry requirement.
The airline also "sells" training time to other airlines, with more than 10,000 pilots passing through the training centre.
All of them will have performed better than me.
I get us to between 2,800 and 3,400ft in a gentle porpoise-like manner as I try to turn and maintain the height and then we are lined up on the runway.
Because you sit off-centre, it's not a good idea to go "visual" on approach.
Instruments showing whether you're veering too far to the left or right, or are too high or too low, begin their dance and the trick is to keep your 500 tonnes and 560 human beings on what they tell you is "the glide path".
Crosswinds? Thunderstorms? Snow? It's all part of the fun.
We roll and sway towards the concrete. "The aircraft will call out heights after 100ft and then when it tells you 'retard', pull back on the stick," says Capt Pruss.
I'm lined up too far to the right but if I breathe in I might just get the wheels on the runway. The machine starts speaking to me; "70 feet, 50 feet, retard." I pull back gently, looking to impress with a silk-smooth touchdown but receive instead a sharp bump. We've landed.
"Mmm. Survivable," says Captain Pruss. Except the aircraft apparently would have required a full structural audit and any passengers with fillings in their teeth would have lost them.
I didn't "retard" fast enough - so it's back to the desk job.
dblack@thenational.ae
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
ON%20TRACK
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Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3 (Silva 8' &15, Foden 33')
Birmginahm City 0
Man of the match Bernado Silva (Manchester City)
Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
THREE
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UAE%20medallists%20at%20Asian%20Games%202023
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The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The%20specs
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The%20Secret%20Kingdom%20
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'Shakuntala Devi'
Starring: Vidya Balan, Sanya Malhotra
Director: Anu Menon
Rating: Three out of five stars
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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