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Hotel in Tokyo installs flight simulator in room (2019)
- Frost1x 6y agoI bet pilots staying overnight in Tokyo after 12-20+ hour flights would love this room that way they can continue working in the comfort of their own bedrooms.
- CoolGuySteve 6y agoI don't hire any pilots that don't have significant side project flight hours on their resume.
- HenryKissinger 6y agoDoes playing Ace Combat count?
- yourapostasy 6y agoWhat? I won't even set foot in a plane whose pilot hasn't posted their VATSIM [1] Twitch [2] or recordings [3]. How else would I know they can actually fly!? /s I have a horrible ear for radio communications, so until I figure out how to learn to parse what I'm listening to one of these days, I can't get into what appears to be a really, really cool sim experience I'd love to play with someday. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Air_Traffic_Simulation_Network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Air_Traffic_Simulation... [2] https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/VATSIM/videos/all https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/VATSIM/videos/all [3] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtO_n5SzuAacXKQYoKQY4DHH0YUrPxYTa https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtO_n5SzuAacXKQYoKQY4...
- aesclepius 6y agoOut of curiousity, how many pilots do you regularly hire?
- CoolGuySteve 6y agoOur hiring pipeline sifts through many candidates but so far none have been the 10x pilots our organization requires. We only hire the best.
- im3w1l 6y agoBetween autopilot and remote control, it's not too much of a stretch imagining one guy in an office making sure 10 autopiloted planes do what they are supposed to. Maybe have to make sure none of them take off or land at the same time.
- rad_gruchalski 6y agoWhat helped me to find the best of the best is also filtering by youtube comments. Someone on the internet compared it to code reviews from the software engineering world. Makes sense.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- hatsunearu 6y agoWhat the hell's the point if you can't book this room and use the sim all day?
- actuator 6y agoYeah, didn't really understand the 90 minute limitation. Wouldn't it be better to allow the guest to play as long they want once the guided session is over.
- vsareto 6y agoThe 90 minutes is probably with the instructor, who will also prevent you from damaging things. Most of the things in hotel rooms are replaceable. This is arguably not as replaceable as towels or a mattress. Probably helps electricity usage too, even though that's probably small to a hotel for even 24 hours usage.
- dahdum 6y agoIt's a hotel, people would immediately use that cockpit for all sorts of things that are hard to clean and could damage the equipment.
- AVTizzle 6y agoding ding ding!! Japan
- chrisco255 6y agoYeah. But uh, if that's the case wouldn't this make more sense in a lobby?
- GordonS 6y agoThat is bizarre. If I want to pay to use a flight simulator, why would I pay to use one in a hotel room of all places?!
- themodelplumber 6y ago
- mortenjorck 6y ago> however, guests staying for a night in the twin bed room can’t sit in the pilot’s seat or “touch the instruments”, according to the hotel. A “transparent acrylic board” will separate the cockpit from the room. So it's kind of like a minibar in your room, only instead of dispensing liquor, it dispenses 737-800 simulator hours.
- benbristow 6y agoAt least you can drink the liquor ;)
- benbristow 6y agoYou can't use it. A bit pointless then!
- refresher 6y agoFor the train otaku of HN - https://global.trainhostelhokutosei.com/ https://global.trainhostelhokutosei.com/
- ehnto 6y agoThat is awesome. I took the Super Hokuto from Hakodate to Sapporo last year, some of the most incredible scenery of my life. It is hard not to become a train enthusiast in Japan, especially when armed with a rail pass. I would essentially wake up in the morning, decide where to go, within the hour I had tickets and was on a train. Book a cheap hotel on the train ride, enjoy the new city until I felt like another train ride. Effortless and perfect for the unplanning wanderer.
- silicon2401 6y agodo you know Japanese? how feasible would this be without knowing Japanese? It sounds awesome
- spike021 6y agoNot OP, but for the most part you can get around fine without knowing Japanese. In two trips across Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Gunma, and Sapporo, the only transportation there wasn't any English for was a normal bus route in Sapporo; all other modes of major transportation, even buses in major cities, have English announcements and visual indicators. For the bus I mentioned though, I just used Google Maps/GPS on my phone and guesstimated where to pull the stop request cord, etc. For communicating with people, Google Translate works decently well. Obviously knowing Japanese would be ideal, and you should learn a few phrases, but it's ok to use Google as needed. Can't speak for super rural areas, though.
- silicon2401 6y agoVery encouraging, thanks for sharing.
- nicolaslem 6y ago
- fudged71 6y agoI remember going to a hotel as a kid where each room had some sort of theme (tropical, polar, etc. at West Edmonton Mall). It would be really neat if you could select an experience that has different levels of technology instead.
- schoen 6y agoThe Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo also has this room theming: https://www.madonnainn.com/viewrooms https://www.madonnainn.com/viewrooms
- gibolt 6y agoIn the future, AI overlords will determine that it is inefficient to drive airplanes, and will instead put humans in what they'll call a cockpit. This room is where they'll be raised, before ready for service.
- notyourwork 6y agoMade me think of Enders Game.
- mhh__ 6y agoI still don't really get the appeal of civilian flight sim-ing. I like playing with the systems in DCS, but ultimately the end game there is to shoot each other. Usually, I can never sit there flying whereas I will spend hours lapping in rfactor2 or similar - in large part because if you're in an online race, you know that you are racing a human that you have to outbrake or outsmart. Then again, racing cars is a lot cheaper than owning a plane.
- erikpukinskis 6y agoThat’s a valid way to play, but not everyone is playing video games for intellectual stimulation. A lot of people play to relax, not to compete. Look up Euro Truck Simulator. Some people just like fiddling with complex systems and relaxing with some sights and sounds.
- slg 6y agoIf you can't get into flight simulators, just wait until you see the train simulators that are popular in arcades in Japan. https://kotaku.com/japan-still-makes-the-best-train-games-1785015249 https://kotaku.com/japan-still-makes-the-best-train-games-17...
- hamsterbooster 6y ago2020 works from home version for pilots and flight attendants.
- whalesalad 6y agoBoeing has found their new revenue model.
- room505 6y agoBoeing's flight simulator probably crashes.
- jakobmartz3 6y agoTokyo always coming up with the coolest things to attract tourists
- coding123 6y agoI think they would literally get more bookings if they just installed wrap-around screens like that but with Microsoft Flight Simulator / joystick/keyboard.
- mmmuhd 6y agoI concur, when clicking the link I genuinely thought they installed Microsoft flight simulator, which really made me follow the link.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- JoblessWonder 6y ago"It was installed to celebrate the hotel’s 15th anniversary." AKA - The owner really wanted to figure out a way to expense a new flight simulator. [Note: I have no clue about tax law in japan... that was mostly a joke because I don't see how this would ever recoup the cost.]
- pc86 6y agoEspecially at the seemingly-very-reasonable ~$225 for a 90 minute "lesson."
- olivermarks 6y agoI think the idea of hotel rooms with high end simulators for driving, flying and other stimulants is a fabulous business idea and excellent for places of low scenic interest, ie you go and stay a weekend racing, drinking, eating and sleeping in your room.
- evolve2k 6y agoBut Why? In high school when I studied Japanese I learnt of these gaming parlours that had pachinko machines. You’d purchase a bucket of metal ball bearings and pour them in and they’d fairly randomly get stuck and flow through and may release other balls that are stuck there. I learnt that when you win you can swap your winnings for a teddy bear from the prize cabinet. Only years later did I find out that the real system was you could then take the teddy across the street and swap it for CASH. The teddy bear was a front for what was really going only, but in the process everyone saved face. I suspect a similar thing is happening here.
- woutr_be 6y agoThat's because gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, you buy balls, and win balls, exchange those balls for tokens. Then across the street, you can exchange those tokens for prizes / cash, thereby circumventing the law. It has nothing to do with saving face, it's a loophole to allow for gambling.