WEEK 4&5: METEOROLOGY #9

Airline Prep

The new logo

The last week and a half has been spent on MET (meteorology), which to me has been the most interesting subject by far! And I think it will remain so until human performance down the line in module 2.

Although it is a lot to take in and some aspects are relatively tricky, it's so applicable to the real world which is probably why I find it so interesting. It's great being able to look out the window and try to predict what type of cloud is present, why it's there, is there a high pressure or low pressure, warm front or cold front, stable or non-stable air, what weather's coming next etc. It's also quite cool being able to read and understand those complicated weather charts that the reports sometimes show that make you think "what the hell is that!". That all seems to make sense now and I find it fun trying to understand what kind of weather is going to be occurring in the next few days by looking at these now. Of course, I'm most likely going to be wrong, which should make me more than qualified to be a professional weather man!

This makes reasonable sense now

The best day so far in my opinion was the one spent on clouds. It's something that absolutely fascinates me and I had already done some previous research on that particular area, purely out of interest. I love being able to understand our climate a lot better now (still lots to learn though!) 

Caught off guard at the end of a long day

I think MET seemed to sink in reasonably well with the exception of fronts, which I'm struggling with a little bit at the moment but some more time spent on it over the weekend should clear up most loose ends.

Our instructor for MET has been absolutely incredible! He goes through things at a lovely pace, making everything as clear as possible and not moving on until he's comfortable the class are up to speed with it, and if there is any uncertainty after that, he is more than happy to give up his own time to help you - absolutely top class! I'm extremely happy that we have him for instruments and comms too. We just have a little bit more to do tomorrow (Thursday) before moving onto instruments, which should finish a week later. 

Class in full flow, learning about Hadley, Ferrel & Polar cells

Using the break to get a bit of extra reading in. Luke probably playing flappy birds in the background

On Friday some guys on a few CP's ahead of us invited us to the local pub with them which was really nice. It was good having an evening away from the laptop and just relaxing for a few hours, having a couple of bevi's and playing a bit of darts. It was also interesting hearing about how they got on with the course at our stage and getting as much inside knowledge as possible. A night very much needed.

A night at the pub

Last Sunday my dad came down to visit which was really nice. He brought a shed load of supplies with him which would be sufficient to feed a small army, including a large amount of toilet paper. I hope I don't get through all of it before my time is done here, otherwise a trip to the local doctors surgery is in order! We went out for lunch in a nice pub in Beaulieu where I had been as a small child before. It was really weird going back and recognizing it. When he left I was straight back to revising and managed to get a solid 4/5 hours done that night (the work never stops).

Back at the place visited a long time ago

Today we had a CBT day and most of our CP went into the center for an arranged extra lesson on turbine engines, which everyone seemed to have a below average understanding of. Another excellent instructor kindly gave up his free day to come in and teach us and he did an extremely good job. It turned out to be a full day purely on turbine engines, which makes me wonder how on earth we got through the entire topic of piston and turbine engines plus a little extra before 3 o'clock in one day during our scheduled lessons for it..... Maybe it wasn't my incompetence proving the problem there after all!

Anyway, I feel much better with it now and reckon after a few hours of question banking and re-reading of notes I'll feel relatively confident with it. 

DJ having a go on the flight sim (not quite the A320 full motion)

 Back into school tomorrow and Friday to finish off MET and make a start on instruments.

Week 3: AGK, POF, OPEN DAY & HORSES #8

Airline Prep

This is what we all hope to be some day

A lot has happened in the last week.

Last Sunday DJ & I did our first big shop at the local ASDA and enjoyed a few hours off exploring the local area. Of course we were back on question bank that evening though. A day without CBT or question bank would be totally unacceptable!

The shop

DJ doing the shopping

Toys in the classroom

On Monday & Tuesday we had our final two AGK lessons. We covered a large amount in a very small amount of time and to be perfectly honest I think it was a bit too quick. Engines seemed to totally wash over my head and before I had time to get to grips with it we were back in on Wednesday and Friday finishing off Principles of Flight. 

A320 sim in full motion (JEALOUS)

1 of the 4 training computers

Friendly Horse

If Im not in the classroom or bed, I'm here

Too friendly!

We finished early on Tuesday so Luke, DJ & I took advantage of the sun being out and went for lunch in Lyndhurst park, thinking we could relax a little bit before going back to our rooms to question bank engines. However, we were soon intruded by some very friendly horses who refused to leave us along and ended up following us around in hope of getting some of our lunch. In the end we had to seek refuge in my car and the horses then proceeded to like my bonnet and windows. Not the peaceful picnic in the park I was hoping for. DJ & I had some issues with stubborn horses on Sunday also who refused to let us pass by.

For my CBT day on Thursday I came into the center from 9 till 6 to try and get my head around engines but sadly I left feeling my understanding was still nowhere near as good as it should be. Thankfully one of the instructors has kindly offered to give me some help on my CBT day on Monday so hopefully that’ll sort out any issues once and for all! 

Uniform ready to go the night before

Tree down overnight!

In control of the 737-700

Friday was the final day of Principles of Flight and I actually left feeling fairy happy with my understanding of it. We covered transonic and supersonic flight as well as stalling, spinning and stability. Again, a lot to take in but the little gliding experience I have really helped me understand some of the concepts. The challenge now is remembering all the formulas that come with it! This Sunday will be spent going over all of POF and then hopefully I’ll feel reasonably confident with it.

Today (Saturday) I helped out with the open day which I really enjoyed. It was a refreshing change of pace going in and having loads of people look up to you and ask you questions. It made me really appreciate being here and how lucky I am to be in this position. I was lucky enough to spend about 3 hours instructing the latest aspiring pilots on the Boeing 737-300 sim which was brilliant! It was the first time I’ve seen a cockpit since I’ve been here. When I wasn’t in the sim I was mainly talking to people about selection and giving them insight into the reality of the course. I genuinely enjoyed talking to people about the course and tried to help as much as possible. 

A320 approach into Gatwick

I also managed to speak to quite a few guys on various CP's ahead of me. It was good listening to their opinions of the course and what they think the right approach is etc. I bumped into 'the fat controller' too, a guys blog I had followed before I started. It felt like I was talking to a celebrity! Seeing ex-cadets who are current easyjet pilots walking around made me very jealous though. Seems a long way off at the moment until I'll be in their position. 

On Final approach into Gatwick

Tight turn!

Close enough to the center line

Once people had left I managed to sneak in a landing in the 737 and A320 sim. My A320 landing was far more successful than the 737 one but I think that may have had something to do with the amount of sudden failures one of the kind cadets at the back threw at me. They were much nicer on the A320! I was in absolute heaven. God knows how long it will be before I get the chance to do it again though. 

All in all it was a great day and I’m going to enjoy an evening alone watching two and a half men and not doing any work. It’s back to it tomorrow though!

WEEK 1&2: AGK & POF #7

The last two weeks have been extremely busy! (unsurprisingly)

Airline Prep

We had Aircraft General Knowledge on Monday where we did AC electrics for most the day and started Piston Engine's. Electrics seemed to make sense as we went through it in the lessons but when I attempted questions on it later all the knowledge I thought I had went out the window! No wonder they call it "electrickery".

Treating ourselves to a rare moment of TV (match of the day) - question bank still open though!

The first week we had four days of Aircraft General Knowledge. There was so much information to take on board in such a short period of time. However, spending about 4 hours each evening revising the topics learned during the day helps for it to sink in a bit more. The CBT days and weekends (practically the same thing) are great for learning the topics properly and catching up on the CBT. I feel reasonably confident with AGK now which is good news.

A typical evening revising the days topics

This week we had Principles of Flight. The first day was just the basics of lift, drag etc. There was so much to take on in a short period of time and at the end of the day I was feeling a little uncertain on it. Thankfully the next day we had a different instructor who just seemed to recap on what was taught the day before, really hammering in the fundamental points of Bernoulli's theorem and the equation of continuity etc and after a whole 2 days and evenings on it I felt pretty confident with it so that was good.

Enjoying a cup of tea in the garden when the sun came out for 10 minutes

Our back garden in the sun

The usual grim, wet view from my window

The pace picked up a lot the next day though and we started going into take off, climbing, landing, descending, range and endurance which had many equations, graphs and angles. I think everyone struggled with it so a day or two spent going over it should help a lot.

I admit, this was serious procrastination

Today I had a CBT day (very much needed). I emailed the head of ground school to see if there was an instructor who had a spare hour or two to help me with electrics and he said the CP ahead of us were having an extra lesson on electrics. So Luke, DJ and myself went in at 9 am and it turns out they weren't doing electrics, so we found an empty class room and worked from 9 till 4. I spent the day question banking electrics and learning it as I went along from the descriptions given. The morning session was a slog! I was really struggling to wrap my brains around it but by the end of the day I was doing much better, getting 100% in my last test. I must have done close to 300 questions. I also did practice tests on all the AGK topics we've covered so far and I averaged over 92% which is good news indeed. So I'm very happy with myself this evening. Going to treat myself to an evening off, a movie and a proper meal.

The canteen

I'm going to do the same thing for POF tomorrow and then on Sunday read ahead on engines for the remaining AGK lessons on Monday and Tuesday. Only 2 more lessons ever for AGK and POF. TIME FLYING BY (pardon the pun). I feel like I've learned so much already but at the same time not enough. Just got to keep the hard work up.

The high standard of meal cooked on a day off