Abandoned British Airways Training Centre
The Cooler King
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: In the Desert
Posts: 1,697
Abandoned British Airways Training Centre
NIce video from an urban explorer's YouTube channel that goes inside BA's abandoned training centre.
They left a lot of stuff behind. A lot!
They left a lot of stuff behind. A lot!
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Top Bunk
Posts: 214
NIce video from an urban explorer's YouTube channel that goes inside BA's abandoned training centre.
They left a lot of stuff behind. A lot!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxdfdIQgMKk
They left a lot of stuff behind. A lot!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxdfdIQgMKk
How did we all survive without Helf & Safety...............Easy. Just got on with it.
Join Date: May 2021
Location: An Island
Posts: 34
One of my first student jobs was sorting out x-rays of people with asbestos lungs. The workers all died in their 50s and their lungs were not pretty. It was a big archive, so many died way too young.
Actually, still thousands die each year due to the long-term nature of asbestos-related illness.
Actually, still thousands die each year due to the long-term nature of asbestos-related illness.
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Farnborough
Posts: 55
The thought of them flying their drone/UAV there (they say they can’t as it’s not working) is scary, even more so than them wandering around an asbestos filled building. The damage to the building suggests it may well have been disturbed.
Also, didn’t realise there was a B747 AND a Jumbo jet 🤐
Also, didn’t realise there was a B747 AND a Jumbo jet 🤐
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
Posts: 13,826
My abiding memory of Cranebank is having the buckled front wheel of my motorbike bashed out with the help of a couple of instructors from the BEA/BOAC Apprentice School (at that time adjacent to Flight Training Centre) after I'd hit a brick on Western Avenue.
That, and marvelling at the huge, wall-mounted diorama that provided the visuals for the VC-10 simulator next door. Oh, and ogling the trainee stewardesses, who of course wouldn't give us lads the time of day.
Hard to believe it's 50 years ago, almost to the day.
That, and marvelling at the huge, wall-mounted diorama that provided the visuals for the VC-10 simulator next door. Oh, and ogling the trainee stewardesses, who of course wouldn't give us lads the time of day.

Hard to believe it's 50 years ago, almost to the day.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
Posts: 13,826
You would have, if you'd read this thread: PPRuNe: Abandoned British Airways Training Centre
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Winchester
Posts: 6,309
Be grateful you didn’t..I still have nightmares about the place having been a routine visitor for over twenty years for recurrent simulators, annual SEP and ground school/simulator courses associated with conversions to differing types.
It’s about a kilometer east of Hatton Cross Tube station, part of a small trading estate on the north side of the A30, strangely enough on the east bank of the River Crane.
(to answer the probable next question the training complex moved a few years back onto premises on BA east base, just adjacent to Hatton Cross.)
It’s about a kilometer east of Hatton Cross Tube station, part of a small trading estate on the north side of the A30, strangely enough on the east bank of the River Crane.
(to answer the probable next question the training complex moved a few years back onto premises on BA east base, just adjacent to Hatton Cross.)
Join Date: May 2005
Location: France / Qatar
Age: 67
Posts: 1,070
Be grateful you didn’t..I still have nightmares about the place having been a routine visitor for over twenty years for recurrent simulators, annual SEP and ground school/simulator courses associated with conversions to differing types.
I liked the quaint 60s vibe of the architecture and it was great to have the sim engineers within a few seconds walk if you had a tech issue.
I know some colleagues suffered from sim anxiety and I always tried to calm those fears during my brief stint as a trainer/checker on the -400.
I actually feel a bit sad seeing on that video how the place has been abandoned with all that equipment, which served us all so well.
Anyway, TBA is a much smarter set-up now, and has its own sense of history, actually dating back to the late 40s, I think.
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: The Winchester
Posts: 6,309
The “nightmares” comment was more than slightly TIC eckhard but I’ll be honest and say I never really enjoyed the experience,…
I’ll emphasize that’s not meant as a criticism of those that did the training (FWIW I was a trainer/examiner of sorts in my days before BA so I had a bit of insight), it’s just the way it worked with me…..
….I do agree it is sad to see the place reduced to it’s current state, and yes, the sim hall at TBA is quite something….
I’ll emphasize that’s not meant as a criticism of those that did the training (FWIW I was a trainer/examiner of sorts in my days before BA so I had a bit of insight), it’s just the way it worked with me…..
….I do agree it is sad to see the place reduced to it’s current state, and yes, the sim hall at TBA is quite something….