Cockpit Chronicles: Back to the simulator

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Thank you for this great insight.
I remember reading an article from Les Abend in Flying magazine about exactly the same thing.
How much would one of these simulators provably go for?
And are you planning on becoming a captain soon and is there any extra training you have to do for it?
And last one, what exactly is a 'pack'?

Marius Heersink

12-03-2008 @ 12:29PM

Kent Wien said...

Hi Marius,

The CAE simulators are going for $12.5 million right now. Start saving!

Upgrading to captain is based on seniority at my airline. So when I reach approximately 55% on the seniority list, I should be able to 'hold' a captain seat. Currently, I'm around 60% after almost 16 years with the company.

Other airlines are moving much faster, with upgrade times of less than three years, even. But things have slowed down with the increase in mandatory retirement age and the slowing economy.

I wrote about the upgrade process here:

http://www.gadling.com/2008/04/04/plane-answers-how-do-pilots-move-up-to-captain/

A "pack" is an air conditioning and pressurization device that converts the compressed air from the engines into clean air to keep the cabin warm or cool and to pressurize the airplane.

We have two packs, so if one overheats or fails, the other one can take over. If both were to fail, we'd have to descend to a lower altitude immediately.

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