Simulated Airline Flight Gives A Taste Of Travel

You know, we as Americans really are spoiled. Here, we sit and complain of long delays stuck onboard commercial airliners... while there are those in India willing to pay good money to simulate the very privilege of flight.

According to the travel blog WorldHum.com, a retired Indian Airlines engineer has set up a full-fledged travel simulator -- comprised of bits and pieces of an Airbus A300 -- to allow Delhi residents to experience "virtual journeys" for the nominal price of $4.

Tickets for the "flights" are very popular. The Times of London reports 99 percent of India's population has never set foot on an airliner... making the simulated "flights" truly something special. And that was Bahadur Chand Gupta's intent.

Aided by his wife and a crew of five, Captain Gupta aims to recreate the experience of flying on a widebody airliner the best he can, in an admittedly low-tech fashion. They walk the aisles during the "flights," serving meals and drinks.

"Amazing. Travelers on most real flights these days don't get that kind of service," said blog poster Matthew Campbell. "All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by stewardesses bustling up and down the aisle."

In some areas... the simulation may actually be a little too real.

"The plane has no lighting and the lavatories are out of order," Campbell writes (CAPBOR may have something to say on that -- Ed.) "The air-conditioning is powered by a generator.

"Even so, about 40 passengers turn up each Saturday to queue for boarding cards," he adds.

Think about that... especially the next time you feel your blood pressure start to rise because your flight is a half-hour late, or you get stuck in the second-to-last row on an MD-88 (engine-adjacent!) for the three hour trip back to Albuquerque...

FMI: www.worldhum.com