United States - Complete

JAA Ground School                                         -     Complete

FAA Ground School                                         -     Complete

FAA PPL written exam                                    -     Complete

JAA PPL internal check ride                           -     Complete

FAA PPL check ride                                        -     Complete

14 JAA ATPL examinations                            -     Complete

JAA CPL qualifier internal check ride            -     Complete

JAA MEP/CPL check ride                               -     Complete

As trainee pilots we all learn the task of reading from checklists very early on in our training. They're our best friend. They detail everything we should be doing to make sure that the systems there to operate a safe flight are configured correctly at each respective stage of flight.

Over the past eleven months or so we have been working through that checklist of requirements we need outlined by both the training college and the national authorities. As you can see from above there have been quite a few and as I sit here, 35,000ft above the Atlantic ocean I'm ecstatic to say the final hurdle on the American adventure has been completed.

It's been about ten days since I've updated this page and this has solely been due to the amount of flying and ground study I have had to do to get out of Melbourne in time for the start of the next part of training on Monday morning.

I completed the flying programme on Monday evening and on Tuesday lunchtime I took to the air with the Chief Flight Instructor for my mock check ride. The flight went really well and he was happy to put me forward for the IAA exam the following day.

Preparing for the final flight in US airspace as well as preparing for a much larger flight later that evening if everything went to plan was extremely time consuming! The time passed over to 2am before my head hit the pillow. I was getting up on two hours and forty-five minutes later for the biggest test of the training so far.

4:45am. The alarm sounds. The last time my head would touch a pillow for over thirty six hours. Flight bag ready, the journey to the Flightline was as it ever was at this time in the morning. Very quiet and solemn. The fifteen minutes passed pretty quickly as I went through the emergency procedures which should be learnt to memory one last time.

Arriving early enough to complete the paperwork before the flight 7:30am soon came around and it was time to meet up with the examiner for a pre-flight briefing. He ran through everything very quickly and summarized the briefing we had had a couple of days earlier. Both happy we headed out to the plane.

The flight consists of around 2.5 hours in the air covering everything from a navigation route, flying solely on the instruments, dealing with unusual attitudes, system failures, emergency situations (engine fire, engine failures) and work in the pattern. 

It all went swimmingly (apart from a scary moment where I thought I'd lost me my during the navigation diversion!) and on parking at the ramp I was congratulated by the examiner on passing the flight. 

Over the moon I headed back into the Flightline to immediately book my flight back to the UK. With all the excitement the serious lack of sleep and thumping fatigue seemed to sit at the back of my mind bothering much less than it had at sunrise.

I now had a deadline where the car would be picking me up to take me one last time to Orlando International airport. Work to be done. Checking out of the United States was easier than expected. As with everything there is a serious amount of paperwork, most of it pompous and unnecessary but no less it was all complete, signed and delivered to the relevant persons.

Now was the hardest part. Saying goodbye to everyone. 

In the past eleven months I have had the great honour of meeting some of the most interesting, some of the kindest and most certainly some of the most talented people I could possibly wish to come into contact with. From school leavers and university graduates to those who have worked in the depths of central London. From professional sportsmen to photographers. Whatever the career path was, it was quite clear to see that everyone out in Florida is there to achieve that one goal and dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot. 

I do wish everyone still out in the US the greatest of success in the future and hopefully I'll see a number of them either in Ireland next month or in the air during the future!

With the goodbyes dealt with both in person and via email I was quickly descending on Orlando International airport. 

With the amount of luggage I was taking home I was pretty embarrassed when I saw the weight of the luggage as it was totaled up by the Virgin check-in staff. The kind lady smiled at me, gave me my extra legroom ticket and said "enjoy your flight." I can get used to these extra perks!

Through security and duty free and it was time to wait for the flight home. It was the first time since I had passed the flight test taken earlier in the day I realised what was going on around me. The rush of preparing for home blurred everything else and it hit me. 

"I'm a multi-engine commercial pilot." 

Looking out at the Boeing 747 affectionately named "Pretty Woman" by the airline that was due to carry me seven hours to the east very shortly; the perfect setting. 

The time I have spent in America will forever be remembered.

Seeing the sun rise over the Atlantic ocean from 8,000ft for the first time; visiting Miami and it's world famous beach; flying in to some of the US's biggest airports in one of the smallest planes on the market; being part of a world leading programme on hypoxia training and undertaking upset recovery training are just some of the highlights of an amazing eleven months.

So...what now? Well having been at home for a couple of days and catching up with some friends and family I'm back at the airport again tomorrow to catch a short flight over the Irish sea to Waterford. The Instrument Rating (IR) course begins on Monday morning and will take around six to eight weeks to complete.

It's time to continue packing for the next stage of training, maybe a few less pairs of shorts this time...

Back in at the deep end

So I'm now back in Florida and it's been a tough couple of days with more to come!

I left a very windy Manchester on Thursday morning and made my way back across the Atlantic to Orlando and then on to Melbourne in the Sunshine state. Leaving Manchester was quite interesting. As many in north western Europe will know the winds have been extremely strong over the past week and come 10.30am on Thursday it was no different. The winds were so strong that as we boarded and waited to leave the gate the plane could be felt rocking in the airflow. Not only this, upon pushing back from the gate we had to wait for twenty minutes due to cargo containers sat by aircraft stands which had been carried by the weather and were now sat covering the main taxiways. The captain advised he would refrain from starting the taxi until all had been safely removed to save 'embarrassment' on behalf of the airline and airport in the case of one again been thrown into the air and in the worst case scenario striking the aircraft.

Anyway, we were soon airborne and after an extremely bumping departure we quickly got above the clouds and on our way to the US.

After landing in Orlando I joined the long and laborious immigration line which lived up to it's infamous name. Finally arriving at the desk I was asked kindly to follow the immigration official into a room for secondary checks. I wasn't thoroughly informed as to why this was the case at the time but soon enough my documents were returned and I was able to leave the arrivals facility and meet up with some of my fellow students before the journey back to Melbourne.

Shortly after arriving back and unpacking I was on to the computer to see if any flights had been scheduled by my instructor. True to his word the following morning I would be flying bright and early - at 7am. I'd been awake many hours and with the five hour time difference it added extra time on to an already long day. I had to get some shut eye.

Waking up the following morning bright and early (not long after 5am!) I headed to the Flightline. Since returning I was quickly informed that the weather was not what it had been when we left less than three weeks ago. It was apparently much cooler when the sun set and as was said I soon felt the chill (even after enduring the English winter for two weeks) of a cool Floridian January morning.

The aircraft was prepped and ready to go. Just one problem - mist. Unfortunately until the obscurity had burnt itself off it wasn't possible to get back into the air for the first time in 2012. To keep the plan alive I delayed the flight and went for breakfast at a local diner with three other students. Arriving back around 10am the weather had improved quite considerably and I was able to soon get back into the seat and head towards the runway.

The checklist had been thoroughly 'checked' and I sat there, waiting to make my first radio call of the new year. If I was to ask every student here the worst part of the flying (apart from the paperwork of course) the majority would most likely say it is making that initial radio call at the run up area. It's a very simple request to the controller and we have all done in many times yet it's one of those things that we all just have to sit there for all but a couple of seconds and just think - "what on earth do I have to say?!"

Luckily I got the first call under my belt correctly and it all flowed back. Within minutes I was pointing towards the sky and heading south. The air was still cool which helped the aeroplane climb much quicker than would normally be the case. Soon enough I was at my cruising altitude of 6,500ft. Aircraft configured, radio checks complete and check lists again re-checked I got to again appreciate some of the glorious views on offer here on the east coast of the United States. Only twenty four hours earlier I was being rocketed into the tropopause in a metal (well...composite...) tube containing some of Europe's latest technology while now I sat in an aircraft designed in the seventies (albeit kitted out with twenty first century navigation equipment) cruising at 117 knots (135mph) just a mile above the earth's surface. The difference being, this time I was in control.

Soon enough I was ready to begin the descent into Okeechobee, somewhere I had been many times before. With the terminal information gathered (the weather for the particular airfield and any other relevant information) I began the approach. One thing was for certain - it was going to be quite windy!

After a few landings (which went OK - safe but not what passengers would 'appreciate' had their been many in the back) I headed back to Melbourne, this time at a lower altitude of 3,500ft. This allowed me to experience a more detailed view of the landscape and get some great shots.

"FIT 37, cleared to land Runway 5."

So that was that - first flight of 2012 complete. Although it had been quite an effort to get myself organised and ready for the trip so quickly after returning to the US I was especially pleased to get it under my belt.

Again today I was scheduled for a 7am solo flight. As yesterday I arrived nice and early and again the weather told the same story - fog. Due to me also having a dual flight with my old instructor at 10.30am I unfortunately had to cancel the flight as I simply did not have the time to wait and fit the journey in before the following lesson.

I'm hoping to get my FAA PPL in as soon as possible and after cancelling the mock check ride before going home for Christmas this has now been reorganised for Monday. Before this I wanted to get a flight in with either my current or old instructor so that I was able to iron out any creases that had formed over the past few weeks on the ground while at home in Europe - and indeed there were a few!

Luckily I was able to get a flight with my old instructor who took me up for two hours and went through the majority of the procedures and manoeuvres that would be covered in the FAA check ride. It was great to get some feedback on areas I need to work on and hopefully there will be an improvement come the mock flight.

So, having gotten out of bed at not long after 5am for the past couple of days I was looking forward to taking the Sunday off to relax before the flight on Monday and the ATPL classes which start again on Tuesday but no, tomorrow morning by 6am at the very latest I'll be at the Flightline preparing another solo cross country flight. It's certainly not something that I am complaining about and I am extremely happy to be getting as many flights as possible under my belt as the CPL training lies only nine weeks away.

So, a busy few days and a few more to come - and that's before we start class again this week!

Next week I'll give more information on the final module including the subjects and the new changes with regards to the timetables.

Time for bed - another early start in the morning.

Returning back to Florida with exam results...

It's quite scary how quickly these two and a half weeks at home have gone. It's been a bit of a whirlwind with moving house, Christmas and New Year all coming at once. It's certainly been a time of over indulgence and I think it will be good to get back to some normality in the coming weeks.

I've pretty much spent the past week doing much very similar to the week before with a great night on New Year's eve. I also managed to get to a local football game yesterday and was good to get back into the old mould before leaving for Melbourne back in May 2011. Although the local weather is something I haven't enjoyed while being back home!

Today I finally got hold of my exam results for the ATPL exams taken before Christmas. I managed to achieve an average of 98% giving me an overall average of 95.4% with five exams remaining. I'm glad to have been able to increase my percentage going into the final module.

So, when I return later this week to Florida I'm hoping to get a few flights in before starting ground school again on Monday 9th. The structure in which we complete our schooling is due to change this time and I'll explain next week how so.

It has been absolutely fantastic coming back home and seeing family and friends and I'm now looking forward to getting back to the states, getting the final set of examinations complete and then onto flying full time once again. In three months time I should be back in Europe for the foreseeable future.

Next time I head east across the Atlantic I'll be back for good...

Home

Whether it be in the centre of a bustling city or down a quiet country lane it’s always the same – it’s home.

We now live in a world where we can travel with ease across boarders at costs unimaginable twenty (even ten!) years ago. As the world becomes a smaller place and business moves ever more quickly ; the phrase “leaving the nest” has become a lot more distant than ever before.

There are certain times of year, different in different cultures, where those, wherever they may be, come together to celebrate or simply to reunite for old time sake. For those in the Christian world, this time of year is more prominent than any other.

Over the past seven months away from home I’ve worked pretty hard. Through long days and short nights it has been a rollercoaster of emotions and something twelve months ago I would never have dreamed of encountering. It’s almost been surreal but here I am, back to spend three weeks with family and friends over the festive period.

Having concluded the short stay in Orlando we headed to the airport for the flights back to our respective countries and more particularly cities. The flight to Manchester was delayed by one hour due to snow the previous day here in the UK; having a knock on effect on the airline’s schedule. As predicted the plane arrived sixty minutes late into Orlando International and the operation got underway to turn the aircraft around as soon as possible.

Plane fed, cleaned and refreshed we took off into the night sky and headed north east bound out into the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to some impressive tailwinds the flight time was reduced to seven hours meaning an on time arrival into the northern city.

Living in a climate that would feel embarrassed below twenty degrees Celsius, landing in Manchester where a frosting of snow covered as far as the eye could see was a bit of a shock to the system. The first time I’d seen the white stuff since I was last at the airport in January!

Touchdown was particularly impressive after a smooth ride. To add to a very good flight, spending only twenty minutes from disembarking the aircraft to leaving the terminal it was impressive to see the new passport chip system in operation – fantastic idea!

So here I am. Back at home. It’s been seven months; and it’s most certainly been worth the wait…

Three weeks gone and a day to remember

Yesterday we finished week three of the second module. We have this week begun the two Communications subjects and moved locations to the new Pilot Training College facility called the Babcock building.

As mentioned before, this module is over three days of the week. Monday was mainly spent revising and a little bit of downtime followed by an early night due to a solo flight on the Tuesday morning.

Getting up at 5am was not something I had done for some time and wasn't exactly what I was looking forward to! Weary eyed I arrived at the Flightline around 6.15am. In the USA (and maybe other countries over this side of the Atlantic, I'm not too sure...) the clocks switch back an hour later than those in Europe. This meant on Saturday evening/early Sunday morning the clocks stood still for sixty minutes (sort of...) and has led to lighter mornings. So, on Tuesday as I walked out onto the ramp at 6.40am the sun had already reared it's head ten minutes previous. Another difference from previous months is the weather. During the summer, as explained before, the weather is like clock work. Fantastic clear skies early in the morning and horrendous thunderstorms in the afternoon. However this seems to have changed quite dramatically and it is now almost impossible to predicted the weather without the help of the official channels.

My solo flight was the last time I would be up in the air on my own before my FAA PPL check ride. It is one hour long and designed for the student to go into the practice area to practice different maneuvers that would come up during the exam.

"Melbourne Tower, FIT 37 is ready for departure, Runway 5 at victor."

"FIT 37, cleared for take-off Runway 5. Make right downwind Runway 5 and depart on course."

"Cleared for take-off Runway 5. Make right downwind departure, FIT 37."

After a couple of maneuvers in the practice area I returned to Melbourne airspace and entered the pattern for a few landings before getting back to the ramp.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were back in the classroom for ground school in now all five subjects including IFR and VFR communications. These two are the smallest of the fourteen ATPL examinations each consisting of only twenty three questions to be completed in a thirty minute time frame. We also did three class tests on each of the other three subjects.

On Thursday we moved to the new Pilot Training College Babcock facility. The building has been open for a few months now and houses all operations staff as well as offering facilities such as classrooms, self study areas and a canteen. I personally find it much better than the Annex which will continue to be used for ATPLs for other module classes I believe.

Anyway, last night a few of us went to Smokey Bones for something to eat before spending today watching some of the England game and generally having a rest. Tomorrow it's back to the books before my last flight with my instructor on Monday before the FAA PPL check ride!

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Separately, yesterday was a day for a number of countries to remember those who had fallen for their country.

In the UK we call it Remembrance Day and is honoured by a two minutes silence at eleven minutes past the hour of 11am. Something that has also become a custom is to wear a plastic red poppy as a sign of respect in the days and weeks around the 11th November.

Here in the US it is known as Veteran's Day and it was something out of the ordinary for myself to see the President of the United States aboard one of America's many aircraft carriers which had been turned into a basketball court with four stands around the centre of action. 

A game was played between two high school teams to mark the day.

Final countdown

The whole process began many weeks ago back in February but this Saturday will finally see me depart to the United States.

Late last week I received the flight details for the trip across the Atlantic. This has not only allowed me to plan the final week but the email also brought a sense of reality. A final deadline if you will.

As well as flight details I've also received more information regarding arrivals and I've also made contact with a number of fellow students by the wonder of Facebook. We all seem to be in the same boat. Excited and apprehensive.

Within the past week I've also finished work (thanks to everyone for a great last day!) which I thought would then give me some time to relax and get ready for departure. However, with all the preparation still needed it's turning out to be one busy week! A benefit of going away however is being able to see a lot of family and friends which involves a lot of eating and most importantly drinking!

It's hard to believe that this time next week I'll be in Melbourne, Florida. I know it's going to be a hell of a lot of work and dedication is paramount (something I'm well known for lacking!) but I'm sure my "that'll do" attitude will change very quickly.

I have a lot of people to thank for actually making this career path possible. It is a very expensive profession to get into and I am extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity for which I will forever be thankful. I often feel we take people for granted, especially those very close to us. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and put out lives, family and friends into perspective.

I've spent a lot of time in recent weeks on Youtube watching videos on both sides of the Atlantic trying to build a picture of what to expect. Somehow whatever my predictions and expectations maybe, I'm almost certain they will be outdone and surpassed in the coming months.

Roll on America...

P.S. Great Sunday watching United gain their record breaking 19th title. Only the small trip to Wembley on the 28th May!