Ezymart, Sydney: Why convenience store owner installed flight simulator in Elizabeth St shop

A Sydney convenience store owner spent $100,000 converting his inner city shop into a fully-operational flight simulator that he hopes pilots can use for training.

Ahmed Nasreldeen, an aviation electronics engineer, moved to Australia from Egypt with his family in 2018 and purchased an EzyMart franchise on Elizabeth Street in the heart of the city’s CBD.

Over the next three years he began buying the 2,000 pieces needed to build a to-scale Airbus A320 cockpit and, with the permission of convenience chain, build the simulator in the back of his store.

‘I’ve had people passing by and say “what the f**k” and “wow what is that a flight simulator?”,’ Mr Nasreldeen told Daily Mail Australia.

‘One woman even asked if it were a space ship.’

Mr Nasreldeen said he built the entire simulator in his garage in three months before disassembling and reassembling it in the Elizabeth Street store 

Mr Nasreldeen, an electronics aviation engineer, moved to Australia from Egypt where he used to work for the country’s flagship airline Egypt Air

Mr Nasreldeen said he built the entire simulator in his garage in three months before disassembling and reassembling it in the Elizabeth Street store.

‘It took too much work. There were about 2,000 pieces. I did it myself with my wife and kids inside our garage,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘It was a very tough time. It takes networking, computers and visuals to get it all running.’ 

Mr Nasreldeen initially moved to Australia with his family on a student visa and was unable to work as an aviation engineer under the rights of his citizenship.

He said he would have had to transfer his Egyptian license to a European one before again transferring it to Australia, a process that would take up to three years. 

The simulator mirrors the cockpit of an Airbus A320, the second-highest selling airline ever made, surpassing even the Boeing 737.

It services domestic and international flights around the world, used by airlines including American Airlines and EasyJet. 

The simulator mirrors the cockpit of an Airbus A320, a type of aircraft used by major airlines to service domestic and international routes

‘It took too much work. There were about 2,000 pieces. I did it myself with my wife and kids inside our garage,’ he told Daily Mail Australia

Mr Nasreldeen’s simulator can be used to create real-world scenarios to train pilots and also increase user experiences.

‘We can control the weather, we can control everything,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘The navigation display shows everything, airports, altitude.’

He finished building the simulator the day before Sydney’s three-month lockdown began in late June, but is now offering sessions for customers three days per week. 

There are four types of sessions starting at ‘social media lovers’ all the way to pilots looking to sharpen their skills in specific scenarios. 

Mr Nasreldeen said while working in an EzyMart is a farcry from his role with Egypt Air, he is happy to leave behind the responsibilities that come with keeping passengers alive.   

‘It was a nice career but I decided to do this,’ he said. 

‘The stress of signing over 300 lives. As an aircraft maintenance engineer you are signing over these lives every time you check an aircraft. There’s a lot of stress.’ 

People can make reservations through the Sydney Flight Simulator website or booking websites Adrenaline and Groupon. 

Mr Nasreldeen said while working in an EzyMart is a farcry from his role with Egypt Air, he is happy to leave behind the responsibilities that come with keeping passengers alive