The Emerald Isle - week 1

Having arrived home last week and enjoyed a few days in the UK it was time to head out for the next stage of the training - the Instrument Rating.

The Instrument Rating (IR) is designed to train pilots how to fly solely by the use of instruments they have in front of them using navigational aids along their route of flight. As we in the north west of Europe are so lucky to live in such a climate where clouds are predicted almost daily it was only right that the training would be conducted in this region.

Waterford, Ireland. A small city on the south east coast and the home of The Pilot Training College. I headed out on a flight from Birmingham on Sunday afternoon. It was great to see and experience the aircraft I'll hopefully be flying in only a few months. It was the first time I have been on the plane and it looked like a fun piece of kit!

The journey over was short and I was soon in windy Waterford. The housing here is far better than we experienced in the US and the PTC facilities this week have been fantastic.

The week began on Monday with an induction day. We were shown the building, the simulator we would be working in over the coming weeks, what is expected of us and we finished the day with a one hundred question hand written paper.

It certainly opened my eyes as to the level of knowledge expected and I must say scraping the back of the mind for a few of the topics that I hadn't seen in months was a bit of a challenge! The idea of this is for PTC to see at what standard of knowledge the students coming over from Florida currently retain and for we as students to understand where our knowledge level should be at. A very useful exercise and I would advise anyone coming over from the US in the near future to do a bit of study before arriving!

Tuesday through Friday we revisited a number of subjects studied during our ATPLs and developed further on flying 'under the hood' as it is known. 

This was mainly focused on starting to read and understand 'plates.' A plate is in simple terms a detailed diagram listing everything you could possibly need to know about flying a certain departure or approach into an airport. Everything from the route to the highest obstacle will be within an A5 sized document. These are extremely useful (and pretty much a necessity!) to pilots when conducting their flights.

This weekend will involve quite a bit of study in coming to terms and revising previously understood material as well as a lot of new concepts.

Thoroughly looking forward to getting in to the simulator later this coming week and I'll be sure to keep you updated as to how it goes!

                                      

A rather weird Sunday...

Week three of the first ATPL module began on Monday morning bright and early, as usual at 8am. Another class test (AGK) was quickly completed followed by one covering Instruments. The tests included mostly material from the previous week but also that from week one, helping to slowly build up the knowledge.

Today we completed the Principles of Flight test which, not knowing the score, I feel went quite well. In between these tests we have indeed been in the classroom for the entire two days covering new material.

This afternoon we reached the halfway point of the five weeks of ground school of the first module. In two and half weeks time we will have only four days to prepare for the Consolidation exams (mocks). Although only just over two weeks in it really has gone very quickly and the next fourteen weeks leading up the going home for Christmas I am sure will pass just as fast.

Sunday afternoon. Flightline, Melbourne International Airport, Florida.

I for one am neither a fan or regular of afternoon flying; being able to count the number of times I've been up in my little Warrior on one hand.

Sunday's general aviation flying in the mid-drift of Florida is quiet. It's a surreal feeling being one of only a small percentage of the students that regularly fly from KMLB actually in the Flightline. Adding to the fact it was indeed an afternoon and I truly felt outside of my comfort zone.

The weather was looking very good with a bit of precipitation further south of where we were heading. In fact the weather has been superb ever since Sunday.

After an extremely long taxi down to Runway 9R we departed to the south west into the practice area. It was the first time I'd flown in three weeks with the start of ground school and instructor availability both playing parts.

It was mainly a refresher flight to get back into the swing of flying the aircraft and fine tuning before the FAA PPL which I'll hopefully complete by the end of this month.

Two hours later we descended back into the Class D airspace and shortly after we were back in the Flightline.

The debrief complete swiftly, both my instructor and myself very happy and then onto the bus for the fifteen minute journey back to the apartments.

I was messing with my flight documents in my bag and as I finished I looked out of the left hand window just before we set off. The American flag I've seen almost everyday while I've been here has always flown high above the car park at FIT Aviation. Sunday it sat at half mast. It was at that point I realised I had indeed completely forgot about such an important day in America's and indeed the world's history.

I had just completed a full flight in US airspace without the first thought of what happened those ten years ago. Maybe that's the way it should be...

Our new home

Nearly another week has passed and some more flying has been done. Not only work in the air but work on the ground has also been taking place as I write this from my new accommodation.

Last weekend dozens of students made moves to new residences across campus. For a number of different reasons since our arrival we were put into 'halls' where we each had a large room and a share bathroom.

Said building while on approach into Melbourne International (KMLB)

Each floor was split into north and south with a communal area in the centre. On the 'north side' there originally six of us but with a couple of additions and one leaving we ended up as a seven. The remainder of the male contingent of the course were on the 'south side' while our female colleagues were in a different hall on campus.

Anyway, it was announced we would be moving to our permanent accommodation last weekend and from Friday to Sunday it was time to pack up, move and unpack. Where we are now is a great improvement on where we were for the simple fact that we are now able to cook for ourselves (the halls had no cooking facilities other than a microwave). 

Each apartment comes with a kitchen, living area, bathroom and two bedrooms (I sound like an estate agent [or realator as they call them over here...])

New room here in Melbourne

Where I am now staying is called 'Southgate Apartments' and is where I will stay for the remainder of my training here in Florida. It is just across the road from the main Florida Institute of Technology campus.

Southgate Apartments while on approach into Melbourne International (KMLB)

Flying wise this week I've been focusing on preparing for my JAA progress test  in the coming week or so. The check is conducted internally by a JAA qualified instructor. The progress test covers everything required by JAA from stalls and cross country flying to different types of landings. More on that in a future post.

With my instructor we have been covering pretty much everything I have been doing over the past two months in the sky. I have never really been one for repetition but with each manoeuvre comes a different procedure and by doing each frequently and consistently I find it very beneficial. I'm sure all have improved considerably over the past week. 

During the past week I've also started to look at the dreaded ATPL material. The worst four letters in any JAA student pilot's training. Just mention those four letters in that order to any JAA trainee and you'll see their eyes wince, their skin go pale and a shiver as if someone had just walked over their grave.

Every pilot's nightmare - 'the ATPLs'

Six months, fourteen exams, three modules. Almost everything that you would want (and even wouldn't want!) to know about everything with the word 'plane' in it or associated to it is covered. Our first day of ground school begins on the 29th August putting it little over three weeks away. However I'm sure this subject will be exhausted on here over the next six to seven months. 

Finally, yesterday evening I back seated a night flight in the pattern here in Melbourne with a fellow student. Since arriving here I've wanted to get up at night as see the lights of the airport and the surrounding area. It didn't disappoint. Having arrived at the Flightline it was great to see how quiet and deserted it was. There was literally our flight and that would be it. All paperwork complete we headed out to the plane.

Due to work on the ramp the aircraft aren't currently parked in their normal parking spaces therefore after ten minutes or so we did eventually find our plane. Pre-flight complete, instructor ready, student ready, we headed out to the run up area where we would test the engine at a high RPM rate.

As my fellow student was running through his checks he noticed that in fact the flight controls (the yoke that makes the plane turn about two of it's axes) were not "full, free and correct." They were actually quite stiff so we returned to the ramp for a quick look by maintenance. A bit of WD-40 and a cloth did the trick and in no time we were back where we left off.

Taxiing to the runway I was a bit taken aback by the difference of flying during the day. Obviously I expected the visuals to be different but the beauty of a lit up airfield was truly fantastic.

We departed on Runway 27L and entered the pattern on Runway 27R. The instructor was very keen to put his student through his paces by having him land in different configurations and landing types. 

Runways 5/23 and 9L/27R are much shorter than the main runway 9R/27L and only the latter has lights running down the centreline. It wasn't until the second to last landing (below) as we turned onto final and you could see the whole runway lit up like a Christmas tree that I realised how much I'm going to love night flying.

Landing at night on Runway 27L at KMLB

The best part of the evening by far was when the instructor, after take-off following the above video asked if she would be so kind to turn of the centreline lights for the final approach - much to the disapproval of the student! 

Tomorrow I hope to get in my second cross country solo done and then early next week get back into it with my instructor.

Arrival

Well I've finally arrived.

Having had a fantastic evening on Friday I headed straight down to Gatwick to arrive in the early hours of Saturday morning ready to catch the first flight out to Dublin. In Gatwick I met a couple of the lads who were also travelling out and we waited patiently for the plane to the Irish capital.

The sun came up over a gorgeous morning in Gatwick. A quick one hour hop over to Ireland and we then had a 4 hour wait during transit. In Dublin (and Shannon in fact), the US Immigration authority have a station whereby passengers departing the America are able to clear immigration in the respective Irish city therefore arriving as a domestic flight. This is a superb idea as not only does it kill time at the departure point (during which you would otherwise be perusing the shops spending money on goods you really don't need or want) but also speeds up the process at the other end. I'd hate to have thought that we would have had to stand in a 1-2 hour queue in Orlando International (after the arrival of three UK flights) having endured a nine hour journey from the ROI. Anyway, having passed immigration we had little time to wait before boarding the Aer Lingus flight out to the States.

In Dublin the three of us that had originally congregated in Gatwick met up with a number of others. Having been placed in a middle seat and being quite tall I was dreading the flight however the aircraft had a significant number of empty seats meaning a number of us could spread out which was fantastic. By this point I'd reached sickly tired and was looking forward to nine hours of sleeping. However this was not the case and I spent much of the time either people watching or using the in flight entertainment.

Anyway, the flight passed without bother and upon arrival into Orlando International we again met up with more of our group. Unfortunately one who was travelling from Stockholm via Newark had a delayed flight from New York therefore did not join up with us until later on. The journey from the airport to the facilities was not a long one but it was a great time to get to know some of the people I'll be spending the next 14 months (and beyond!) with. They all seem a great bunch.

Having arrived at the accommodation we were all given our respective room assignments and were then left to settle in. Due to renovation of the new facilities we hope to be in by the end of the summer we are currently in something very similar to university halls. Personally I think it's great for getting to know the people on the course as it's very much more open and I wouldn't hesitate to say that it would be a good idea for all classes to start a similar way to ensure the group gel together. Upon arriving in the room we were greeted with our uniform. It was great to see what we'll actually be wearing and believe me - it's not the quickest thing to put on in a morning! Having unpacked (sort of) we headed out for something to eat and found a great little pizza place.

The following day was a day for us to visit the world famous Walmart Superstore and start to acclimatise ourselves to the weather and surroundings. As a group we visited the store to get supplies and then headed to Denny's for breakfast. It was something I have never seen before in all of my life. Bacon on an ice cream Sunday! The afternoon was spent at the mall and beach before again returning to the pizza restaurant for something to eat.

Today was the very first day of the course. Uniformed up, we went on a guided tour of the campus and in turn completed all of our tasks such as registering for ID cards, library, gym and postal boxes. The heat was quite unbearable, especially in shirt and tie. The initial holiday feel was well and truly gone.

This afternoon we went down to the 'Annex' where a number of classes will be held over the coming months. We again completed some more paperwork including registering with the relevant authorities so to keep in line with our student visas. We were also all given our flight bags with a substantial amount of gear that we will be using over the coming months. These included everything from headsets to books and measuring equipment to maps. It has certainly been an information overload sort of day but slowly but surely I'm sure I'll be able to take it all in.

Over here to get between the housing, Flightline (as you can guess, where we fly from) and the Annex we take specially laid on buses which run every fifteen minutes. This has been great in allowing us to talk to a number of students who have been here for a few months and to understand the workload involved. Let's just say we've seen a lot of red eyed, tired looking people walking around in pilots uniforms.

I've just looked over some of the books and it looks extremely daunting as to the amount of information we will have to absorb in such a short space of time. I don't think anyone can stress enough how much time and effort will have to be put into achieving that goal of a right hand seat.