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Hiya Everyone! For various reasons, my blog has now moved to www.thetraineepilot.weebly.com so check it out to continue hearing how I am getting on!

Week 7- Mock exams and CBT's

Evening Everyone and welcome to a new blog post,

So what to tell you about this week? Well at the start of the week our course had our mock exams for Module 1. CTC require us to pass these before we are allowed to sit the real ones. This is because the Civil Aviation Authority only allows us 6 sittings to pass all 14 exams; if we don't then we have to start the whole of groundschool again! 

It was interesting to see whether the work I had been doing since the start of the module was enough to pass. I'm pleased to say that I managed to pass the mocks and now with the real tests just a few days away, it's time for the last few bits of revision before a much needed weekend off after the exams. 

The last few days has been spent revising the topics I am still not comfortable with as well as doing some group revision. The mocks were definitely helpful in highlighting the areas of the 4 topics I still need to work on.

Sorry for such a short update but not really much else to talk about! Anyway, I hope to be blogging next week with 4 passes under my belt and only 10 exams to go; so with that it's back to the textbooks! 

Week 6- Finishing General Navigation

Afternoon Readers,

This week we have finally finished GNAV; another monumental topic requiring the intake of a huge amount of information. Despite being called GNAV, you don't really do any navigation at all; in fact only the last day on the subject was spent plotting lines on charts to find your position! Below is a picture of a Lambert Conformal Chart; just one of the types of charts we use in General Navigation. Dependent on what latitudes you are flying in determines which sort of chart you need. The world is made up of airways which are like motorways for aircraft. We have each been given a Jeppesen Manual containing maps for different parts of the world. 

A chart showing the airspace in Ireland
 (although it seems to be upside-down!)

I think Henry has had enough!

At the end of last week it felt like GNAV was going to beat me but I think I may be on the way to cracking it...finally! We sit our mock exams tomorrow and Tuesday and providing all goes to plan, our real exams the following week. I can't believe I'm about to take my first set of exams; where has the time gone?!

Luckily we were only in school for 3 days this week so the other days have been spent consolidating the information and doing practice questions to see if we really do know the topics! At the start of the course, the Chief Theoretical Knowledge Instructor at CTC told us that the best way to revise was group revision. I was previously used to just revising on my own for A levels but doing group revision here is really good. It takes you a fraction of the time to find out things that you don't know by asking someone else as opposed to looking it up. Over the past few days, a few group sessions have taken place and I have found them extremely helpful! Unfortunately I think all this revision is going to make me quite fat what with the 'revision food' I am eating! 

Anyway, quite a short update this week as not really too much to say but I am pleased to announce that Joe has finally learnt how to spell easyJet.... Well done Joe!

Week 5- General Navigation

Evening readers and welcome to this weeks blog post! This week has predominantly been about General Navigation but first Principles of Flight. Monday was the final day studying this monumental topic. We finished off talking about propellers and how they work as well as limitations of aircraft and the effects of a contaminated aerofoil i.e snow, ice, rain, dirt etc on the wing. Unfortunately, many accidents in history can be put down to contaminated wings such as Air Ontario Flight 1363 which crashed just after take off because the wings couldn't generate enough lift due to 0.6-1.3 cm of ice on the wing. Now we have finished POF it's time to hit the practice exams and revision to make sure we can get a decent score!

A phenomenon known as rime ice accumulating
 on the wing

The rest of the week has been spent learning about General Navigation. Topics covered this week include the different types of charts used in aviation, how to work out distances between points on the earth but the most fun by far (yes I used the word fun!) has been using the CRP-5 computer. One of these bad boys will set you back £80, and for that you don't get a screen, a keyboard or even a mouse! Despite being called a computer, it isn't really a computer at all but what it is is a student pilots best friend. It enables you to convert numbers into different units, find out what speeds you are flying at but best of all (and my favourite part of the CRP5) it allows you to work out wind velocity (wind speed and direction) relative to the aircraft. 

CRP 5 Navigation computer (it even looks cool)

I am hoping for a lot of questions using the CRP5 in the exam as at the moment it is one of the few things I understand! Unfortunately it was a hard week this week being in school for 5 days (our first 5 day week since we started!) 

This weekend has been spent revising GNAV and POF as well as revisiting Mass and Balance and HPL before the mock exams a week tomorrow! Just before I sign off for another week, here is Joe trying to spell easyjet after an afternoons revision...

Its good to know Joe can spell the name
 of the airline we are due to work for....

That's all for this week! 

Week 4- Principles of Flight and General Navigation starter

So this week marks a month since I started training with CTC and with a new course starting last Thursday, we are no longer the junior course; where has the time gone?! The work is really starting to ramp up. Our course has just started the last of the 4 topics that we need to learn for module 1 before the exams in just under a months time. 

Earlier this week we continued with POF and learnt about high speed supersonic flight and how an aircraft is affected when travelling at the speed of sound and above. This was quite interesting and it made me realise what a design achievement the Concorde was. Click here to watch a video showing a Concorde flying at 40,000ft +, yet you can still hear the sonic boom!

We have also learnt about how an aircraft stays stable in flight around its 3 axis's and how the forces acting on an aircraft balance out to stop the aircraft uncontrollably descending or climbing, rolling or yawing. 

We still have one day of POF to go before we finish the topic but Wednesday and Thursday this week were spent starting a new topic called General Navigation. As topics go, this is a fairly important one; you don't want to plan to fly to Italy and instead land in Switzerland so understanding navigation and how different factors affect it is key. It is a fairly interesting topic so far and definitely more practical than some of the other topics we study involving charts, maps and lots and lots of trigonometry (yay...). When the opening words of the instructor as he starts the topic are 'how many of you can do trigonometry well' you know it's going to play an important role! 

Unfortunately this weekend has been jam packed with revision trying to keep on top of the workload but with exams getting ever closer, it's not the time to take your foot of the gas! 

It's true what they say though, time does go quickly here. It's almost like CTC has its own time zone that goes double the pace of the outside world! The constant digestion of new information whilst rehearsing the old information to make sure you don't forget it means you don't really have time for much else but it's all in pursuit of a wider goal, flying for easyJet! 

Our easyJet mentor pilot came to visit us this week. It is really nice to have contact with easyJet throughout our training and the fact that easyJet are already putting plans in place expecting us to complete training by a certain deadline means failure is not an option! CTC are known for their outstanding grades both in groundschool and flying training so as the liason pilot said to me earlier in the week, it's not if you pass but how well you pass! 

And with that I shall sign off for another week, have a good one! 

Week 3- Principles of Flight

Evening Everyone,

It has been a bit full-on this week but as always, we don't forget the fun on our course. On Monday we finished off Human Performance. We were treated to a presentation by a world leading Aviation Medical Examiner who specialises in the study of disorientation and how it affects pilots. It was an interesting talk confirming much of what we had learnt during the topic. He also bought these special glasses along which crossed over our vision. Below are a few videos showing the effects of these glasses; somehow I think I failed walking in a straight line miserably.

Myself

Vicky

Kieran

Joe

Mark

In the evening some of us met up for a BBQ but we couldn't afford to have a late night this time as Tuesday was a CBT day.

Kieran taking charge of the situation!

Leo cooking his steak to perfection!

Throughout the rest of the week we have been studying Principles of Flight (POF) which is probably one of the most important topics for us to get to grips with. It covers how an aircraft actually flies and involves a fair amount of physics with a little maths chucked in for good measure (my favourite...not!) POF was the subject I was always most afraid of studying and the one I knew I would struggle with most (it has definitely lived up to my expectations.) This weekend has been filled with 10 hrs of revision on Saturday and a few more today!

In other news, there was amazing cloud formation above our house a few days ago (picture below) although I can't tell you what the cloud is called because I haven't studied meteorology yet! Earlier in the week it was Jon's Birthday. Because he loves surprises (not) a cake was given to him with a card and he got the best present anyone could wish for, an introduction to POF!

Maybe it's just me that gets excited about
 these clouds...!

Jon looking very happy with
 his chocolate cake!

Anyway, that's all for now as I need to get my head back into the world of POF! Feel free to comment or email me with any questions and I will get back to you when I can!

Week 2- Human Performance Limitations

Afternoon Readers,

So this week I have been learning about human performance and the limitations is poses to commercial aviation. Human performance limitations (HPL) is, at its core, a topic to try and help us improve the safety of air travel in various ways. As technology has increased in its capabilities over the years, it has come to light that humans are becoming the cause of more and more accidents as opposed to the technology in which they control- around 70%-80% of all accidents are now down to human error. That's not to say that technology doesn't have a part to play in an accident however generally accidents occur because of a failure in the interaction between the pilots and the aircraft or the procedures they abide by. It has now become more important than ever to teach not only pilots but also other aviation personnel:

1. How to recognise safety factors and limits (which they shouldn't push)
2. How to recognise illusions
3. How to interact professionally and synergistically with your crew members when on duty
4. How to recognise the signs of various illnesses such as hypoxia, decompression sickness and various barotraumas. 

Aviation is still the safest type of air 
travel despite public perception

This topic is very science and PE based. It involves learning in a fair amount of detail how they eyes, ears, cardiovascular system, respiratory system and nervous system works. The reasoning for this is that if we know how these systems work then we can better combat any failure of these in flight by recognising the symptoms earlier. 

It has been interesting but still hard work. What has been good this week is that as part of this topic, it makes sense to look at various air crash investigation videos where human error has been a reason for an aircraft accident. We have learnt about Helios flight 522 where as a result of the pilots not realising the aircraft pressurisation switch was turned to manual, everyone on board succumbed to hypoxia and eventually the plane ran out of fuel and crashed. We have also learnt about Air France flight 447 which crashed into the Atlantic as a result of the pilots on board not trusting or understanding the information the plane was telling them. Finally, we looked at the Tenerife disaster which is still considered the biggest aviation crash in history. Two Boeing 747 aircraft crashed into each other on the runway in Tenerife as a result of a misunderstanding on the radio; 583 people were killed.

On top of this I am still revising Mass and Balance so that I don't forget it all for the exams in a few weeks time!

This weekend I managed to pop home which was really nice. I was able to catch up with some old work colleagues for a BBQ and various friends and family for a picnic in the park on Sunday. Of course, there is only so much socialising you can do when you have revision and work to get on with but it was a nice (if not brief) change of scenery!

What a nice afternoon for a picnic!

That's all for now. Next week I will be finishing off HPL before starting Principles of Flight; a very physics and maths based topic!

Week 1- Mass and Balance

Afternoon Everyone,

So this week was the first of our 24 weeks studying the groundschool syllabus. The syllabus is made up of 14 subjects split into 3 modules and we have to pass all of these before we can move on to the next phase of our training. Because I am training under the easyJet MPL scheme, along with 11 others on the course, easyJet wants us to average a pass mark of 85% during the groundschool phase rather than the standard 75% pass mark for each exam so it looks like we have our work cut out! Speaking to other trainees further into their groundschool training, this is perfectly manageable and to the best of my knowledge, the average pass mark amongst CTC cadets is 90%. The 14 subjects we have to cover are:

Module 1
Mass and Balance
Human Performance Limitations
Principles of Flight
General Navigation

Module 2
Radio Navigation
Instruments
Performance
Flight Planning

Module 3
Aircraft General Knowledge- Engines, Systems and Electrics
Operational Procedures
Meteorology
Air Law
IFR Communications
VFR Communications

However, before we even started Mass and Balance this week, we had to cover some 'basic' Maths and Physics to bring everyone up to the same standard. Whilst this may seem a bit odd, the age range of the trainees on our course is between 18-36. Some of us haven't studied in over 15 years and I was struggling with some of the physics despite only being out of education for a year!

Mass and Balance began on Wednesday. This topic is fairly Physics and Maths based and covers calculations which allow us to find out the Centre of Gravity (CofG) of an aircraft depending on how much mass it is carrying and where abouts the mass is loaded onto the aeroplane. It also covers the different masses pilots and operators have to abide by depending on the aircraft, airport and other factors. It is a fairly full on topic but one of the shortest we cover. We had finished it by early Friday afternoon!

A couple of us then went to see if there was a free simulator we could have a look around/play around in and as luck would have it there was! At CTC there are 4 full motion-simulators and 2 fixed based simulators; the difference being that the full motion ones move around on hydraulics. The simulators cost between £8-15 Million and are used to train trainee pilots and to refresh fully qualified pilots. 4 of us got to have a quick fly around in one which was a lot of fun and makes all of the groundschool training worthwhile (even if we are just 1 week in!)

A Full Motion Simulator

Me sitting in the First Officers seat

Fraser (left) and Henry (right) getting to
grips with the A320

After this, some of us attended a presentation from David Froggatt- Flight Operations Manager, Training Standards and Command Training for easyJet. He spoke to us about career progression when working for easyJet as well as the perks and potential downsides to the job. It was quite interesting to hear about the future plans for easyJet including fleet expansion plans. They have ordered another 120 aircraft with 100 options. Once delivered, this will bring their total aircraft number to over 350!

Friday evening was spent socialising as a group. This time we went to Pizza Express. I think the waitress was quite overwhelmed with a group as big as ours eating in there! Some of us stayed out later than others. This time I decided to get an early(ish) night! This weekend has been spent
consolidating what I have learnt over the past week by doing practice questions and practice tests! This evening Henry and I went round another household for a roast dinner cooked by Vicky and also watched the last top gear on their 52inch TV!

Vicky making home made yorkshire puddings;
that's dedication!

                                           

 What's good about the course is that we get CBT days or Computer Based Training Days. These are days in which we are expected to take charge of our own learning and don't necessarily have to go into 'school' and learn. Our course has the first of these on Monday to consolidate what we have learn't in Mass and Balance so hopefully I should be achieving the pass mark on practice papers by then!

Anyway, that's all for now. This week I will be learning about Human Performance Limitations so hopefully another information filled post next week!

Easing us in gently...

Hello Everyone,

So this week I have officially become a CTC Cadet pilot. On Thursday I drove down with my family for a Meet and Greet day in Southampton. It was a good day where we were able to meet the people that were going to be influential to my success here over the next 18 months. I also got to meet the rest of the course cadets and my house mates (Henry, Tom and Yvar, pictured below) who I will be living with whilst in ground school over the next 6 months.

From Left to Right: Yvar, Tom and Henry

After the meet and greet we were issued with our house keys and have been settling in over the past couple of days. The house is nice and has 5 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area and two bathrooms. There is no TV which is probably best as I don't think I would get very good results in ground school otherwise!

My bedroom for the next 6 months

After going out for lunch with my family on Thursday, they went home leaving me 'properly' on my own. Thursday evening was a chance for all of the group to meet up. There are 22 of us on the course; 10 easyJet cadets, 6 Virgin Atlantic cadets and 7 Dutch guys from a flight school in Holland. We all seem to be gelling really quickly and there is some top banter already!

Friday was our first day in uniform (picture below). It was really exciting and a bit surreal to finally be putting the uniform on! The day at CTC, known as APD1 or Airline Preparation day was all about finding our way around CTC as well as finding out a bit more about each other and talking about our expectations for the course, both hopes and fears. It was really nice to see that the fears I had about the course, especially ground school, were the same as other people's fears. Friday evening (and Saturday morning!) was spent going out as a group again and making the most of the free time before we hit the ground running this week.

My first day in uniform!

This weekend has been spent getting bits and bobs for the house, planning the weeks meals and getting the food shopping as well as chilling out together before we find ourselves with pretty much no free time!

My next post will be talking about the first week of ground school and how it's gone. Feel free to comment and ask any questions and I'll get back to you when I can! 

T-4days!

Morning readers!

The last few weeks have been busy and difficult but with only 4 days to go until the course starts I am getting all the last bits of paperwork in place. 

Over the past few months I have had to make some payments required before you even start the course totalling £10,000. I have also had to buy an iPad in order to download the groundschool syllabus containing 14 books. From what I can tell so far they all look fairly interesting but what strikes me is the amount of content there is to cover! It's going to be a busy 6 months. 

In the last few weeks I have finished working at Glyn school as a Learning Support Assistant, left 618 Volunteer Gliding Squadron and finished my Air Cadet career after 6 years (picture below). 

323 (Epsom and Ewell) Air Cadet Squadron

It's definitely not easy leaving things behind but now it's full speed ahead before I start later this week. Over the past few weeks I have been getting the various insurance schemes in place that you need before you start the course including loss of medical, loss of training expenses and life insurance. I have never had to read so many terms and conditions in my life! But with all that in place now, I am starting to think about packing for the move down to Southampton. I have been given my accommodation details so it is all getting very real now. 

Not too many training related topics to talk about in this post I'm afraid. I hope to post again at the end of this week and talk about how the Meet and Greet day and the first Airline Preparation Day went as well as the move into my accommodation so that's all for now!

How it all began....

Hello Everyone and welcome to my first post.

I thought I would start this blog by summarising the process I have been through over the past couple of months in order to start training with CTC on the easyJet MPL scheme in June. But first, how did I decide that this was the career for me?

Since I was 8 I have always wanted to be a pilot and through being in the Air Cadets and having many exciting opportunities to fly I thought I would go into the military. However, a couple of years ago I decided that the military wasn't for me and started looking into becoming a commercial pilot.

Back in late 2013 I attended a CTC Aviation open day in Southampton. Here I got the chance to speak to cadets in training and gain an insight into both the process of training to become a pilot and the lifestyle of a pilot. I even got a go in an A320 simulator which was probably the highlight of the day! The day opened my eyes even more to the aviation world and the career of a pilot and confirmed for me that this was what I wanted to do.

Fast forward a year to September 2014. A year has passed since the open day and I have since completed my A-levels. I decided to go back and work at my old secondary school as a Learning Support Assistant for a gap year whilst I explored the different routes to the flight deck. In October 2014 the application window for the easyJet MPL Scheme opened but I didn't apply straight away. In fact I left it until December 2014 before I applied for a place on the scheme. Why? I wanted to make sure I was completely certain that this was what I wanted to do and after I had several discussions with both family and friends I decided to apply.

In January 2015 I was selected to go to Dibden Manor in Southampton for Aptitude tests, a maths test, group exercises and an interview. It was a long day and hard work but the next day I got a phone call to say I had passed. I was surprised that I had made it this far but what surprised me more was when easyJet phoned me to say they wanted me to go to Luton airport for the final phase of the application. Here I completed more group exercises and had another interview. The day was good fun. I got to talk to easyJet employees and gain even more of an insight into what it was like to work for easyJet. A couple of days later I was told that I had passed the final stage and was offered a place on the scheme to start on the 18th June.

                                                         

Dibden Manor 

Unfortunately, one cannot simply 'start' the course; there is a lot of admin and paperwork including the signing of contracts, returning of forms, cheques to start signing and a class 1 medical to pass.

I went to the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) at Gatwick where I undertook a medical examination. All commercial pilots are required to pass this medical in order to fly passengers around the world. I suppose you want to know as a passenger that your pilot will make it to the destination too! They check everything; blood, lungs, heart, urine, eyesight, hearing and a general check up carried out by a GP. Fortunately, 2 hours later and £400 poorer I had passed and could go away with a Class 1 medical certificate (the most expensive certificate of my life!)

All that's left to do now is organise life insurance and final bits of admin before the 18th when I have my first official day at CTC Aviation.

I will try and do a weekly update depending on how busy training gets to give you an insight into the training pilots have to undertake. In the mean time, if you have any questions then please comment or email me and I will do my best to answer them.