Fly around the world – from my garage in Inverness!
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Travel enthusiasts left feeling grounded by a lack of international travel this year can still get a taste of the jet set life by taking control of a Boeing 737.
They can even fly to a destination of their choice – all from the inside of an Inverness garage.
The full-size airliner cockpit simulator is the work of local businessman and aviation enthusiast Krystian Rabiej, who built it himself at his home over an eight-month period.
“Lockdown did help because I had two or three months with nothing to do. I do have a couple of other businesses, but they were shut at the time, so without lockdown, it would probably have taken much longer,” he said.
Now complete and operational, Mr Rabiej is sharing the full-size simulator with others, by hiring it out to other frustrated pilots under the name Ness Aviation. The business began trading earlier in October, but has already proven very busy.
“Obviously with coronavirus, you can’t really travel, so it’s the only way to get to Majorca or New York. It’s something different because it’s a 1:1 size 737 cockpit. I would say 99 per cent of the switches are working, so basically it is a real cockpit. It’s definitely an amazing experience. If you walked into the cockpit of a real Boeing, you would see the same thing, pretty much.”
The simulator offers a choice of 20,000 airports, but because the flights take place in almost real time, long haul flights to destinations such as New York or Japan are less practical than shorter haul journeys such as Glasgow to Dublin.
It has attracted the interest of flying enthusiasts of all ages and even his five-year-old daughter has been able to take control. At the other end of the experience scale, Ness Aviation has also had interest from former RAF pilots wanting to keep their skill levels up
“It’s good because you can fly over New York or fly over Inverness and see the Kessock Bridge. It gives you a different perspective.”
One happy customer was Scott Murray, managing director of Inverness hospitality group Cru Holdings. As co-owner of travel agency Inverness Travel, he said: “Best fun I have had in a long time.”
