WEEK 69: IR - CHECK #53

Airline Prep

This week brought an end to my IR training with a first time IR pass! It's needless to say I'm extremely happy and relieved, especially after last week.

A VERY expensive and valuable piece of paper

I started the week with my last lesson on Monday. I had a different instructor for that which I think did a lot of good because I went in with a fresh and more positive attitude and as a result flew a lot better. It was still clear there was a lot of confidence missing but it was slowly coming back. There were a few things to work on but I was feeling much better with myself and my flying. I did the Exeter route for this flight which is one of the most tricky so it was good practice and I thought if I could fly that route well then I could do any of them. I'd say Oxford is probably the hardest but Exeter would be next on the list.

The next day was my 170A check, which is basically a mock IR test. I came away from this feeling really positive. My confidence seemed to be back and as a result I flew so much better! It was my preferred Cardiff route which I know very well and rather than being heavily criticised, I was given a few complements and calmly prompted when I did something not quite right. I had to do a few theory questions afterwards about performance, law, airspace, the aircraft's anti-ice system etc.

Then after a couple of days waiting, I had my actual IRT! I arrived in the centre at 06:30 to get the pre-flight, performance, mass&balance, weather, notams etc done. I then met the examiner who gave a brief of the outline of the flight. I then finished off my planning and briefed him on the route and the weather. He asked me a few theory questions which I simply had no idea about. It was a little embarrassing actually just having to go, "errr, I don't know". It's bad enough once but I think I did that about three times which wasn't great. However, once I got in the aircraft I felt comfortable and did a good job! I was lucky to get the choice of where to go the night before and obviously I chose my favourite route, Cardiff, which I luckily got the slot for.

The weather was a little bit concerning because the cloud base was low, but high enough to make a landing at Bournemouth which is fine. The wind was calm which meant the flight was really stable, great news considering I had a broken auto-pilot. The issue was the visibility. To carry out an approach the visibility needs to be greater than 800 meters or the published minimum visibility on the plate (in Cardiff's case 900 meters). The forecast was showing less than 900 meters which meant we wouldn't be able to do a full approach at Cardiff which kind of ruins the test. Thankfully though, as we got close to Cardiff the visibility improved enough for us to carry out the approach.

Dad tracking my flight

I did the hold and NDB DME approach at Cardiff then a simulated engine failure on the go-around. We did general handling on the way back which consisted of stalls, limited panel compass turns and unusual attitude recovery. I then did a radar vectored ILS and a low level circuit at Bournemouth, with an absolute greaser right in the touch down box. I was told the result once the engines had been switched off and let out a huge sigh of relief. It's such a huge load off my shoulders!

I'm pleased to say that DJ and Luke passed on the same day as me. DJ and I were in the air at the same time which I thought was really cool and very appropriate. Ashurst lads doing what they do best! So there's been two partials and everyone else has passed first time. There's about three or four more to test and I'm sure they'll do really well.

So that's it, I now hold a multi-engine CPL/IR and 14 ATPL's with fist series and first time passes. I'm technically eligible to apply to airlines now but CTC give you extra training which is the three UPRT (upset recovery training) flights and three weeks of AQC. I then go into the hold pool and look for jobs. No more exams for a while though! I'm going to enjoy my weekend with a few cheeky beers, a game of cricket on Saturday for my club and a day at Lords watching England vs New Zealand on Sunday, then potentially a civilised game of golf on bank holiday Monday. Lovely!

I've been given an AQC date (15th of June) which is pretty exciting, meaning I'll be totally finished with my training at CTC early July! where on earth has that time gone?! 

WEEK 68: A LONG WEEK #52

Airline Prep

It's certainly been a hard and eventful week for me! I've had to wake up at 4 AM every day and my duty hours have generally been 05:30 - 14:30 each day.

Monday and Tuesday were very frustrating because I was cancelled due to the aircraft being un-flyable and having to go into maintenance. For most of Tuesday there was just one operating aircraft. I think it's because if a small problem occurs with an aircraft, rather than fixing it straight away, it's put on a deferred defects list and these build up until the aircraft has to be grounded and therefore takes a while to fix. On Tuesday I back seated Luke's flight to Alderney which went very nicely, no issues. We had a quick turn around and I set off to Exeter but shortly after take off I lost half of my comms and most of my nav aids which meant I couldn't continue the flight so had to return to Bournemouth. How or why that happened baffles me. I guess it just wasn't to be.

However, I managed to get flights in on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (all early morning shifts). I flew approaches at Cardiff, Exeter and Oxford, all potential routes for the IR exam. I thought I handled these OK but there were obviously things to touch up, such as radio calls, certain decisions which come with experience and precision with the notoriously poor and unpredictable NDB's!

Ryanair and Flybe at the gate

Leaving Bournemouth behind

Me in the cruise to Alderney

Alderney off in the distance

Bit of mid-air camera work from me. blondie_141 on instagram

Hello again Bournemouth

Luke on Final Approach at Bournemouth

Time to fly

Massive twin star with a tiny Boeing 747 in the background

Spectacular and dramatic sky

On the approach at Alderney

Missed approach

CTC Twin Star waiting for Take Off clearance

Who's the clever person that can tell me what this is.........

Sadly though I walked away from all these flights feeling like I'd failed an exam! The instructor I had for this stage really rubbed it in and made me feel a foot tall if I made a mistake, even if it was a minor one. I've been very lucky so far and really enjoyed my flying. The feedback has been positive and I feel as if I've learnt a lot and been progressing well, and if I do make a mistake, it's fine, it's just a gentle reminder and discussion and "don't do it again", not being criticised and given a hard time whilst in the air! It got to the stage where I felt apprehensive to make a mistake or ask a question and was censured. I also like to have a chat to instructors on the ground and in the air during relaxed phases of the flight, I find it eases the tension and creates a good working atmosphere, however, it didn't seem possible this time. Normally you have to drag me out of the aircraft but this week you couldn't get me out quick enough.

My confidence was very low which isn't ideal when there's just one flight to go until the) mock (170) but I'm sure things will be better next week and I'll have regained my usual self-confidence going into the test. I know that other cadets, on my course and courses ahead of me have had similar issues with the same person.

I also had to do my RT test (radio test) on Thursday after a morning of flying. Having arrived in the centre at 05:30 I left at 17:30 and it's needless to say I was absolutely knackered.

The RT test was odd. You have a short brief with the examiner then fifteen minutes to prepare for it. You sit at a computer with a screen (as shown) and on the other side of the wall sits the examiner. You wear a headset as if in the aircraft and a basic route is displayed. You have to fly the aircraft along the route by adjusting the heading and altitude. You also need to input the required frequencies and squawk codes as if in the plane. The examiner is making the calls as if he's ATC and you respond as you normally would in the plane. What's strange is the test is based on VFR calls, and for the last few weeks/months all the calls I've been doing have been IFR so it was quite tricky having never done VFR calls in the UK. It lasted about half an hour and I'm glad to say it was a pass. Another box ticked! I just need my IR now and I'll be fully qualified!

The RT Test screen

I'm going to relax and recover this weekend and hopefully go into next week with a fresh mind and more positive attitude. The test is looming! 

WEEK 67: FIRST FLIGHTS #51

Airline Prep

It was a rather frustrating week thanks to the weather. I was due to have four flights this week but because of a bank holiday on Monday and very strong winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, I only ended up getting two flights done.

The forecast. Not too keen on surface winds gusting 44 kts! 

The first flight was just an hour training at Bournemouth. I took off, entered the hold, did the NDB procedure, a missed approach with a simulated engine failure then an asymmetric low level circuit.

The second was an IR profile to Alderney and back. I did an RNAV approach and NDB approach at Alderney (otherwise known as the 'dive and drive') then a radar vectored ILS and an asymmetric low level circuit.

The first flight went pretty well I thought but I was a bit slow off the blocks on the second. It took me about twenty minutes to settle into it but after that it went fairly well. I think it's because as we were taxiing out we had a 'door open' sign which meant we had to taxi back to CTC, shut down, get out and check everything, restart and taxi out again, so it all felt a bit rushed. Then when I went to full power for take off, one of the engines wasn't going to 100% but we decided to continue and keep a close eye on it. Thankfully we didn't have any problems but nonetheless it was something else to add to the stress.

The Foggles - replacing the hood and screens

In the hold over Alderney 

My room. what an effort

In the act

Card from DJ

Big turtle in the Bournemouth oceanarium

Not a bad dessert

I'm hoping to start pushing on a bit now, I'd like to be done with this IR as soon as possible and move one step closer to finishing! I guess I just need to wait and see what happens. 

WEEK 66: IRT PREP/FINAL SIMS #50

Airline Prep

I had my last ever DA42 sim this week which means the IR is looming. Having finished the 'LOFT' phase, I entered the 'IRT PREP' phase which is exactly what is sounds like; preparation for the IR. You treat the flight as an IR test basically but the good thing about being in the sim is if there's something that doesn't go quite right or needs a bit more attention then you can just pause it, discuss the issue, re-set it and try again, so it's a good way to feed into the profiles in the aircraft.

The last three sims were pretty intense and hard work but were made enjoyable thanks to the brilliant and hilarious instructor we had. I think Luke and I handled it reasonably well, we weren't perfect obviously but our instructor seemed to be quite happy with our progress.

I think this summarises that phase quite nicely

To get a look at what actual flying is like in the UK, I back seated DJ's flight to Cardiff and back which was very helpful and also the flight I'd done in the sim the day before. I was surprised how similar they were to be honest. It was such a great feeling getting back in the aircraft and seeing some English countryside from the air. I was very interested to see what the radio was like over here so it was good to hear that without having to make the calls myself. It was also good seeing what to do before and after flights here, such as filing the flight plan, where things are for the pre-flight inspection etc. All in all it was a very helpful day and should help me for when I come to flying myself next week.

Leaving Bournemouth behind us

Bournemouth

Barry Island from Gavin and Stacey

In the hold over Cardiff

The Swalec and Millennium Stadium 

To end the week Luke and I had to do a limited panel exam which gets us another essential sticker in the log book. We went to this small company on the other side of the airport and were taken into a small shed, containing a very very old duchess simulator. We had a short brief, fifteen minutes each to practice and were then thrown into the test. This thing was very difficult to control as there was no feel, no visuals and all the instruments were the old school ones like in the Katana, and half of them were covered up. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be and it required a lot of concentration but Luke and I passed, so another sticker gained and another box ticked. The test lasted about twenty minutes. We had to do a few unusual attitude recoveries, climbing, descending, slowing down, speeding up, compass turns and finally fly it for a while on a constant heading at 100 kts which took some doing in that sim.

Practising in the Duchess sim

So all that's left for me now is a radio test, six lessons in the twin star, the 170 check flight and the IR itself!