Customer Interview with Ed Heerey

Ed Heerey, a Barrister in Melbourne, had the opportunity to experience flight as a commercial pilot after his wife bought a one hour Flight Experience package as a birthday gift for him. While Ed has never learned to fly, he first became interested in aviation thanks to his grandfather who served as an Air Force pilot and doctor in World War II, flying Fox Moths, Tiger Moths, Dragon Moths, Ansons, Lockheed Hudsons and Sunderland Flying Boats in Singapore, Malaya, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and was repatriated to Australia with rheumatic fever just before the fall of Singapore. The closest Ed has been to flying a light aircraft was a slightly hair-raising flight with a university friend going from Moorabbin to Apollo Bay and the 12 Apostles.

During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ed was a student in Russia and managed to survive 13 domestic flights on Aeroflot, where he encountered an amazing range of carry-on luggage (including live animals), parts of the aircraft’s interior falling off on take off & landing and moonshine vodka being passed around between passengers. The vodka generally helped keep everyone calm, especially when landing on frozen ice runways in Siberia.

Ed has also been flown around the highlands of Papua New Guinea with his work, usually riding on small aircraft with 6 to 8 seats and landing on tiny airstrips in the highlands. Papua New Guinea has thick, dense clouds around the mountains that are covered with huge jungles, so there’s typically not much time between popping out of the clouds, seeing trees very close below you and having the pilot make sharp turns around valleys and rocks to land on a bumpy grass runway. Ed bought a tribal spear as a souvenir, and on his way home showed it to the pilot so it could be stowed. To Ed’s surprise, the pilot instructed him to keep the spear by his seat.

After these aviation adventures, being a passenger flying within Australia seems quite tame…

Ed’s only time in the cockpit prior to his visit to Flight Experience was a regional airline trip from Brisbane to Coffs Harbour in a small 8 seater aircraft. He got to sit up front with the pilot and found it to be a very different world looking out the front compared to the view through the small windows on the side.

On receiving his gift package, Ed decided he would like to fly into Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong and La Guardia Airport at New York in the USA. He selected these airports for their great views and interesting approaches.

After being greeted on arrival and signed up to fly, Ed was taken to the simulator where he was amazed by the level of detail inside. He recalls that it was a real eye-opener, seeing all the controls and equipment he would be operating. Fortunately his instructor was able to work him through the steps required, helping to make it easier than it first looked.

After getting familiar with the controls and performing a take off, the flight into Rio went well, coming in over the bay and dodging the mountains. As far as he can recall, they managed to avoid knocking over the statue of Christ the Redeemer as they were coming in. He performed an acceptable landing and then the simulator was reset to the start of the approach into Kai Tak airport.

Ed first went to Kai Tak in 1996 and was taken to a park located under the point where aircraft make a sharp turn and line up with the runway. He recalled how he was amazed watching each aircraft turning hard that low to the ground and was looking forward to flying such a challenging approach.

The great visibility and excellent scenery in Hong Kong really helped make the approach memorable, with Ed especially enjoying the view of the flashing lights leading him down and around that very corner. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite get the aircraft straightened out in time after making the turn and thinks it would have been a very bumpy landing for the passengers. He was sure he felt the bumps himself as the views & sounds triggered his subconscious reactions.

To say that Ed enjoyed his time in the simulator would be an understatement indeed. After an hour of sitting at the controls doing take offs and landings, Ed was totally spent emotionally. The adrenaline had been flowing the whole session leaving him feeling exhausted, excited, exhilarated and in need of a good stiff drink.

The ability to choose from so many different airports is fantastic and the realism of the entire experience is what Ed enjoyed the most. There are so many details including the displays, control yokes moving on both sides, trim wheels turning, raising the landing gear, engine noises and all the cues that bring back subconscious feelings that you’re actually in an aircraft and flying. He says it’s like a computer game for big kids and that there’s nothing needed to improve the experience.

The only issue Ed found at Flight Experience was that one hour was not enough to do all that he wanted. After having so much fun with Rio and Kai Tak, he ran out of time to get to La Guardia. Not to worry as he is seriously considering buying himself a 30 minute package so he can complete his third favourite approach.

Ed now has a whole new appreciation for the work of commercial pilots and highly recommends everyone to have a go with Flight Experience. He understands the risk of a “crash and burn” from his work in court and can confirm that flying a commercial airliner has very similar levels of stress when called upon to perform under pressure – but thankfully, no-one is likely to get hurt in the simulator!