It’s up, up and away as shipping container used for Shropshire flight simulator firm
A flight simulator business is using a former shipping container to transport its customers to the skies.
Newly-launched Chesim Air Ltd is the brainchild of retired Shropshire agronomist and keen pilot Nigel Chesters, and the 20ft storage unit at Sleap Airfield, near Wem, is being used as the base for his operation.
Nigel said the magic of virtual reality can conjure the approach over the blue Mediterranean of the Cote D’Azur into Nice, the heat haze of the deserts of Australia or the hectic flight paths to Heathrow.
Nigel, 60, caught the flying bug 10 years ago when a friend bought him a flying lesson.
“I used to hate flying,” he said.
“But I went up with an instructor for an hour and I loved it. He told me to land the plane and I know there were dual controls but I must have made a reasonable job of it and I was hooked and carried on and got my pilot’s licence.”
Nigel said the container, which was provided by Denbigh-based Container Sales Centre, is a perfect host for what is part of an actual aircraft.
The simulator with its wrap-around screen is housed in the actual cockpit of G-WARZ, a 1997 Piper Cherokee Warrior two-seater with a state of the art G1000 avionics suite.
Nigel added: “It needed to be self-contained and secure and for the simulator to work properly it needs to be in darkness and so the storage unit from CSC is perfect.”
CSC sales consultant Lisa James said it was a prime example of how the units can be put to a range of practical uses and the fact that it can create a perfectly dark environment made it perfect for Nigel’s requirements.
