On February 6, 2010, finally the time had come: At 19:45h the access bridge to the brand new A380 simulator at Lufthansa Flight Training lifted up, and the first ProFlight crew strapped in the pilot seats of the giant machine.

This had been preceded by an intense one-and-a-half-hour briefing in which Lufthansa expert and captain Cord Becker had made the experience pilots familiar with the flight characteristics of the largest airliner in aviation history.

Marcel Riwalsky was among the lucky ones who as first ProFlight experience pilots to land in Frankfurt. The economist aged 41 had already flown the MD11 with ProFlight and appeared very impressed after the flight: "Gee, that runway was small. And the A380 was big."

The more he was satisfied with his performance at the first time: "... the first landing I've messed up, had to accelerate and pull up. The second landing was 100% centered, but a little bumpy..." His recommendation for the A380 flight was then clear without ambiguity: "100%!"

His crew mate Thomas Heinz, Area Manager at AUDI, wrote to us after the flight: "The simulation is breathtakingly realistic... The feeling to be in command of this marvel in its left seat, let my heartbeat erratically go up. Still amazing the lightness and precision with which this heavy-weight device can be launched and landed apparently 'dead easy', with the expert instructions of the instructors."

Also Thomas Heinz is sure: "...I have to absolutely do it again :-)"