Turkish Airlines using technology to put trainees in the pilot’s seat

IAN STALKER

Pictured above: A visitor to Turkish Airlines’ training facility tries her hand at one of the facility’s simulators.

Turkish Airlines has gone the high-tech route to help determine whether aspiring pilots can weather bad weather.

The company’s Istanbul training facility includes simulators that are virtually identical to the cockpits in the aircraft in Turkish Airlines’ fleet, with students able to use them for the likes of learning how to land the carrier’s planes.

An airline spokesman says the different simulators – each with a seemingly endless number of dials and switches – are 98% comparable to cockpits in the planes in its fleet. Those using them for training can see imaging showing the very airports those planes land at, including Toronto’s, while seated at the controls.

The simulators also enable students to learn how to react when things aren’t ideal.

“All the emergency scenarios are uploaded in the simulators,” the spokesman said, adding trainees will also learn what to do in the event of rainy weather or turbulence.

“It’s not easy to become a pilot.”

Those hoping to become flight attendants also undergo training at the facility, which provides instruction on the likes of coping with belligerent passengers and emergency evacuations.

The facility not only trains those who hope to join a Turkish Airlines inflight crew, but is also used for regular and mandatory retraining.

“They are very well trained, and we take it seriously,” the spokesman said of the training those hoping to become a pilot or flight attendant receive. “The standards are very high.”

Travel agents can visit the facility on fam trips, but must arrange the visits in advance.

More information can be found at turkishairlines.com.