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Aerotask Boeing B747 Simulator in Cologne

Florian Buechting Airports and Airlines, Places & Sights No Comments

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne
3.6

Rating

 3.6/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Cool experience to fly a Boeing 747-400
  • Overall, good simulator

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Simulator with rather limited functions
  • Session not that well adjusted to personal needs

After I had already flown the Airbus A320 simulator by Aerotask in Essen, I was really looking forward to my first “flight lessons” after Covid-19. In my home town Cologne, the company is driving another simulator, featuring nothing bt the “Queen of the Skies”, the Boeing 747. Here are my thoughts about the two hour experience.

 

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne – Location & Price

The Aerotask simulator is locked in Cologne-Bickendorf in the North of the million people German city. The area around Wilheim-Mauser-Strasse, where the outlet is located, is rather commercial. Regarding the architecture, the simulator is placed in a former car mechanic shop. Aerotask does have two free parking lots across their facility. The most suitable public transport stop is Rochusplatz, which is served by tram lines 3 and 4 as well as bus lies 139, 140, 141 and 143. The latter two bus lines are also serving the Wilhelm-Mauser-Str. stop, which is likely slightly closer to Aerotask. Parking is challenging, but not as bad as in Central Cologne.

The Aerotask simulator is typically running daily from 10:00 to 22:00. You cannot walk-in, but have to reserve a slot. My experience has been a pre-Covid voucher which I had to prolong for a nominal fee. At the time of writing, there was a sale on their experiences. Two one hour sessions (or one two hour session) are 159 EUR.

 

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne – Simulator and Staff

The Boeing B747-400 simulator is unfortunatley a bit of run down. The seats don’t look too well any more and also some other parts felt a bit in line with the age of that good, old “Queen of the Skies” in reality. During the simulator ride I had, I also found out that some main functions (not the panel above you, but some main switches) are not working properly. This does not affect your simulator ride if you want to get an initial feeling for how it is like to ride that plane, but rather if you want to do some more advanced scenarios. All the displays worked well, the inputs were fine and the screens are impressive. In general, the maps used are very detailed. Maybe due to a lack of computation power(?) detailed buildings tend to pop up very lade. The simulator as such has three seats, the pilot and co-pilot and a jump seat.

 

You may bring friends as “passengers” – but apart from the jump seat, they just look at screens in a nicely done “cabin” behind the simulator.

 

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne – Experience

I had a two hour session on a Monday late afternoon in November 2023. Typically, your flight instructor is a flight student from one of the flight schools around. That was the case in my session as well. You have to say that he arrived just in time – or: too late – which of course should not happen. I really liked the basic first scenarios I flew. One thing I did struggle with is my body size – It is hard to adjust the seats in a way that you can use the rudder and break pedals as well as the steering wheel. Not only due to that, he took over much more control than I thought. We had good flights, including a flight around Pittsburgh, a flight along San Francisco and a flight from La Guardia (LGA) to Newark (EWR). However, I felt he did too much. I never started the engine, he did correct my controls a lot, even in the landing phase.

I would have loved if he had a better feeling or asked what I prefer. For example, one scenario we tried was a one sided total engine failure approach to Cologne (CGN). I selected it because I wanted to see how much difficulty that adds to the task of a pilot. I would absolutely accepted if the plane did not touch down on the runway or if it crashed at landing. It is a simulator, there is no real world damage in that case. Nonetheless, the two hours were entertaining, the flight coach was very friendly and motivated and we also had good chats about general aviation topics.

 

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne – Service

The communication around the booking went very smoothly. There was a small misunderstanding about the prolonging fee for vouchers not used due to Covid-19 from my side, but I do not count it. You can pre-order drinks or just buy them from the reception when you arrive. Aerotask in Cologne also has a mock-up of a space station used for movies, which is quite funny. There is also a limited amount of merchandise.

 

Aerotask B747 Simulator Cologne – My View

First of all: I would not have another flight with the B747 Simulator in Cologne-Bickendorf. The main reason for me is that I rather prefer the Airbus-style controls, which make it much easier for me to adjust a simulator cockpit to my body size. This is a very individual argument. Overall, I have to state that I enjoyed the Aerotask experience in Essen much more than this one in Cologne. The Essen simulator felt more modern and the flight instructor was simply better than the one I had in Cologne. Nonetheless, you simply might want to do the good, old Boeing 747 and not go for that fancy stuff. You will have fun, Aerotask is doing a good job, also in my home town.

 

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