Originally Posted by
Flash Blackman
cost of the sim?
Well the SIMS, much like the Aircraft, are simply sitting there waiting to be used. To my knowledge, the Instructors and Techs, like the Pilots, are sitting at home twiddling their thumbs during Lockdown.
Obviously there are some costs associated with running the Sims, but again, like the Aircraft, a portion are fixed costs whether we use them or not.
I could be wrong here, but my understanding is that while everything has a "cost" to be counted, some are simply accounted for on the Balance sheets and don't actually "cost" cash. As an example, a Pilot doing a conversion costs the same daily rate as they do when operating, so the "cost" is the fact they've moved from a revenue generating service to a non-revenue generating service (training).
Right now, we're all being paid to sit at home, so we wouldn't be taken off revenue flights to be paid for a non-revenue generating conversion.
Besides a bit of power and maintenance for turning the SIMS on, there effectively is no "cost"... actually it could save money as Pilots complete type ratings and get down-trained to a lower salary.
I'd say the biggest hurdle to mass down training (at the moment) is time and the availability of line sectors.