A company has denied that letting members of the public use its flight simulators could increase the risk of suicide hijackings.

GE Capital Aviation Flight Training owns nine simulators at Fleming Way in Crawley which are used to train professional pilots but can also be hired by members of the public.

The practice was attacked yesterday by a national newspaper which claimed anyone with a few hundred pounds to spend could learn to fly a jumbo jet.

A spokesman for the firm said: "There are very strict procedures in place which have been revised since September 11.

"We cannot disclose these security procedures in public because they would lose their impact."

He said there was nothing unusual about flight simulators being used by the public and other airline-owned simulators at Gatwick and Burgess Hill were sometimes made available to aviation enthusiasts.

A spokesman for Virtual Aviation, which uses the simulators for corporate entertainment, insisted its customers had to show photo identification before they were allowed to enter the training centre.

In addition, detailed contact information was kept on all customers which was made available to Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism squad.

The spokesman declared: "Simulator fun flights would be of absolutely no benefit to potential terrorists because they do not offer professional pilot training in any way.

"Learning to fly an airliner involves several thousand hours of professional pilot training, starting with light aircraft. There are simply no shortcuts.

"Stopping simulator flights would not prevent potential terrorists from undertaking a professional course."

He added: "It's rather like playing Microsoft's hugely popular Flight Simulator game, but with full motion and a real pilot. The fun flights are never promoted as 'lessons' or 'training' in any way."

A Gatwick Airport spokesman said: "There are several flight simulators at the airport that are run by the airlines.

"It's not something we have control over as they are not associated with the airport itself."