A Buderim man is selling the chance to safely fly anywhere in the world – the ultimate opportunity during a pandemic.
Patrick Hanna has listed his Boeing 737-800 Flight Simulator on Gumtree after providing some memorable experiences to members of the public.
He said the simulator, priced at $69,000, provided a taste of life inside a cockpit.
“Many people have no idea what goes on behind the locked door of a cockpit on a plane, so the sim opens your eyes to what’s involved,” he said.
“It’s fun. You get to do stuff that you would never be able to do in real life.
“And you get to see the world without leaving the safety of the room … it opens up the world to you.
“I like to fly in and out of Innsbruck, Austria, because it’s right in the middle of the Alps and it’s considered one of the most challenging approaches and landings you can do. It gets the blood flowing.”
The simulator, currently based at Caloundra Airport, is also a valuable training tool for learner pilots and established pilots.
“We had two Virgin pilots in, during the weekend, trying to knock the rust off all their procedures,” Mr Hanna said.
His simulator is not certified, which has kept costs down for him and his customers.
“You can pay $350 to 400 an hour to do the same thing that I charge $150 an hour for.”
“They (learner pilots) can’t put the sessions in their log-books but they just need the experience and practice, so when it comes down to the sim (test), they don’t go in blind.”
The 57-year-old has had a passion for planes for most of his life.
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot or a police officer,” he said.
“But I had a weak stomach – I didn’t think I’d be able to become a pilot without throwing up over everybody.
“So, I went the other route.”
While his brother became a commercial flight pilot, Mr Hanna became a police officer and held that role for almost 20 years in his native Canada, before moving to the Sunshine Coast with his Australian wife in 2002.
He then operated a fencing business but “never lost the passion to fly” and became obsessed with simulators.
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“I’ve been a flight sim nut for more than 20 years,” he said.
“It started off with a desktop sim but as you get older, your toys get bigger and more expensive.”
He quit the fencing business and bought the Boeing 737 simulator from a man in Sydney in 2015.
It has provided him and his customers with many great experiences.
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But Mr Hanna has now decided to sell it, due to a lack of business in 2020 (because of COVID restrictions) and because he has a renewed passion for the real thing.
“I thought my weak stomach was going to keep me out of flying, but my brother finally convinced me that it was something to work through,” he said.
Mr Hanna now has his recreational flight licence and he’s eager to become a flight instructor.
“At my age there is no way I will be hired as a commercial pilot, so I don’t have any delusions about flying internationally, but I will work on getting my instructor’s licence, to help teach people to fly for real.”
To enquire and find out more about the flight simulator go here.
