The time has come for me to write my final post. After just under 2 years of hard work I've made it into the right hand seat of an Airbus, flying paying passengers around Europe.
Before I started on the line I had to do 2 days on the jump seat observing normal crews. It was really helpful just sitting back and watching/listening. It's amazing how much extra stuff there is to do that isn't covered in the type rating, such as fuel and time checks, ops messages, printing weather and digital clearances, foreign controllers and so on. I learnt so much in just those 8 sectors and the crews made it look so slick and easy! Definitely something to admire and aspire to.
views from the jumpseat
After 3 days off over Christmas it was my turn. 3 days of 4 sectors with a training captain, and a first officer in the jump seat as a safety pilot. Basically an extra set of eyes to make sure I don't do anything stupid. On the 1st day we went to Bordeaux and Zurich, 2nd day was Nice and Toulouse and 3rd day was Bordeaux and Luxembourg.
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| Parked on stand |
It was an extremely weird feeling getting into the aircraft and turning left and even more so when passengers started boarding. It was so much fun but really hard work and by the end of each day I was absolutely knackered. The learning curve is huge and with short sectors there's barely time to think. Because it's all so new it uses up more capacity just doing the standard things that will eventually become second nature, so add the new information on top of that and suddenly there's very little capacity left. It's really draining and there's a lot of pressure but it's great! So far the trainers have been excellent - really calm, patient and helpful. They're well aware you're going to be a bit slow to start with and are going to need a bit of guidance, otherwise they wouldn't be in a job.
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| Spotted |
Line training lasts about 50 sectors which sounds like a lot but when you're doing 4 sector days it really doesn't take long. As I said, the first few days are done with a training captain and a safety pilot, then the rest are just you and a training captain. At the end of those 50 sectors you have your line check which is just like another normal flight and if all goes well then you're signed off and free to fly the line with any captain, and if not then it's probably just a few more sectors under training to iron out any issues. Reports are written by the trainers for each day and are viewed by the next person so they can track your progress and know what to keep an eye out for.
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A special passenger on my 1st day
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A standard day runs like so; turn up to the crew room (either north or south terminal depending on the flight number) about an hour before the scheduled departure time. Trainees are encouraged to get there 75 minutes before departure time and I make an effort to get there 15 minutes before that, giving me plenty of time to check in, print the necessary pages, look through the flight plans and find out which stand our aircraft is on and whether we have a scheduled slot or not. You'll meet the captain and go through the flight plans, weather, defects etc and decide how much fuel to take and who's flying which sector. At the same time the cabin crew are on an adjacent table doing what they need to do. When you're all ready you meet each other, exchange the important information and make your way to security then to the aircraft. You then don't leave the aircraft until the end of the day which can be about 12 hours depending on the route, delays, weather and so on.
There are staff car parks dotted around the airport. Mine is car park X, right at the far end of 26L. It takes me about 30 minutes from home to get there, then I need to get the crew bus to the south or north terminal, which adds about an extra 10 or 15 minutes. It takes me about 50 minutes door to door which isn't too bad to be honest.
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awesome crew on day 1
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I'll briefly mention how the pay works with CTC flexicrew;
Up until 500 hours with easyJet I get paid about £32 per hour and get a decent allowance for standby duties and night stops. As your hours increase, the pay increases. Apparently we're expected to fly around 750 hours in the first year which should come to about £30,000. For a 20 year old just starting out and being able to stay at home, I'm very happy with that indeed!
After one year you're eligible to apply for a permanent contract with the airline. If you're unsuccessful then you go back to doing the same job as before but still on flexicrew and can re-apply 6 months later. I'm not entirely sure exactly what that interview is like, something to look into in due course.
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| Beluga parked up in Nantes |
As a pilot you're constantly under pressure to perform, and to make sure high standards are achieved there's a number of tests to carry out each year; 1 class one medical, 1 online technical test every 6 months and a 2 day sim check every 6 months. Right now that seems like a lot and a bit of a drag but as a passenger it makes me confident that the pilots know what they're doing and as a pilot it may just save my life one day.
That's about all I can think of! I hope you've enjoyed following my journey and hopefully it's given a good insight into what it takes to become a pilot and maybe even inspired a few people. As ever, I'm happy to answer questions so don't hesitate to email me at harryinnesclark@googlemail.com.
Finally, I'd like to thank all the people who made this possible, from the instructors and staff at CTC and easyJet to my supportive friends, course mates, girlfriend and especially family! Without all of them this would still be a dream and not a reality. I've had a lot of luck along the way but also put in a serious amount of work and dealt with a lot of pressure to get where I have within 2 years. It just goes to show what you can do if you put your mind to it!
