Meet and Greet and APD1

The waiting was over! On Thursday morning, me and my parents flew down to Southampton to get my new career underway. We got to Nursling to pick up the keys to my accommodation at about 11am and headed into the New Forest, my new home for the next 6 months of groundschool. A few of my new coursemates were already here and after unpacking we had to be back at Nursling for uniform fitting (got the pilot’s uniform at last!) and the meet and greet, which is basically just getting all the information about the course, mainly for the parents. My accommodation is really nice, I have two things I was not expecting before starting, an ensuite and a double bed! 

The grounds of my new home! 

My Epaulettes!

We got back to Nursling for 2.30pm and thankfully my uniform fitted first time. We then had a presentation by CTC and we got presented with our epaulettes, just to complete the uniform! We also got given our flight bags with all the instruments we will need for ground school, before heading back to our accommodation to chill out and head to the pub!

Yesterday was APD1 or Airline Preparation Day 1. It was a day to get to know more about the people on my CP, have a few ice breaker exercises and also some information about our selection day feedback. It was a long but quite enjoyable day, which was made even better when we got to fly the Airbus A320 simulator! I did a takeoff and landing at EGNX (East Midlands) and I actually managed to land on the runway!

2 of the full motion A320 sims 

Last night CP107 headed out into Southampton and had a great night, making the most of our free time this weekend before all the hard work starts on Monday, which my next blog post will probably highlight.

Bye for now!  

2 Weeks To Go!

First of all, welcome to my blog! I am going to keep it up to date for the next 18 months for family and friends (or whoever comes across it) to follow me through my journey to that right hand seat of an airliner as a First Officer.

It has been a lifelong dream of mine to become an airline pilot and I have always had my eyes on being a CTC cadet. I applied for the CTC Wings Cadet programme in October 2012 and after a few weeks of hard work, brushing up on mental maths and practising hand eye co-ordination, I went for an assessment day at the beginning of December, down at Dibden Manor in Southampton. It was a very stressful day but I was determined in my mind to get through it and the next day I received that all important phonecall - my dream was to become a reality! I was really shocked, excited, nervous, everything at once! 

I went for my medical at Gatwick airport in February and after a few hours of hearing tests, eyesight tests and blood samples I was deemed fit to fly, I was very relieved! 

So here we are now, with just under 2 weeks to go until I head down to Southampton for 6 months for ground school and exams and then go off to New Zealand to fly! I am still waiting on news as to where I will be living, but have started getting in contact with other people on my CP (107).