This could have been yet another standard project, if we had not been working in very unusual circumstances. Covid-19 pandemic turned everyone’s normal life and usual business upside-down. And perhaps for the first time ever, we could really feel the distances and borders, which so far had been easy to travel. Being an international company suddenly became a true challenge.
Unusual circumstances, unusual solutions
Making equipment as sophisticated as a B737 flight simulator even in normal circumstances, is not easy. Very often this involves our Customers’ distant travel to our main facility to take a test flight and discuss their B737 simulator projects face to face. But this part is not essential and some of them are happy with the live online demonstration instead. But once the deal is signed, the moment will come when the simulator will eventually need to be delivered to the Customer, often located on the other side of the globe. We will need to organize the transport for the B737 FTD, we will need to coordinate its delivery with our engineers’ flights, we will need to take care of customs paperwork, accommodation and finally and most importantly, we will have to install the simulator at the Customer’s premises. And having delivered a number of B737 flight training devices across the globe, we became quite good at this. At least we thought so, until March 2020…
Working hard against deadlines
This B737NG simulator was on track and was completed in the Summer but many countries were still on lock down. And so was Taiwan, where the Customer was located. Curtailed passenger flights and shortage of cargo capacity combined with the entry ban at that time – this all made us seriously consider alternative ways of completing this and other pending projects. Our engineers and management sat together to seriously discuss and implement all required modifications, to enable installation to be carried out by the Customer only with our online assistance. By the end of the Summer the plan was ready and we were excited but at the same time a bit scared about the final results. We had never even thought about it before but we had to face that situation, which was unlikely to improve in the next couple of months.
The B737 Fixed Base Simulator finally shipped out, this time by sea, due to incredibly few and very expensive air freight options available at that time. We were in no rush too and still hoping, together with the Customer, that the situation would improve in the course of those few weeks, while their flight simulator would be sailing the seas. But few weeks later the pandemic situation got only worse and we realized that the only way to complete this project was to cooperate with the Customer and use all of our experience to walk them through the process.
After several weeks on the sea, our turnkey B737 simulator arrived in Taiwan safe and sound and was ready for the final act. Despite the time difference of 7 hours, Archer and his team in Taiwan, were working hard together with our engineer Adam in Poland.
Installation of the B737 FTD at the Customer's
The progress each day was just spectacular and we felt like we had been doing this many times before. It took both teams roughly the same amount of manhours as usual to assemble the simulator, configure and test it thoroughly. The final result was great and only few minor issues had been identified, which were successfully resolved in cooperation.
B737 Flight Simulator Taipei - mission accomplished!
This was by far one of the most challenging projects we have ever completed. With many questions marks and doubts on the way, working in very difficult circumstances in distant time zones and striving to get the simulator fully up and running by the nearing deadlines and the grand opening. But we made it! The brand new B737 flight simulator, the first one in Taipei City, was finally ready to welcome visitors.
We have learned a lot working on this, originally standard but eventually, very special project. We gained new experience but most importantly, we became confident that nothing is impossible and we can deliver our flight simulators any time and everywhere!
Of course this would not have been possible without great involvement and competency of Archer and his team in Taiwan. It was a pleasure to cooperate with them and to pave the way to other virtual installations that we could face in the future. Thank you! 😊
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If you like this project, you can see more details on our B 737 fixed base simulator here.