How not to land a top-notch aircraft (in the simulator)

When I arrived at the airbase of an aviation regiment of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, I expected a short tour of the Y-20 fleet. Instead, I was strapped into the copilot's seat of a full-motion flight simulator.

Before the session, I met the instructor, a weathered veteran who has trained countless pilots. He explained the simulator's purpose with quiet pride. "It's a 1:1 replica of the real cockpit," he said.

"The pilot sees the same instruments and feels the same controls — it's where they build muscle memory without leaving the ground."

He described how the system can replicate any airport, weather or emergency. "We can freeze the simulation at any moment — mid-maneuver, mid-error — and I can pause, turn to the trainee, and say:'This is where you went wrong. Let's fix it.' You can't do that in a real aircraft flying at hundreds of kilometers per hour."

He gestured toward the cockpit and said that in the old days, everything had to be learned in the air. Mistakes were expensive — and sometimes irreversible.

Then they offered me the controls. I chose Lhasa's Gonggar Airport — not knowing that it is one of the world's most challenging approaches, nestled at some 11,800 feet in the Himalayas. I flew along the Yarlung Zangbo River gorge, the terrain rising sharply on both sides. My descent rate was wrong. The runway rushed up. I pulled back too late — and crashed. Virtually. But it felt real enough.

"We can make mistakes in here," the instructor said with a grin, "so we don't make them up there."

The next day, I boarded as a passenger on a real Y-20 for a test flight, climbing in from the rear cargo door — shoes thudding against the metal ribbing of the loading ramp, just like a soldier stepping into a transport, a world away from the sterile jet bridges of civil aviation.

The cabin was air-conditioned and pressurized — a far cry from the cold, noisy interiors of older Chinese airlifters. Through the window, I could see the plane's distinctive homegrown engines.

After landing, the feeling of leaving the aircraft reminded me of the images of the PLA soldiers who bravely responded to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

However, this plane, the Y-20, is far superior in every way.

Contact the writer at lilei@chinadaily.com.cn