I was very lucky to fly as FO for KLM not being a Dutch national.I think my education with Lufthansa had something to do with it.I never actually flew with Lufthansa though. Fred.

That's a pity as an employer Lufthansa seems to be a great airline too :-)What types did you flew for KLM back then?Nowadays it's the opposite for student pilots at the KLS lol ,but still one of the better flight schools in Europe...

Obviously I'm not away to go call up KLM or Ryanair.

Why not? You asked the question! Iain Smith

I suppose if you want to do it real, you can wake up at the crack of dawn and start flying whether you're ready or not, fly a route that is handed to you and enter loads that are handed to you, you can work under the pressure of a strict schedule, and between each flight should come a mountain of paperwork to complete....and then of course you need to stay in the air as long as is legally allowed before shutting down and sleeping in an unfamiliar location, getting the minimum rest legally allowed and then start the process over again.

Why would we want to do that? We have FSX! Use the power of the sim, don't be ashamed of it! Best Regards,Bert Van Bulck

How did you manage that then, you must have had a fair few contacts in high places, or are you rated on an Airbus? I'd imagine they'd be fairly reluctant to let an untrained pilot at the controls of their shiny new bird...I've got a few contacts in Emirates, maybe I might be able to steal a jump seat on one of the acceptance flights but that's about as close I'm gonna get to that sidestick...I was stuck behind one there about three months ago at the HP in LHR in a A320 and I remember thinking to myself, WOW! That's one MASSIVE bird....

No real contacts in high places.A pure coincidence at Le Bourget exhib.One of the EADS pilots was my buddy when I was serving the IAF. He was instructor for Dassault Aviation, long time ago.I took the right side during the flight.My gosh...

I suppose if you want to do it real, you can wake up at the crack of dawn and start flying whether you're ready or not, fly a route that is handed to you and enter loads that are handed to you, you can work under the pressure of a strict schedule, and between each flight should come a mountain of paperwork to complete....and then of course you need to stay in the air as long as is legally allowed before shutting down and sleeping in an unfamiliar location, getting the minimum rest legally allowed and then start the process over again.

for the real world pilots: what happens if you actually cannot get to sleep that night for some reason (stress, too much coffee etc.) and you've got to fly the next morning? must have happened once, no?

i dont understand it either .. the best parts of flight are takeoff and landing .... these must be manually flown .. otherwise you are just watching a video.

No real contacts in high places.A pure coincidence at Le Bourget exhib.One of the EADS pilots was my buddy when I was serving the IAF. He was instructor for Dassault Aviation, long time ago.I took the right side during the flight.My gosh...

Wow, your one lucky fella, I'll have to call in my contact in Emirates and see what I can pull, I 'd never noticed before that your profile pic was taken on an Airbus, just goes to show. What does IAF stand for? I'm thinking along the lines of Israeli or Italian Airforce but correct me if I'm wrong. The A380 is some bird, even that point and click FMGC is just so intuitive. I'll be looking forward to getting those nice new A350s into our fleet...

for the real world pilots: what happens if you actually cannot get to sleep that night for some reason (stress, too much coffee etc.) and you've got to fly the next morning? must have happened once, no?

Never really happened to me too bad but if it did and I knew it'd impair my flying abilities then I'd just call in fatigued and someone on standby would come in and replace you for that flight and you'd make it up later on.

(...) 80% of Airbus landings are done via autoland actually.

Not a good development in my eyes. Pilots will lose the feeling for the bird over the time. Then, in an emergency when real piloting skill is needed, the button-pushers will have a hard time.

Once again, read the whole thread. He admitted it was a typo. Shouldve been over 80% are flown manually.

i dont understand it either .. the best parts of flight are takeoff and landing .... these must be manually flown .. otherwise you are just watching a video.

I think that is exactly what some of those autoland-obsessed buddies want to do.Record their flights, make some nice screenies, post stuff on youtube ...

Yes Ronan, IAF for Israeli Air Force.

Once again, read the whole thread. He admitted it was a typo. Shouldve been over 80% are flown manually.

Well, good then. Restores my faith in pilots

Once again, read the whole thread. He admitted it was a typo. Shouldve been over 80% are flown manually.

Thanks....

Not a good development in my eyes. Pilots will lose the feeling for the bird over the time. Then, in an emergency when real piloting skill is needed, the button-pushers will have a hard time.

LOL - please READ Typo admitted AND a good riposte was provided by a current Airbus pilot.

Thanks....

Just saved your skin there David :( no thanks needed.