150 dollars and an hour at SG Flight Simulations

Now where do I begin..I don't mean to sound negative and all but definitely SG Flight Simulations wasn't the experience that I had hoped for. It fell short of my expectations, actually.
So I dragged along my friend to join me (Sorry, A) at Orchard Central. I didn't tell him what I wanted to do there until we got there. I just told him I had a 'mission'. Heheh..

So right from the start before even going into the sim I was already beginning to feel like it wasn't going to be like what I probably had expected. But it was now or never as it was my second last day in Singapore. Long story short, we were told to come back at a later time in the evening because they had an instructor shift change. When we came back some angmoh guy beat us to it so ok fine he got his turn first so we had to wait another hour. During his turn the sim had a lot of problems which I don't really know much about. The instructor was constantly going back and forth to the instructor station at the back to fix some stuff and I overhead about the sim hanging or freezing and after the angmoh the instructor had to call her other colleague or something. So basically after the angmoh we had to wait another two hours or more for them to fix whatever.

But then eventually we got in also lah and yeah there were problems while I was in the sim but there weren't such huge messy problems. The speakers were not working at first but it worked eventually before I took off. So we were sitting on the ground wasting away time because of sub-woofers not working. And then later on my ND disappeared (more on that later).

Now on to problems with the sim hardware aspects.
The RUDDER PEDALS!! Bloody hell I hate those things. Toe brakes work fine but the left and right memang cannot make it lah. They were so bloody tight and on takeoff roll however hard I kick them they just won't deflect much. I've double checked this on the lower ECAM FCTL page. As a result, lineups and takeoff roll plus the landing rollout was seriously at risk of putting me on the grass and off the centreline.

The TILLER! When I asked the instructor whether they worked or not (because I tried using them and it seemed like they didn't) she was like 50/50. So okay lo not that bad mah I can use differential thrust and brake plus the rudder pedals to do runway lineup and vacating. So the tiller actually works SOMEtimes. Sometimes when you twist it and if you're lucky, your nosewheel will turn. If not you're stuck in life wondering what to do next.

The HDG knob on the MCP!! This bitch just won't turn. You really have to turn it slowly only then it will respond well. If you turn it using the normal speed or however else you might turn the SPD and ALT knob it just won't work. Because of this, turns in the air with reference to HDG can be quite troublesome as your left hand has to keep on the sidestick to make the turn, your right hand on the HDG knob and your eyes to scan your instruments. If you are not feeling so rajin, can always ask the PNF to turn it for you.

The MCDU! For those who want to do a point A to B flight, of course you have to set up the MCDU first right? And one of the first pages you have to go to is the INIT page right? It won't work in this sim. The other pages are okay but for some reason INIT just won't work. Maybe it's a once in awhile occurrence because the sim was having some problems that day.

The TRIM WHEEL! I know that trim wheel in Airbus is mostly only touched on the ground for setting takeoff trim but it would be great to have all essential parts on the pedestal working properly. Normally when you turn one side of the trim wheel the other side will turn with it also but this one no. It's like independent movement for each side.

The PDF/ND XFR button doesn't work. Which is quite troublesome especially when one of your two displays don't work, which was what happened to me. So I had to 'borrow' the FO side ND.

My ND which stopped working .Even though I was doing a visual into Dubai, it would have been useful to have my ND to crosscheck stuff and to use as a reference. 

The AP1 button! That doesn't work but AP2 does.

The AP disconnect button!! The one on my sidestick (left side) doesn't work. Not sure about the FO side.

I think I've rambled on enough already regarding the downsides of the sim. Hopefully whoever out there planning to go visit and try out the sim will read this to help you decide whether you really want to do it or not. But keep in mind those problems I encountered were on the 12th September 2015 so maybe by the time you read this and decided to visit the sim they would've already been fixed. But on to the experience itself.

So for one hour we did one takeoff, some turns with the usual climb and descend, two ILS approaches and one visual approach. No circuits here cuz they kinda take a lot of time. But still, this was more action compared to the one hour I had at Flight Experience Singapore which you can read about here. We did a takeoff and then once in the air did some turns plus climb and descend. After that my instructor set me up for an ILS into Changi but I will be hand flying the approach with the ILS to guide me. We did another one of that and then decided to go to Dubai which according to her was among many other customers' favorites. For Dubai we did a visual approach from 6000 feet. Looking for the runway was fun and the Dubai skyline was actually quite pretty. I was quite happy with all my landings. The sidestick works well however it is quite sensitive so I advice you to be gentle with it especially on approach. Only small minute adjustments are needed. I requested some weather from my instructor to kick it up a notch but I guess she kinda forgot. So landing wasn't that much of a challenge like I wanted it to be.

All in all I have nothing much to say though. For any member of the public who's just curious about flying or even for someone with fears of flying, your fears can be allayed when you visit this sim. The instructor I had was very nice and very keen on explaining things so go ahead and ask questions. I certainly had a fun time and was grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn some new things as well.

Thrust levers which were originally black with super obvious signs of wear. This sim is oldddd

Approach into Singapore

To get there, take the MRT to Somerset station and exit onto Orchard Central via Exit D. If you need any reassurance, Orchard Gateway is just opposite and the two buildings are linked via a bridge.
SG Flight Simulations have a special weekday offer called the Altitude Package. Visit them at http://www.sgflightsimulations.com.sg/index.php to see what they have to offer.