Moving On

I’m writing this from a sun-soaked New Zealand, sitting in my new room in the Clearways accommodation block just next to Hamilton Airport.  It was fairly blustery and wet for the first few days but it’s looking nice at the moment and it certainly feels like spring!  I’ve just about recovered from the effects of jet lag and the seemingly never-ending 40 hours of travel from the UK, and starting to feel nicely settled.

The End of Ground School

It’s been a busy few weeks, seeing off the final seven ATPL exams at the start of the month through to saying all the goodbyes (many brunches with friends) and the travel down here.  The last six months in Ground school was fairly gruelling, however I know I did learn a lot in that time and there certainly is a sense of achievement having ticked off our first milestone.  On top of that, I met some great people and it was sad to see our group of 16 split down into two groups with 10 of us out here in NZ with the remaining 6 heading over to CTC’s new training centre in Arizona.  I wish those guys the best, and look forward to reuniting at some point back in the UK!

Traversing the Globe

Our journey from the UK was made all the more interesting as we got to experience an A380 for the first time on all three legs of the trip.   We swiftly put our recently acquired Aircraft General Knowledge to good use, keenly discussing various parts of the aircraft – I guess some things don’t change!  The journey itself was pretty uneventful, and it was a relief when we finally did arrive here - the first meal was an unceremonious Pizza Hut, although it was gratefully received.

CTC set us up really well to start with here - we've got a fleet of hire cars between us to share over the first two weeks before we eventually source our own.  The rooms are great and the Clearways accommodation is well kitted out.  We are split into a series of blocks, each with their own large kitchen and common room area as well as two separate gyms.  There are around 200 people living here, although it has seemed surprisingly quiet so far.  CTC train people from all over the world, so it's a real mix of cultures which is nice - plenty of people from Europe and Asia as well as some Kiwis who are a little closer to home!  Although the site is in a fairly rural area, we are right next to the airport so CTC aircraft are constantly buzzing around which is nice to see and we can get into Hamilton centre in around 10-15 mins.

We spent the weekend mostly shopping it seemed, a few trips to Pak ‘n’ Save to get all the essentials (NZ steak, of course) to make the room feel a little more like home.  We had a quick explore in Hamilton centre, it felt pretty quiet for a Saturday afternoon but it all seems friendly and has everything we need.  There is a large river running through the city, so we spent some time down there (and a paddle for some...) before heading home for a well-earned steak.  Sunday was spent visiting Raglan which is a beach around 45 mins from here.  New Zealand certainly delivered stunning scenery on the drive, and the beach will certainly come in useful once the summer hits…

Back to Ground School!

Monday was the first day back in uniform since our time in Southampton, and we headed over to the training centre at Hamilton airport (only 10 mins away) for our induction.  The training centre itself is a great facility (not least due to the free hot drinks machine) and to finally see all the CTC aircraft lined up outside the centre was exciting.  The first day consisted of a lot of introductions and, importantly, the allocation of aircraft type for the first part of the flying training.  I’ll be on the Diamond DA20, and I’ve now been laden with various manuals and inductions which will all need to be digested in due course.  Slightly daunting, yet exciting all the same. 

Tetris in the CTC hangar

DA20s lined up in the sunshine.

Unfortunately for us there is yet more ground school in the way before we start flying within a week or so as we have to pass a Differences exam and a New Zealand Air Law exam.   The differences exam was fairly straight forward, and we all passed that yesterday.  The Air Law exam takes a little more preparation and we’ll sit that on Monday.  Still, it’s nice to feel part of the flying side of things now and it won’t be long before we get started.

The first taste of the beach

Outside of work it’s been nice to catch up with familiar faces from courses ahead of us who we have now re-joined, and last night we found ourselves in an Irish pub doing a pub quiz (run by a Scotsman) which was quite amusing.  The standard was pretty high, so I think we’ll have to improve our New Zealand general knowledge before the next one…

The grand photography field trip begins - stars over Clearways.

In The News

We’ve been studying Human Performance and Limitations (HPL) this last week and a large part of HPL is given to look at previous accidents to see what can be learnt and how aviation can be made safer.  As I’m sure you are aware, there has been some devastating news over the past few weeks with aviation disasters frequenting the headlines.  My thoughts and prayers are with those recently affected by these disasters, and for me it’s been a humbling reminder of the responsibility that everyone in aviation carries to ensure these accidents don’t happen again.

In the wake of these tragedies there have been plenty of experts assuring us that flying is still very much safe (for our exams we work on an fatal accident probability of 1: 1 000 000 per flight in the UK, and I’ve seen it quoted up to 1 flight in 3 million in The Guardian - compare that to a car accident rate of 1: 10 000).  Although aviation accidents are few they can in their nature be very shocking due to the numbers of people involved, and that’s why as a trainee it’s really important to find what we can learn from previous mistakes.  These accidents are rarely due to a single cause, and Reason’s Swiss Cheese Model illustrates this quite nicely – in itself, a hole in a Swiss cheese is not an issue as there are many layers of defence (“cheese”) before a total system failure.  However, when a series of holes (the failures) are lined up in each layer then there is a route straight through to the eventual failure.  We’ve looked at many different accidents and in particular how the human factors contributed to the overall loss of an aircraft. In most cases removing one of many errors could have avoided the accident, and we are learning how to recognise these opportunities to prevent accidents, as well as using resources effectively (i.e. having good communication between crew) to ‘insert’ extra slices of cheese to provide further defence of a situation developing.

Reason's Swiss Cheese Model where the failures line up through each layer of defence (wikipedia)

Learning about this is only the tip of the iceberg with regard to safety – it’s just an introduction really!    Of course, for those of us that are watching the "Air Crash Investigation" for a particular accident it's very easy to say what should have been done from the comfort of our armchairs but in reality it is not that simple, although we are aiming to learn from it all the same. We are embarking on careers where safety is above all, and we will be exposed to difficult scenarios in the simulator time and again in order to allow us to recognise and prevent situations from escalating.  It’s this very training which gives aviation a strong safety record, and we are now moulding our attitudes to reflect this safety culture.  

What a show!

I'm just back from a fantastic day at the Farnborough Air Show, and with plenty of pictures of planes it seemed an appropriate time to do an update (I'll spare you most of the photos, though).  Now we've got the end of ground school almost in sight, it was a great opportunity to spend a (rare) day away from studying, although it felt like revision anyway, right?

The Red Arrows in full flow.

The DA42 - we'll be flying this aircraft out of Bournemouth after the NZ phase

First and last time to see a Vulcan!

As a first timer at an air show, I was suitably impressed with the range of stands and aircraft on offer to see and interact with  - we managed to drop in on the CTC stand as well as hop on board BA's all business class A318 which flies between London City Airport and JFK, New York for a quick nose around.  The good news for us is that we could see up close some of the things we'd learnt about in school  (I said it was revision!) and chat to some of the BA staff.  The actual display was rather awe-inspiring as well, and we were treated to a steady stream of aircraft from WWI tri-planes to more modern military jets and transporters (The Airbus A400M was very impressive).  For me it was a real highlight to see the Vulcan on it's last display season, as well as seeing the A380 which still gets the crowd off their feet even though it flies regularly around the world.  Not forgetting the Red Arrows of course - they were outstanding!  Anyway, I thoroughly recommend heading to an air show even if you aren't an avid plane spotter!

BA's all business A318

Getting through it...

Away from the excitement of fast jets and new aircraft, ground school is still very much in full swing and we have just finished 4/7 subjects of Module 2, starting Ops tomorrow.  I've enjoyed Module 2 thus far, it's been fairly practical although there are still numerous facts and figures to learn.  We started with General Navigation which looks at the different types of maps and charts, and how to read them and plot positions using a combination of bearings and distances from a given point.  Pilots can use a series of beacons, either NDBs (non-directional beacons) VORs (VHF beacons) and DMEs (distance measuring) to plot their position, or fix, which will have varying levels of accuracy depending on the equipment used.  In general, NDBs are less accurate as your instruments will just point towards them, while a VOR will give you a radial (i.e. 180 degrees) and a DME will give you a distance. The most accurate fix you will get is by using two DMEs, but depending on how well covered an area is that may not be an option and VORs and NDBs will be used to navigate with.  Of course, many aircraft also have GPS, which makes things a little easier still.

A rare uncluttered corner of the Jeppesen charts used in GNav - on the right the Berry Head VOR beacon shows a few different radials used to help navigation.

After GNav we had Performance which looks at aircraft performance with regard to things like the MTOM (Maximum Take-Off Mass) and how this is limited with regard to atmospheric conditions, runway length, obstacle clearance heights and more.  We make calculations on take-off performance using graphs in the CAP, which is a manual that contains specimen data for a variety of aircraft.  Next up was RNav (Radio Navigation) and that took us deeper into how things like the NDB, VOR, DME beacons work as well as looking at the communications systems that pilots use.  For example, over the Atlantic HF (high frequency) radio is used as it can travel a lot further, but at the expense of more radio noise, while closer to home we use VHF (very high frequency) for communications giving a much clearer sound.  Lastly, we just finished Mass & Balance which is a very important consideration for the safety of any flight.  If the aircraft is out of balance, it can be difficult to control so a lot of effort is put into loading the aircraft correctly and making sure that the centre of gravity (CG) of the aircraft stays within limits during the flight.  The CG can move considerably during flight, mainly due to fuel burn, so it is important that all stages of flight are considered in these calculations.

An example of the CAP, showing graphs and tables for the specimen aircraft used in flight training.

2 Months until the next adventure begins.

Our New Zealand visa application forms also came through last week, and it looks like we'll be heading out there in approximately two months.  Very exciting!  We've just got to get these exams out of the way now, and these should be happening in the first week of September so it'll be hard work until then!

Summer Holiday is over...

I write this at the start of module 2, having now finished the first set of exams and enjoyed my summer holiday - all four days of it!

The Exams

The last month has been a bit of a slog, as we finished the classes and then went straight into mocks the following week before the real exams last week.  We were the first lot through the new electronic exams and although there was a little apprehension as to whether all would be in place in time, there was a real effort from the CTC team to get it all set up and it worked really well.  The main difference with these exams when compared to the old paper system is that each person sits a different exam, with the questions being pulled from a larger bank of questions.  It was all quite a smooth process in the end and the real benefit was getting our results the day after exams were finished.  Thankfully I passed all my exams, so that's 7 subjects down and I am officially half way through groundschool.

People employed various revision tactics over the exam period, although most of us used the online question bank pretty extensively, which has 1000s of questions similar to the ones we saw in the exams.  My approach was to go into CTC most days, staying until late (that meant a few microwaved dinners, unfortunately) and I would generally read through all the class notes or the CBT software and make my own brief notes before heading into the question bank to test myself.  Others purely used the question bank so that they had seen most of the questions before taking the exam  - it's all a personal preference! Although there were some subjects, like the two Communications exams where it just made sense to keep going through the question bank as they were pretty much identical to real exam.

The Holiday

I managed a few days back home over the weekend, and it felt amazing to have time without any CBT or question bank to do!  I caught some much needed sun (the windowless rooms in CTC left us severely lacking in vitamin D by the end of exam period) and enjoyed catching up with friends and family without any work in the back of my mind.  It was a bit of a shock to the system to have to go in again today, starting module two. Today we started GNav (General Navigation) which was quite a nice way to start actually as the introductory bits had more or less been covered in module one - I don't doubt that there'll be plenty of new information coming our way again soon though.  It's also back into the routine of doing CBT in the evenings once class has finished, which I certainly didn't miss!

Other news

Since I last posted I had a trip up to the CTC base at Bournemouth Airport to have a look around in the simulators and the facility there with a coursemate. It was nice to chat to some of the other cadets who were there having got back from New Zealand and doing their Instrument Rating now.  We also grabbed some food at the local flying club cafe and enjoyed a bit of plane spotting while we were waiting to sit in on a simulator ride.  The sims at Bournemouth are DA42s, so quite different from the simulators at Nursling which are all Boeing or Airbus jets.  We didn't stay for the whole simulator session as we had revision to do, but it was interesting to have a nose around the centre and get a feel for what is to come.

The DA42 sim - the screen is grey to simulate flying in cloud, not much to see for us observers!

The CTC fleet of DA42s

Last night we had another meet up with the BA cadets currently at CTC.  It was a farewell to the BA guys on CP 115, who finished yesterday and are off to NZ in a couple of weeks, and a chance to meet the new guys on CP 120 who have just started.  I must admit that we are envious of the guys heading out to New Zealand this month, that still feels a long way off!

Back to CBT for me, thanks for reading.

Halfway through module 1

It's been over a month now since I began my pilot training and we are near the halfway point for Module 1, although it feels a lot longer given the steep learning we've all been on in this early stage!  Our first subject, Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK) was finished in seven days, followed by Principles of Flight (POF) in five, and we are currently studying Instruments (no acronym for this one, sadly) which will be six days.  There certainly isn't much time for rest, and we are all working hard to keep up with the sheer volume and pace of the course.

The first week of AGK meant a few late nights while I adjusted to the course, and I felt fairly swamped with the onslaught of information - we went straight into learning about hydraulic valves and various electronics which I hadn't had much experience of before.  Thankfully we soon started talking about jet engines and air flow and I was back in familiar territory...

Our Flight Computer - CRP-5, not quite got the hang of it yet

Pitot tube (left) measures pressure, and various other bits of plane!

Settling in!

Life has settled into somewhat of a routine now, we tend to spend around 4 days each week in class, and one day working from home on CBT days (Computer Based Training), although we occasionally go into CTC for this one anyway and work in a classroom.  The CBT is essentially an online textbook, with all the content that used to be given to cadets in the form of hefty books in a more interactive form.  We usually have five or more chapters to do on the CBT to follow up on what we did in class that day.  As you can expect, the CBT has a lot of information in, so we try and balance learning the detail with making sure we give ourselves enough time to get through all the content.  Each chapter has a quiz at the end, along with a larger 'Progress Test' at regular intervals which are monitored to ensure we are tracking well with the course in our own time.  Alongside that, there is an online question bank which have thousands of questions akin to what we can expect in the exams, so I try and complete the CBT then see how I fare on the question bank and revisit weaker areas.

Of course, there has been time to catch up with some friends, and I took a trip to Bath to see my girlfriend so I've managed to get some time away from CBT which is important to maintain sanity I feel!  It's been brilliant living with the whole of CP118 in the same block of flats - there is always someone about to talk to or bounce questions off, and it's a lot of fun!  We had a brief trip to the funfair across the road last night - had a huge result in winning a banana on 'hook the duck' and went on a few rides, although my whole body felt it was still spinning even as we got home... all good fun!

The banana.

BA Liason

Myself and the other BA FPP chaps met up with our course liason pilot last week for drinks in the city centre.  Having a liason pilot is a real benefit of the FPP, as it provides a link between us and the company, and someone who we can call upon should we need for any help or advice.  In my case, having been focused on studying since we started it also provided more excitement for the end goal!  This week we also met up with the other BA FPPers for a curry to send off CP113 who have just finished groundschool and are off to New Zealand in the next couple of weeks - I look forward to being at that stage 5 months or so down the line.

Thanks for reading - Happy Easter!

The Journey Begins

The Beginning!

Welcome to the blog, charting my journey through the British Airways Future Pilot Programme (FPP) with CTC.  I’ll update this as regularly as I can, although the next few months of ground school don’t promise too much interesting action so the exciting updates should come in 6 months when we make it over to New Zealand to commence the flying side of things. It’s already been a tough road to get to this position, and I’m delighted to finally start the training having got all the preparation and assessments out of the way! 

In Brief: The Journey so Far

I applied to the FPP back in autumn 2012, and having made it through the stages at both CTC (the school whom I’m now training with) and British Airways it was a very tense wait for the results.  Happily, (after much email refreshing) I found out I was successful – that was back in April 2013!  After a short wait I was given a start date with CTC in March 2014, which then left a very long wait to the start of my training.  Fortunately in the intervening time I managed to do some travelling and save a bit of money, all while eagerly anticipating the start date! 

BA Family Day

Last week we had our British Airways Family Day, which meant I could meet my fellow BA FPPers and course liaison pilots – it also helped in making the whole process feel like it was becoming a reality.  BA has chosen three Flight Training Organisations (FTOs) to train their FPP cadets, so we split off in groups to spend the day with our respective FTOs, in my case there were 6 of us from CTC.  The day was excellent, and gave us an opportunity to speak to current pilots / cadets / staff from CTC to find out exactly what the next 18 months and beyond were going to entail.  We started with a go on the 747 simulator, landing and taking off in Cape Town (with mixed success!), and then had a tour of the Safety Equipment and Procedures (SEP) hall where we got to ‘fly’ in the 737 while the cabin filled with smoke and have a go at operating the emergency doors.  The day was a great starting point for our training, and gave me a renewed enthusiasm and excitement for the career ahead!

Watching the 737 fill with smoke:

The epaulettes were presented to us at the Meet & Greet, while BA gave us the model at the family day - it will serve as useful motivation!

Moving to Southampton

Last Thursday I loaded the car up to head down to Southampton for our Meet & Greet day at CTC.  I arrived at Nursling with the other cadets, where we were given our keys and offloaded with a large bag of uniform and a flight case.  We headed across to our accommodation, where we are split across five flats in a large building near the centre of Southampton.  I’ve got three other guys in my flat, and once we all unloaded we headed for a quick bite before meeting up with parents back at Nursling for the CTC Meet & Greet presentation.

Friday was Airline Preparation Day 1 (APD1), to which we all arrived too early in our shiny new uniform.  I did make sure I got the ‘first day’ photo to send to mum, and the day consisted of a few introductions and general discussions around what to expect for the next few months and the lifestyle of an airline pilot.  It was a really useful day, and I look forward to more of these to come! 

One of the key messages since we’ve got here was not to fall behind during the first phase of ground school – something which has been repeated many times.  I think it’ll be hard work!  So what exactly is next? Ground school consists of two modules split into seven subjects each.  Our first subject, Aircraft General Knowledge, begins tomorrow. We will have to hit the ground running, although at this stage I’m just excited to get started after all this time!  It’s been a really fun few days – lots to take in already and I’ve enjoyed getting to know my new course mates in what could be our last stress-free weekend for a little while.

I’ll endeavour to update the blog when I can – ‘till then!