Virtual Aerospace Reviews 104

A gift from my wife to fly the Vulcan, what a amazing time I had pilot Tim Keenan to instruct me and he made the whole experience that much better, great feel in the aircraft a good laugh too, an experience I would recommend to anyone who has a interest in flying anything. Thanks again Tim see you in the spitfires next Time
Andy

Booked for Son for 150 hours in 737 800 Sim. Plenty of car parking on the industrial estate. Plenty of seats to wait and have coffee. Staff very friendly and attentive. Mike Barker the instructor was very professional, patient, calm and very informative for our sons experience.
He uploaded the optional video within a few hours of us leaving which was very efficient.
Our son had a wonderful experience and it is definitely recommended for people with and without experience.

If I could give this review 10 stars I would. Visited the Stockport for my experience. My instructor John Bryan was amazing, he made me feel at ease and the whole session thrilling, informative and probably the best simulator I have ever experienced. I cannot believe how good this was, The set up of the cockpit was identical along with the real life flight controls, navigation, engine noises, screens and workings are simply incredible. I will be reserving another Experiance as soon as possible, if you are in any doubt if it’s worth the money, be in no doubt this is one incredible worthwhile day for any flight enthusiast.

Having received a present to fly the Vulcan I was very excited but this was not a great experience.

The cockpit is from a scrap Vulcan and missing quite a lot of instruments, especially the items to the left of the pilot and right of the co-pilot and no rear section, you just walk through a door and you are in the upper section. The centre section for the fuel control is just a piece of aluminium plate which unfolds upward which is true as its supposed to but its a bit poor.

The general pilot instruments are not complete and miss a few essential items to help your flight, namely elevators, rudder indicators, undercarriage and fuel state, there was also a throttle lever missing. The view from the cockpit is good but the image of where you are flying is a bit washed out as though its a projected image on a whitewashed background, similar to a passive laptop display from the 90's.

My experience included the full package of extras, these were;

Walk out to the aircraft and start from a cold start and taxi out. This was actually get up from the waiting seat and walk 3 yards to the simulator and strap in, The preparation for the start-up and start-up of the just consisted of accessing the fuel control plate and switching on the fuel pumps followed by pressing a single button to start the engines, this procedure is nothing like the actual procedure in a Vulcan as many items need to be brought on line.

I paid for a video of my flight but the video was broken so did not receive this, Also paid for a photo of me in the captains seat, again the camera was broken so no picture.

My package said I would receive a certificate, nope, they don't do that.

Before you go on this firstly check the Vulcan flight simulators and internal cockpit layouts as this is what you should expect but you will get less than half these instruments

On a plus side the flying was generally OK but the viewed scenery needs to be better. The instructor was an ex commercial pilot who was charming enough.

I believe my package cost was £225, if it was about £100 it would have been fine but not at this price. I did though receive a partial rebate for the missed video and photo but the price paid for this extra package is a bit pricy so I would skip it.

A gift from a friend, a one hour flight experience on their Spitfire simulator. It was simply marvellous! Expert tuition by our instructor, then let loose as a virtual Battle of Britain rookie pilot. Scary and authentic, we now understand why so many young pilots lost their lives defending our country. Highly recommended!

Just flown a Vulcan bomber around the north of England, through the steam of a power station cooling towers, low level down Derwent water lake where the dam busters tested their bombs and low over head Liverpool and Portmeirion and finally landing at RAF valley on Anglesey. Plus a barrel role. Great fun !!!

Thanks to my wife for a wonderful Christmas Present and who took the jump seat in the cockpit.

Great setup at Flightdeck Experiences ! Thanks to Martin for such a great job co-piloting.

I was lucky enough to be bought a flight sim voucher by my friends for my 70th birthday. I travelled to Stockport yesterday, 29/10/23, for my flight. I was greeted by Derek, my instructor , and taken to the Vulcan simulator where he carried out the flight briefing. I had the gate to gate experience so the trip started from a cold start and taxi to the runway. Once positioned we took off at an amazing 15 degree angle of climb. What followed was 60 minutes of high concentration to complete the sortie which included a ‘dive’ into a bomber run from 20k feet which felt pretty real to me. Then onto low level flying over the Lake District. Truly amazing managed to get to 40 feet above the water. Managed to ‘dip’ the tail climbing back to a safer Hight. We then flew south along the North West coast past Blackpool tower to land a RAF Walton. The landing wasn’t great and far too fast, hence running off the end of the runway. A great flight and managed not to crash the iconic old warbird. I would like to thank Virtual Aerospace. From the start I was treated very well by their lady at the booking, I believe was Elaine, please forgive me if I have got your name wrong. She made it a very easy process. It was a fair time to wait to get booked in, I can see why it is so popular.

I also want to thank Derek who made the experience and most enjoyable time. His knowledge was phenomenal and the way he explained what and why things were carried out really easy to follow. It was an amazing day and well worth the 9 hour round trip drive well worth it. Thanks again and will be saving my pennies to try the Spitfire my next visit. First class!

Arrived for my flight and was met by a warm welcome by Nigel. Went through some pre briefings and then got into the cockpit which was very realistic. I was a PPL many years ago and it brought back a lot of memories. We completed a number of takeoffs and landings which was very good. Nigel was very helpful and knowledgeable and gave some great instructions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 90 minuets I spent flying the 737. Whilst it was not full motion it still provided very real flying.

Once again thanks to Nigel who made the experience very realistic and enjoyable. Will be back for more

I had a great time in the spitfire simulator, managed to take off and land with out crashing thanks to the excellent instruction from Peter call sign "Mr Rusty". Felt very realistic finished with a total of 9 kills. Great experience would highly recommend.

A most informative and enjoyable experience on the 737 sim at the Stockport location. Excellent pre-flight briefing and guidance during the flight from Dave. I valued your encouragement and patience!

Fantastic experience at Virtual Aerospace in Shoreham. Richard was brilliant and made us feel very welcome. We were given plenty of time to fit in a couple of take-offs and landings, and Richard was great company throughout. A really good time was had by all.

Firstly, if you are reading the 1 star review listed somewhere below, courtesy of J4923, it might well give you something to laugh about, but is certainly far from the experience that we had today (it seems J4923 drives a 911, so what can you expect but general arrogance towards most things in life?)!

Myself and a work colleague flew the Boeing 737 simulator, with former captain, David. We spent just over two hours collectively flying to and from various world-wide airports. The cockpit was very realistic, as were the simulator graphics. Obviously, your brain will decipher that it's not real, but still it's real enough to provide a very good flying experience, without any of the real life drawbacks ie, if you do crash, then you'll actually survive, and probably won't end up in prison either!

Towards the end of the session, I landed at Hong Kong's old airport, and my local UK airport, both of which were fantastic, and I might add, completely unaided by David. I don't mind admitting that I was actually sweating a little, knowing that I had to get all one hundred and eighty odd passengers on board back home safely!! Anyway, I managed it, and pretty well if I say so myself. To be honest, even if I'd completely messed it up, I'd have still had a blast.

We also had a quick taster of the Vulcan, which I'd be interested in having a proper go in, at a later date. Again, please just bear in mind that it IS only a simulator (that means you, J4923), and that the only way that you'll get the true Vulcan experience, is to fly an actual Vulcan, which I would say is probably highly unlikely! This really is the next best thing. All of the good points, none of the bad points.

I would certainly recommend booking. Go along with an open mind and you'll have loads of fun, and a fantastic experience that you'll remember for a long while! Would make an ideal birthday or anniversary treat. Even a bucket list experience!

I thought it useful to highlight some of the issues i have experienced when dealing with this company. Please be aware of the following if you are planning to buy a voucher for Virtual Aerospace. Firstly, do not book a voucher if you want to redeem it in a reasonable timeframe. I tried to redeem mine in April for an experience in Stockport and was told the earliest availability for my 13 year old son who needed to go on a weekend or in school holidays would be in November! Upon request for a refund, I was told I'd missed their strict 28 day refund window. The voucher was purchased as a Christmas present but obviously we never expected to have to wait so long to use it and only became aware when we tried ro redeem it. I was then offered an alternative date in August at their Shoreham site which is a 4.5 hour drive from where we live. We decided to make a long weekend of it and booked a hotel and a day off work. A few days before we were due to attend, we received a message to tell us that they had to cancel the booking as they were closing the site for 2 weeks due to essential maintenance. We were offered some alternative dates in October. We were unable to cancel our hotel or our time off work and so continued with the trip. However, we dont want to do it again in October. We have requested a refund or an alternative within a reasonable timeframe at our preferred location in Stockport, neither is forthcoming. We have been promised a call back for nearly a month now and despite repeated emails and apologies from.Elaine, we've still heard nothing. The request for any form of compensation for inconvenience and costs is flatly refused but this is not surprising given they won't even respond to a reasonable request for a refund or a suitable alternative. I would suggest anyone thinking of purchasing a voucher considers it very carefully. I'm sure the experience would be very good if we ever get to experience it but they're very happy to keep your money for as long as they want to without feeling any obligation to.provide the experience.

Edit: I have received a very detailed response about terms and conditions again which are referenced on every occasion i have spoken to this company - so do please read them before you buy a voucher. This is also the fastest response I have received so far and I only wish they had been so speedy in trying to resolve the situation. I would like to assure anyone reading this that I have in no way been threatening towards any member of staff and will gladly share all of my emails and responses if required as this is a serious allegation. However, I have still not received an offer of either a refund or an alternative suitable date and so my position remains unsolved unfortunately despite a lot of words.

Very knowledgeable and informative instructor. An incredible experience for an 11 year old. How many boys have flown under the Golden Gate bridge and barrel rolled a Boeing 737 over Alcatraz. A brilliant day and much recommended. We will be booking the Spitfire simulator for some one on one combat action!

We were given a warm welcome This was a 90 min experience for my husband and son in law in the 2 marine spitfires simulators.They had the best time Kieth the instructor was a great guy, Full of information and instructions My daughter and myself were made very welcome with a cup of coffee and being able to watch and take photos Highly recommended you wont be disappointed

Had a brilliant time in the 737 simulator. Richard was friendly, welcoming and truly made my birthday gift a real treat. He was able to adapt the experience to suit my skills level, haha no skill level at all but he made sure it was fun and that I had a good time. Thanks, Richard :)

My son recently had a simulation experience at Shoreham airport and it was fantastic. His instructor Richard was brilliant, welcoming and engaging. He tailored the flights to suit the skill level. We are looking forward to the next one!

Better than expected. Birthday present from family, went to Shoreham with Grandson to fly on the 737 simulator. We both loved it and would recommend it highly. Richard was an amazing excellent instructor; patient, amusing, welcoming and clearly knows his stuff.

Had the pleasure to be guided by Richard at Shoreham yesterday using my B737 voucher. His tuition and guidance was first class, great guy with plenty of insights to the real pilot environment.
Highly recommend for anyone wishing to simulate the cockpit, very enjoyable.

Excellent flight, the simulator was top notch and the flight instructor Richard was very friendly.