RIP Cranebank BA Training Centre
Jan 31, 2021 | 3:58 am
#16
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FT Flight Simulator Outing to BAFT Cranebank - 10 October 2014 [UK]
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip...er-2014-a.html
By the time we went in late 2015 most if not all the sims had been moved to the new location in TBA. The SEP area was also relocated to TBC, but not everything was moved across and the mock 747 & 737 were left abandoned in Cranebank.
BotB had also organised FT outings to the safety courses which took place at Cranebank, this one was in 2014 Flight Safety Awareness Course Interest?
Some photos from the sim visit in 2014, we were taken around the SEP area as well:
The 737 mock cabin was where they did a lot of their emergency evacuation training.
The 747 mock up.
747 upper deck
777 & 747 sims in Cranebank
Last edited by KARFA; Jan 31, 2021 at 4:13 am
Jan 31, 2021 | 4:59 am
#17
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: UK
Posts: 633
I was just thinking the same thing. If this is a big deal then surely a campaign would have started years ago to save it. One thing that did surprise me is the simulators were never sold off prior to when the building was decommissioned.
Now the building is sold, I suspect the new owners in time will demolish it and make way for a new industrial estate business.
On a separate note, I do wonder about the long term vision of Waterside (HQ). Apparently, much of the footprint of the building is not used by BA anymore and of the space is leased out to other companies, mostly Oneworld. Now with more office workers adapting to working as a home worker, will there really be a long term need to go into the office on a regular basis? Also if the third runway were to have get a u-turn then there would be a compulsory purchase order on the site to make way for the development.
Now the building is sold, I suspect the new owners in time will demolish it and make way for a new industrial estate business.
On a separate note, I do wonder about the long term vision of Waterside (HQ). Apparently, much of the footprint of the building is not used by BA anymore and of the space is leased out to other companies, mostly Oneworld. Now with more office workers adapting to working as a home worker, will there really be a long term need to go into the office on a regular basis? Also if the third runway were to have get a u-turn then there would be a compulsory purchase order on the site to make way for the development.
Jan 31, 2021 | 5:26 am
#18
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Jan 31, 2021 | 5:42 am
#19
Join Date: Aug 2011
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I expect the new facility is more modern with new training technology, the TV Video units and overhead projectors in the video are something I haven’t seen since the 1990’s.
Jan 31, 2021 | 6:04 am
#20
Join Date: Dec 2015
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Jan 31, 2021 | 7:46 am
#21
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,511
No, TBC is in another place. see below
As for Cranebank, I think its state and what happened with it is a bit of a closely-guarded secret as it's a bit embarrassing. I was running a project in Engineering at the time of the TBC move and, as I my project had dealings with both Property and the Learning Academy, it was normal for people to chat. It was, on paper, sensible: the idea was to move everything into TBC, make that place double as both the airline's Business Continuity location and the training academy and, at the same time, sell the land where Cranebank was standing. Then... of course it happened. Asbestos. TBC 10th had to be completely cleared. TBC 9th too, apparently at much greater costs than previously thought. Turns out that Cranebank was filled with it too, which undoubtedly is making it easy to sell. Then a globally renowned security company, hired at great expense by BA to protect the Cranebank campus, was either asleep or someplace else when they failed to detect the caravan of 100+ Travellers who parked up on the road outside Cranebank, broke into it, took out everything of value that had been left (I'm told cabling), left a prodigious amount of rubbish and then left after a few weeks.
Good old Cranebank, I've got fond memories of having done my ground crew and iCSP courses there. I got food poisoning there once, but a friend of mine got such a bad bacterial infection from food there that he spent a week at West Middlesex or some other hospital...
As for Cranebank, I think its state and what happened with it is a bit of a closely-guarded secret as it's a bit embarrassing. I was running a project in Engineering at the time of the TBC move and, as I my project had dealings with both Property and the Learning Academy, it was normal for people to chat. It was, on paper, sensible: the idea was to move everything into TBC, make that place double as both the airline's Business Continuity location and the training academy and, at the same time, sell the land where Cranebank was standing. Then... of course it happened. Asbestos. TBC 10th had to be completely cleared. TBC 9th too, apparently at much greater costs than previously thought. Turns out that Cranebank was filled with it too, which undoubtedly is making it easy to sell. Then a globally renowned security company, hired at great expense by BA to protect the Cranebank campus, was either asleep or someplace else when they failed to detect the caravan of 100+ Travellers who parked up on the road outside Cranebank, broke into it, took out everything of value that had been left (I'm told cabling), left a prodigious amount of rubbish and then left after a few weeks.
Good old Cranebank, I've got fond memories of having done my ground crew and iCSP courses there. I got food poisoning there once, but a friend of mine got such a bad bacterial infection from food there that he spent a week at West Middlesex or some other hospital...
It’s awful to think that the building was ‘illegally’ gutted for anything valuable. The security company must have been in serious trouble.
What shocks me the most is how everything was just left, like there was an evacuation and it was never safe to return. All the cabinets with paperwork and files just left. Why weren’t they cleared out?
I’ve spent the last few days reading/researching all about Cranebank and the refurb of TBC. There’s some interesting stuff out there.
(Also, in the pic you’ve attached, I think TBK and TBJ are the other way around).
Jan 31, 2021 | 9:32 am
#23
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,594
A very interesting read.
It’s awful to think that the building was ‘illegally’ gutted for anything valuable. The security company must have been in serious trouble.
What shocks me the most is how everything was just left, like there was an evacuation and it was never safe to return. All the cabinets with paperwork and files just left. Why weren’t they cleared out?
I’ve spent the last few days reading/researching all about Cranebank and the refurb of TBC. There’s some interesting stuff out there.
It’s awful to think that the building was ‘illegally’ gutted for anything valuable. The security company must have been in serious trouble.
What shocks me the most is how everything was just left, like there was an evacuation and it was never safe to return. All the cabinets with paperwork and files just left. Why weren’t they cleared out?
I’ve spent the last few days reading/researching all about Cranebank and the refurb of TBC. There’s some interesting stuff out there.
The stuff that really costed $$$ were the sims and they are all in TBA now, I think a few FTers have been there.
You're right about J & K, oopsie!
Jan 31, 2021 | 10:44 am
#24
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Gosh, that is so sad to see. I actually went on a corporate flight safety course there in 2015 and remember going in the 737 mock-up you see at the start of the video to learn how to open the over-wing exits and main doors. The whole afternoon was a very valuable experience and you do learn some useful stuff, like quite how heavy those over-wing exit doors are! We also had a go on the escape slides and well as the smoke chamber, experiencing what it was like to exit at ground level as the smoke and heat got more and more intense. It gave me a renewed respect for how highly trained flight and cabin crew are. I’m guessing BA Flight Training has ceased to run these courses now.
Jan 31, 2021 | 10:46 am
#25
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,146
Do you know for a fact they didn’t try? Who would buy a 737 Classic simulator anyway? They were already a dying breed by the time Cranebank closed in 2015, with most airlines having already moved to either the NG or Airbus. Moving it to a new location would have cost more than it was worth. If there had been more space in TBA I suspect BA might have put it there temporarily rather than let it succumb the way it has.
Jan 31, 2021 | 11:41 am
#26
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: BRS
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Do you know for a fact they didn’t try? Who would buy a 737 Classic simulator anyway? They were already a dying breed by the time Cranebank closed in 2015, with most airlines having already moved to either the NG or Airbus. Moving it to a new location would have cost more than it was worth. If there had been more space in TBA I suspect BA might have put it there temporarily rather than let it succumb the way it has.
From what we can see they took the B747 sim out, which makes sense as the 747 was still part of the fleet and would have been for a long longer if not for current events.
Jan 31, 2021 | 12:41 pm
#27
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,594
It looks like it has been stripped of it's useful parts anyway (I assume by BA) and these could have been sold onto other airlines/operators of the simulators. That or the enthusiasts had at it.
From what we can see they took the B747 sim out, which makes sense as the 747 was still part of the fleet and would have been for a long longer if not for current events.
From what we can see they took the B747 sim out, which makes sense as the 747 was still part of the fleet and would have been for a long longer if not for current events.
The video shows the SEP hall; the cabin simulators there are - well, were - bits of old fuselages (or actual plywood) with no moving parts with the exception of the 737 which rested on some hydraulic jacks. These have all been replaced with much higher spec ones on the second floor of TBC, built by BA Engineers. The actual plane sims (the ones used for pilots) have all been moved to TBA or sold.
Here how TBA looks these days (or a couple years ago):
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Bonus photo... Dreamliner!
Jan 31, 2021 | 1:43 pm
#28
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: London, UK
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As for the 737-400 one being left there, well that type was retired in 2015 anyway so they didn’t need to bother bringing it across.
Jan 31, 2021 | 5:12 pm
#30
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Sheffield
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 430
I'm sorry but which sims are we talking about?
The video shows the SEP hall; the cabin simulators there are - well, were - bits of old fuselages (or actual plywood) with no moving parts with the exception of the 737 which rested on some hydraulic jacks. These have all been replaced with much higher spec ones on the second floor of TBC, built by BA Engineers. The actual plane sims (the ones used for pilots) have all been moved to TBA or sold.
Here how TBA looks these days (or a couple years ago):
The video shows the SEP hall; the cabin simulators there are - well, were - bits of old fuselages (or actual plywood) with no moving parts with the exception of the 737 which rested on some hydraulic jacks. These have all been replaced with much higher spec ones on the second floor of TBC, built by BA Engineers. The actual plane sims (the ones used for pilots) have all been moved to TBA or sold.
Here how TBA looks these days (or a couple years ago):
From the outside, many would look and think, gosh, what an awful looking load of concrete. But, if you know, then you know. It's the same detail that features at Hatton Cross Tube station on the pillar tiles at platform level.
History that just sits quietly in the background.
Last edited by kdhurst380; Jan 31, 2021 at 5:19 pm