PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Private run 787 Simulator Questions
View Single Post
Old 20th Feb 2012, 16:22
  #8 (permalink)  
Doors to Automatic
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: EGNX
Posts: 1,209
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
JKnights - having been involved in exactly the business you describe here in the UK my advice would be to be very cautious about getting into this business. It is not the pot of gold it appears.

There are two very distinct markets; professional and leisure. The latter is becoming very competitive and hourly rates are so low that you will need a very high utilisation rate to make a return once you have taken into account staff, building and marketing costs as well as depreciation and maintenance on the sim itself.

I also think that your price point of A$200k may be very much on the low side for a quality simulator that will withstand a daily battering at the hands of amateur and (especially!) professional pilots. There are many chancers out there that will have a go at building a cheap sim but the thing will likely fall apart if it is not made from strong (and preferably real) parts such as the yoke, throttle etc.

Then there is the professional market which is a real can of worms - airlines wont touch it unless it has the required approval and the cost of getting such and approval if you are not an established operater could run into hundreds of thousands if not millions. To get the maximum number of credits you will need the highest level which will require the manufacturers data pack - the cost of these alone is around £500k plus an annual fee and the only place you can get a Boeing data pack is, you guessed it, from Boeing!

Also trying to get a straight answer from any airline or regulator is like tryng to nail jelly to the wall! Airlines wont even talk about committing until you have the approval and the regulator wont confirm whether it is possible until you have applied for it.

It can become a bottomless pit and an exceptionally frustrating way to spend your time and money. My advice would be to avoid like the plague but if you would like any more insights (including why I would never deal with FDS) then please feel free to PM me.
Doors to Automatic is offline