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?!