Exams are coming...

Well that’s it for module one groundschool, it’s absolutely flown over and I can’t believe we are almost halfway through the groundschool phase! We have our mock exams next week and then we’re off for 10 days of reading over notes and trying not to go insane off intense question banking before the real things start on July 1^st. Our first set of 6 exams consists of Aircraft General Knowledge, Principles of Flight, Meteorology, Instruments and IFR and VFR Comms all crammed into 3 days.

Trying to remember everything! 

Since my last post, I’ve also been to CTC’s training centre in Bournemouth which is where we all end up after New Zealand to do our Instrument Rating. Me and James went, it was an excellent day and we got a flight in a Diamond DA42 Twinstar! The pilot flying was training for his IR, which meant the windscreen on his side was blocked out for the majority of the flight. This is done so that we have to fly solely on instruments, not visually. We flew to Cardiff, did a missed approach and then flew back to Bournemouth. In total we were in the air for about 2 and a half hours. It was excellent to see where I will end up in around one year’s time and it definitely was another thing to keep to motivation up for these upcoming exams.  

Flying past Cardiff Airport

We even got a sneaky look in this beauty! 

Thanks G-CTCD!

We also went into the simulator again the other day. It was an excellent two hour session, simulating things we have been learning throughout mod 1 such as trimming the aircraft, the effect of flaps and spoilers in straight and level flight and we also conducted a full auto-land in fog conditions at Bristol. 

 
Anyway back to revision for me...

3 Subjects Down And The Open Day

Evening! First of all apologies for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks!

We only have one day left of our third subject; Meteorology. The time is going so fast! Met has been quite an interesting subject and certain aspects have been slightly easier to understand due to A Level Geography... it actually came in useful! We move onto Instruments on Thursday, have a week of that and then finally onto Comms for three days. Then it’s on to the mock exams and the real things. Scary!

Becoming Weather Nerds!

CTC had an open day on Saturday which I helped out with. It was a good day and I enjoyed chatting to people about the course and giving advice. It doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I was looking around, it felt like it would be so far off back then; how things change! Unfortunately, I didn't get to fly any of the simulators but there’s always next time! I'm going over to CTC in Bournemouth on Wednesday to have a look around the facilities and there is also a possibility of back seating one of the DA42’s over there. Looking forward to it, just hope it is nice weather.

Basically my life right now consists of question bank, eating, sleeping and question bank. But mainly question bank. 

Bye for now...

First Week Of Ground School Complete

Thought I’d take a break from working right now to update you all on the first week of ground school here at CTC. We started off last Monday with Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK). We had three days of AGK covering topics such as Airframe stress and fatigue, Fuel Systems, Landing Gear, Hydraulics and Pneumatics. Thursday was a computer based training day (CBT day, we get one every week) to make sure we understand everything and to do some question banking. We moved straight onto the next topic, Principles of Flight (POF) last Friday, however we will be coming back to finish off AGK next week. So far in POF we have covered how lift is created over a wing, different types of drag and how wing vortices are created, it contains a lot more maths and physics and is basically just a load of formulas! Over this weekend it has taken me a bit of time to understand everything but I think I’m almost there, they like to confuse us by having a lot of different names for one thing.

CP107 

Boeing 737-800 Full Motion Simulator

Basically how the day works is we leave at 8.30am for a 9am start and finish around 4pm; then I get home, have a break for an hour or so and then continue working until around 10pm. It’s important to make sure you stay on top of the work as it is such a fast paced course and every lesson is something new. Falling behind would just make it 10 times more difficult! Most of the work is quite interesting, there are some not so interesting parts as well though; however it’s quite amazing how much I have learnt in just a week!

Doing some work outside today 

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).