Week 65: Welcome to the A320 type rating

As some of you will know, even though I have been flying the Airbus since October, the actual systems operation has been dumbed down and we havent really explored the complexities of the aircraft. This is so that we gain experience handling a medium sized jet, without having to think too deeply about what makes it tick. Now that we have completed the basic course, we have officially commenced the A320 type rating course, starting with the technical ground school which I have now completed 5 days of. This has included many systems on the aircraft, including fuel, powerplant, electrics, pneumatics and landing gear. We go through the subjects at a fairly brisk pace as we are not learning how the systems work (that was the point of six months ATPL groundschool), but are learning how they operate and any peculiarities with the A320. Given the aircraft is drive  by 7 computers there are a few, but in keeping with the rest of the course the workload is tough, but manageable.

We have also this week been allocated our bases for when we commence flying with easyJet! These included Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with two pilots required at each. Naturally there was a little bit of friction deciding who went where as for starters no-one actually wanted to go to either Scottish base, but as people considered their options and where they were in terms of seniority (a terribly dark subject!), decisions were made. I'm happy to say that in early April I will be starting my flying at Gatwick, easyJet's largest base, which has worked out really well as Alice is to start work with British Airways 2 months earlier also a Gatwick. It also means I can continue in my position as a gliding instructor at my beloved RAF Kenley, so i'm very chuffed and know just how lucky i've been to get what I wanted. 

For now I have a few days off to celebrate Christmas (which will inevitably include a bit of study), so i'm zooming up to visit Alice's parents tonight, over to my parents tomorrow, then back down to Southampton via Alice's Aunts on boxing day as I have lectures at 0900 on the 27th. From now I have 13 weeks until induction (it was pushed back a week as i'm going to Gatwick), which I have no doubts will absolutely fly by. Have a great Christmas one and all, hope Santa's good!

Week 64: competency assured!

Basic is at an end! After 29 flights in multi-crew jet aircraft, I have passed my competency assurance which symbolises the end of the basic phase and fixed base flight simulation. When I return to the sim hall, the motion is going on and the workload is only going in one direction, so happily I am enjoying a week of relaxation before getting back into it. If I were on the Wings course, following my CPL skills test I would have been awarded my first bar to wear as part of my uniform. As I am not on Wings but following the MPL course I do not ever receive a CPL, so the end of basic is seen as the point where we deserve our first bar. This is chiefly due to basic being a combination of CPL, instrument rating (IR), and multi-crew cooperation (MCC), so the next time the uniform goes on it will include a silver bar!

The flight itself was no different from any others, but with the added spice of a bit of nervousness to help things along. Strictly speaking there is no pass/fail like there would be on a CPL skills test, but the MPL course is continually assessed so there are standards that must be met on every flight. After some delays due to the simulator having a hissy fit, we get on with our tasks now under a bit more time pressure. Matt kicked off taking us from Liverpool to East Midlands, Chris onward to Leeds Bradford, then I completed the triangle with a route back to Liverpool John Lennon. As part of the flight we expected a normal departure, en route phase, a non-precision approach, a go around, an engine failure, and a single engine ILS using raw data. Without the time pressure this was a lot to get done in the time, so from the beginning we were immediately pushed to work faster than usual. The most noticeable was how quickly we had to start briefing the approach when we had only just completed the departure; in my case a rather chunky short cut meant I was briefing as we entered the hold, so I had to get Matt to continue flying whilst I briefed him on what I planned to do. We all left having met the required standard, so now we're looking to the next phase.

From now we move onto the Airbus technical groundschool, so heads back into the books with a rather sizable chunck of knowledge to ingest. Even though we have been flying the Airbus since October, we have only touched on the technology the aircraft has. This is because the regulators insist that the Basic phase is flown in a generic jet, so we have not been allowed access to the technical knowledge. However we have seen a lot of the systems in operation, so hopefully working through the groundschool should be made a little less ominous!

During my week off it's been my mums birthday, so I was able to catch up with my family and enjoy a trip to Winter Wonderland in Hyde park. To say it was crowded would be an epic understatement, but it was good to see all the bright lights and a trip to London is never a bad thing. Given this was followedup by a huge Chinese takeaway all in all id say a successful day out!

Back to Nursling on Thursday, so i'm briefly working through some of the material we've been sent for the course. We've been warned not to run ahead and start on the technical stuff as theres a strong risk of misunderstanding the imformation, but the new operating procedures have been worth looking at. On the way down I need to swing into Gatwick as Alice has a uniform fitting, but then its back to Easteligh ready to start filling my brain!

Week 63: route flying, diversions, and explosive decompressions

Continuing from our start last week, we flew more 2 hour flights but with increasing levels of complexity and variety. As much as the workload is high, with the coping strategies we have been given it becomes significantly easier to manage. To build on our experience and continue to test our comfort zones, the latter flights include fabricated scenarios which required us to decide to either continue to our destination, return to where we started, or divert to a new airfield. In my case I had to fly a relatively short flight from London Stansted to Manchester International, but with the added pressure of minimum fuel to make the flight realistic. Some may say that this is wreckless and planes should depart with plenty of fuel, but taking more than is actually required means extra weight, and extra weight means extra fuel burn, which in the long run costs money! 

During the route, on first sourcing the weather conditions for Manchester they were poor but legal, so with no equipment failures continuing remained sensible. However, given the conditions being so close to the legal minima, myself and Chris decided to formulate a contingency plan in case we had an issue completing our first approach. Our logic was that even the slightest deterioration would make an arrival impossible, and as our fuel state meant we could only afford to make one approach before having to divert, we wanted to have a plan ready in case of a go around. At one mile from touchdown a vehicle strayed onto the runway, so with the inevitable missed approach we started for our alternate which was Liverpool John Lennon. Given the close proximity of the airports and the continuing reduction in fuel, there was no time to go to a hold to rebrief, so I had to do it on the way whilst setting up for the next approach. To add to our problems the closest runway lighting went out of service, but by having to fly slightly further we had the chance to take a deep breath, relax a little, and fly a fully briefed approach. Upon touchdown we landed with 20kg above our final reserve, so no paperwork as it was legal!

We also got to look at high altitude upset, as well as explosive decompressions and the requirement to perform an emergency descent. Slightly different to other points of flight, initially flying the aircraft isn't the most important consideration, but getting your oxygen mask on and communicating with your partner to ensure they have theirs on! Once oxygen is flowing, the pilot flying selects an altitude at which breathing is possible, then winds up the speed to the maximum permisable so the aircraft descends quickly. Meanwhile there will be a lot of panic in the cabin as the 'rubber jungle' drops from the overhead, but concern for the is second to getting the aeroplane down. I'd like to think I dont look too tragic in my mask!

I now have two more details (one of which is my competency assurance flight), then the basic phase is complete and I am halfway through my Airbus flights. The alarm is set for the unfortunate time of 0340 tomorrow so ill be off to bed nice and early, so wish me luck and hopefully ill be wearing my first bar by next week!

Week 62: some context and a visit to easyJet HQ

As we have progressed through the basic phase of training, we have become increasingly more confident and proficient at operating a medium sized jet aircraft. However, thus far operations have been quite false as they've mostly involved a take off, pottering round the local area, routing back to the hold then flying an instrument approach. Things took on a more realistic feel this week though, as we began to look at routes which we could be flying in the not too distant future, so we've gained invaluable exposure to the 'operation' rather than just operating. I flew the first leg from Heathrow up to Prestwick starting on stand 511 at terminal 5, and Chris flew the return leg back to London. To give a flavour of the flight, tasks included:-

• Power-up: The aircraft was 'cold and dark' when we arrived, so we had to run through the process of safely supplying the systems with electrical power (initially external, progressing to the APU)
• ATIS: Automated terminal information service........the weather and what's not working at your point of departure, a computer voice reading the details on a VHF comms frequency.
• Clearance: What clearance are air traffic going to give us so we can plan the departure.
• Cockpit prep: ensuring that the required information is displayed, and systems are working correctly.
• Departure Briefing: Led by the pilot flying, an opportunity to discuss the departure, confirm plans, raise any concerns, and most importantly share the same thought processes.
• Start up: requesting from ATC to start engines, confirming with the ground crew it's safe to do so, and getting those engines spinning!
• Push back: Talking to the ground crew to have the aircraft safely pushed away from the stand and into the live taxiway
• Taxi: probably the most difficult part of the trip as there are so many spots to get lost!
• Departure: fly the take off and departure as planned, adjusting the plan as necessary as ATC dictate.
• Climb: Continuing climb into the en-route phase towards cruising level, which for my flight was 36,000ft (FL360)
• Arrival planning: Pilot flying will begin to think through the arrival, gather information on the destination such as the weather, set up the aircraft
• Briefing: Again pilot flying takes the lead but it's more of a conversation on the upcoming approach. When the aircraft is shifting at about 7 miles a minute, and the brief takes easily 10 minutes, it's easy to see how being concise is important or starting early!
• Descent: using the rule of thumb of 3 times the height in feet, from FL360 I needed about 108 miles to complete the descent and another 12 miles to slow down, so at the latest I needed to start down at 120 miles from Prestwick. Amazingly, if I hadn't started briefing at 200 miles to go, I would've been behind and the approach would've been a mad panic!
• Approach: Fly the approach to a hopeful successful landing. In our case the first approach was unsuccessful due to poor visibility, but the conditions improved enough for a second one to land.
• Landing/taxi: quite a bit easier at Prestwick!
• Parking/shutdown: get the aircraft onto the stand, shut the engines down, and get ready for the return leg!

So as you can see there was plenty going on before, during and after the flight, so the next time someone pokes fun saying the autopilot does everything, i'll happily be telling them that if the autopilot wasn't there they'd be taking the bus to Scotland!

In other news, this week EZMP03 had a visit to Luton to gain exposure to the easyJet operation, as well as building knowledge on a company that we will shortly be working for (and it is shortly, 15 weeks to be exact!). We started with a presentation from two current pilots, Captain Simon Kneller (Head of new pilot training) who is responsible for us up to the end of line training, and SFO Mark Farquhar, our new liaison pilot. What struck me from the presentation was how enthusiastic both were about the company, and even though the face of easyJet has somewhat changed in it's 19 year history, there was a real belief that everyone still remains as one team. 

It was then time to grab our ID's and head over to Hangar 89, the rather large and rather orange building at Luton that acts as easyJet's headquarters. Here we were given a tour of the crew room, the first point of contact each day for both cabin crew and the flight crew. This led nicely to lunch in the H89 canteen (I recommend the pulled pork baguette), and with bellies full we were off again, this time making tracks towards the main terminal. This meant the most exciting part of our visit was upon us, and we were off to the ramp to get up close and on board an easyJet Airbus A319.

Given we were like a pack of giddy school children, we were split into two groups for the aircraft tour. I was with the group outside the aircraft, and rather than just have us running about like headless chickens Mark took us around the aircraft as if he was doing a pre-flight walkaround, so we could gain an improved understanding of the aircraft. There were plenty of opportunities to take pictures, ask questions, and in general just stare in awe at how much larger the A319 is compared to anything else we have flown.

On board the childishness continued, as making announcements on the PA seemed a great idea, as did hanging out of the cockpit windows for photos. As much as this may seem immature, getting close to where we'll spend the rest of our careers is very excited, but the next time we're on an A319 the fear of base training will be taking away all the initial excitement! The day finished with a visit to easyJet ops back at H89, where we were talked through some of the stuff that keeps the airline running, but is rarely seen. This included flight planning and engineering, and I even met someone that used to be on the popular ITV programme 'Airline'.

As we had been put up in a hotel for the night, easyJet then took us out for dinner in town, so we had the opportunity to ask questions in a more relaxed environment over a few beers. This may not seem particularly significant, but given we are yet to make a single penny for the company and they've spent a few hundred pounds on our visit, it's nice to see that they value us enough to make an investment!

Day two was a slightly different set-up, as we were spoken to by two chaps from H89 concerning the business itself. The intention wasn't that we could subsequently do their jobs, but everyone found the presentations most informative and educational. This included looking at how ticket prices change, how difficult managing schedules can be, and how the company wants to grow. I left with a feeling that in 15 weeks i'm joining what is a very exciting and forward thinking company, but most importantly very stable. Also given the plan for expansion by 2019 there could be as many 316 in the fleet (about 100 increase), the scope for a short stint in the right hand seat before getting command is very promising. 

Anyway, enough rambling, apologies for all the nasty words. As usual any questions fire away, and here's some nice pics to look at!

Week 61: finally my blog title makes sense!

Following more days in the classroom for our CRM training, we were back in the simulator looking at automation and the flight director. Automation is an invaluable tool on the flight deck of a commercial aircraft for a number of reasons:-

• Accuracy- the computers will make the aircraft fly with a much higher degree of accuracy than a human.
• Capacity- If a human is flying the aircraft, no matter how good they are some of their mental processing capacity is used for manual control. By freeing some of this up, the brain can plan and manage the flight more effectively.
• Fatigue- even with the lightest of inputs required, human muscles would tire if expected to maintain control for long sectors, especially in circumstances of turbulence. The result of physical fatigue can be mental fatigue, at which point mental processing rapidly deteriorates.
• High altitude control- a bit complex but at higher altitudes where the air is much thinner, the aircraft is constantly sitting on the fence with regards to stability (known as coffin corner). Inputs from a human at these altitudes would likely be too severe with a resultant control issue, so the computer uses much finer inputs to give the aircraft just enough control.
• Cost- by being more accurate the autopilot will make the aircraft more efficient, and with efficiency comes a cost saving. Obviously with the operating costs sky-rocketing, anywhere money can be saved helps, so most company's encourage the use of automation whenever possible.

For the moment we've looked at automation in very simple terms, where we can tell it to fly a direction, level, and speed, but none of the flight management functions are engaged. Even though the automatics eventually lower our workload, as it's very new and we have to be comfortable with what modes are engaged, our brains are having to work harder than with manual flight. Thankfully as we become more used to the equipment mental capacity is freed up, and we're becoming better able to 'manage' the flight. Management tasks now include:-

• Talking to the cabin crew- ensuring the cabin is secure, discussing any failures, changes of plan, diversions etc.
• Negotiating with ATC- points of descent, radar vectors, procedures, emergencies etc.
• Communicating with the cabin- the dreaded PA announcements! Passengers are afterall the customer, so PA's have to be informative, concise, as well as reassuring.

With the automation an awesome system called the flight director has been brought into play. For those of you that have gone through pilot aptitude, it's basically the crosshairs test where a vertical line and a horizontal line give indication of which direction you need to move the aircraft to achieve the desired flight path. The rather blurry image on the right is of the primary flight display (PFD) on the airbus, the flight director bars being the two green ones on the artificial horizon. It's not a great picture because there's a bit of confusion, but they are saying the pilot needs to pitch the nose up, and roll the wings to the left. When the horizontal bar lines up with the black dot the pilot needs to stop pitching, and when the vertical line moves so that it goes through the dot the aircraft is in the correct angle of bank. I've made that sound very complicated, but I promise that with practice they're a great tool.

Tomorrow I start flying LOFT routes (line orientated flight training) where we fly a sortie that should mimic a real flight with the airline, in real time. For my first one I will be departing on a shuttle flight from Heathrow to Prestwick, so from a dark aircraft in west London to parking in Scotland i'm in the driving seat, responsible for the progress of the flight and all that goes with that.

In company related news, easyJet have this week posted a profit of £581million before tax! This is obviously quite a substantial amount of money to be pouring into the bank account, and perhaps in years to come if the trend continues those joining cadetships might find the airline investing a lot more in their cadets so funding becomes less of a barrier. It's too late for me, but at least i'm off to a financially healthy company. Enjoy the last week of November, and for those of you that enjoy a bit of panic it's four weeks to Christmas!

Week 60: Single engine ops, a cheeky spa break, and CRM.

In keeping with the theme of upset recovery and unusual situations in flight, this week we looked at single engine flight, including engine failures on take off and subsequent asymmetric flight. The main challenge of single engine operations is that in normal flight the thrust from each engine balances the aircraft, but when one engine loses thrust the forces are out of balance and there is a resulting force in the yawing plane (apologies for my crude picture!). This means the nose quickly steers towards the 'dead' engine, and the pilot must swiftly use rudder to maintain directional control. This has to be performed smoothly and without heavy inputs, as the rudder is very powerful and if applied too quickly could rip itself clear of the fin! Once the rudder is in the correct position to keep the aircraft going in the correct direction, trim is used to reduce the load on the poor pilots leg, otherwise they wont be able to fly for long. Performance of the aircraft drastically reduces as one engine is trying to do the work of two, and speed control is hugely important; if the speed is allowed to decay the amount of power required to recover could be massive, and with changes in power the directional control becomes more difficult, making the pilots life more difficult in an already undesirable situation. 

In terms of the exercises we looked at failures before rotation (when the nosewheel leaves the runway on take off), after rotation, and also at a stage early enough for the pilot to reject the take off altogether and stop. The obvious challenge is keeping the aircraft straight, as the time taken to wander towards the grass is quite short, and if a wheel leaves the paved surface chances are the situation will get a whole lot worse. Once the aircraft seems to be going the right direction, with one engine the nose is pitched up slightly slower than normal, and to a lesser angle. The cockpit workload is high, as the pilot flying is trying to maintain control of the aircraft, whilst the pilot monitoring (ensuring he remembers to call that the aircraft is climbing so the gear can be raised) is scans the instruments to ensure the climb out is safe, as well as doing an initial diagnosis of the situation. It can be an exciting time but to anyone it's clear just how safety critical the entire manoeuvre is. As for the rejected take off, this is the time when the aircraft's autobrake system really comes into its own, and to say it feels like someone has thrown an anchor out the back is an understatement!

View from the First Officers seat, with the infamous side-stick poised for action.

This week was also my birthday (29, getting old!), and my wonderful girlfriend took me to a rather swanky hotel for the night where I was treated to a massage and a facial. Yes I know I lose all credibility with a facial, but recently my face has looked like it's been shaved with broken glass, so anything that's going to stop the stinging is fine by me! Laying by the pool and slobbing about in the spa was also most welcome, even if I did get dirty looks for being childish with the foam noodles.........seemed a great idea to tie them in knots so I had armbands. Later I was surprised again with my course-mates surprising me in town for dinner, and after a brilliant dinner our friend had made an absolute stunner of a birthday cake, topped with my favourite marshmallows! Lucky boy I am :-)

All good things must come to an end, and yesterday we were back in the classroom for Crew Resource Management (CRM). This subject comes under the category of non-technical skills, an area that the aviation industry takes an incredibly keen interest in, as a break-down of 'notechs' has caused a significant amount of incidents. Even though we have been operating the airbus as a single pilot, we shortly will be more multi-crew orientated, and therefore workload management, communication, leadership, and situational awareness have been reviewed to ensure we have the tools to operate efficiently. 

In addition we have started to think about a large chunk of the aircraft's load which up to now haven't even been considered; the passengers. They are the customers and have a right to be kept informed, and for most of you the sound of the pilots voice on the public address system is a familiar part of the flight experience. As simple as it may seem, the PA is an incredibly powerful tool and of vital importance in ensuring a safe operation, but it is also very easy to make a mess of, use the wrong words, or leave the passengers even more confused. Accordingly we've been given this simple booklet with a few do's/don't's, and ideas on what to include in the announcements with guidance on the words/phrases to use. Thankfully we shouldn't be making any PA's for real for quite a while, but actually having to think about the wider operation shows how much closer the end really is! 

Week 59: Full motion, upset, and a careers day.

As part of the upset recovery training I had two flights with full motion this week, the first in the Boeing 737-800 (the type used by Ryanair) and the second in the Airbus A320 which I am more used to. During the first we went through the upset recovery elements, then had a look at single engine flight and how the workload quickly ramps up for the pilot flying. This led us nicely onto an instrument approach at Edinburgh, where Matt had the chance to perform his first landing with the motion on. It was a fairly firm touchdown but at least he touched down! On my attempt, even though the touchdown was smooth, this was following a long 'float' down the runway, where I only touched down with about half the runway remaining. To say I was getting uncomfortable as the red lights of the runway end approached would be an understatement, and stopping with about 100m to spare wasn't the best!

Things for all three of us improved in the Airbus, and following more upset in both Normal and Alternate law, we had the chance to perform an instrument approach to Gatwick. Whatever I did, or however much luck was involved both my landing's were really smooth, so i'm a bit happier as I hadn't had much practice actually landing and it felt good to 'grease' it on. I'm putting both down to beginners luck, but we won't know until the motion goes back on in January.

The only other news was CTC Aviation's open day at Nursling which myself and my housemates volunteered our Saturday for. The most exciting and notable part of the day was the attendance of the Virgin Atlantic pilot management team, who were publicising the recent opening of the Future Flyers programme. Unfortunately the weather yesterday was awful, and the subsequent traffic on the motorways caused about a third of guests to be delayed or unable to attend. On the upside this meant there were periods where the sims were empty, so I got to have a few plays in more challenging conditions. This included a bit of fun in Geneva, where an instrument rating instructor from Bournemouth and I had a race to see who could fly the quickest circuit in the Airbus.....which i'm proud to say I won with a time just over 4 minutes! 

This afternoon i'm flying with a new instructor, and we're also looking at single engine flight and procedures in the A320. As much as we'd had a go in the 737, we were simply shutting the engine down and concentrating on the manual control, whereas now we'll learn and practice the procedures we will use as working pilots. Enjoy the week. 

Week 58: A trip to the darkside.

Although the MPL has been around for a number of years, the powers that be who decide what the course needs to contain sometimes can be a little slow to accept that technology moves on, and so training should reflect this. Because of this, even though our course is designed so that we reach a high level of competence in the Airbus, we are still required to spend a couple of sessions operating in a 'conventional jet', so last night my group had our introduction to the Boeing 737-700. 

So the conventional jet......when we look at the Airbus, it is an incredibly clever aircraft which operates with a huge amount of input from computers, utilising what is known as a fly-by-wire system. In a conventional aircraft there are more direct control paths between the pilot and the control surfaces, so if the pilot pulls the yoke back the elevator will stay up (which in turn pitches the nose up), with no reference to the aircrafts flight envelope (it's safe parameters). However in the Airbus movement of the controls doesn't cause a linear movement of the surface; simply put instead you are telling the aircraft that you are making a pitch/roll/yaw demand, and the computer will calculate how much movement is required for the input demand. 

What the hell is this thing for? Where does the tray go?!

The beauty (or curse) of the fly-by-wire system is that you are effectively telling the aircraft how you want it to fly through space, and once you have put it in that position (eg. nose 5 degrees up and rolling 20 degrees to the left), it will automatically trim itself to remain in this position until the next demand is requested. On the Boeing there are none of these niceties in manual flight, and with underslung engines, giving a handful of power will cause a pitch up (due to the pitch/power couple), so the aircraft felt a lot more twitchy. Obviously with practice and familiarity the pilot becomes more used to the handling characteristics of the Boeing, but I can say at present I am very much an Airbus man! I have a full motion session in the Boeing 737-800 this afternoon to put that to the test, but i'm fairly sure my love is for the Eurobus!

Asides from the flying an aircraft that responds differently, the cockpit layout was a little tough to get my head around when compared to the Airbus. This is chiefly because the 737 was designed in the mid-1900's and as it's design has changed and equipment had come and gone, controls have been put in where there was space. In comparison, the Airbus was designed from scratch in the 80's, and from day one was planned to be a more simplistic flight deck, and personally this suits me better. 

Week 57: I could be forgiven for a lack of precision...

Now that we are getting to grips with the Airbus and how it handles, this week my group (there are four groups on EZMP03, i'm in group A with Chris and Matt) looked at some of the more complex approaches, flying into Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool and Leeds, as well as operating the Airbus into large airports at night. For the most part (at least on the easyJet network) approaches are conducted using an Instrument Landing system (ILS) where the aircraft receives signals from ground facilities giving the pilot guidance on track and elevation. The pilot should be able to fly a stable approach and make corrections as necessary to keep the aircraft on the correct profile, with even minor errors indicated instantaneously. 

A more simple approach is the non-precision approach, where a beacon on or close to the airfield will give the pilot track guidance, and as they descend down final approach the procedure will state advisory altitudes ie. at 5 miles the aircraft should be at 1500 feet, at 4 miles 1200 feet etc. It is only by comparing the altimeter with the distance to go that working out if the aircraft is high or low is possible, which in itself rapidly increases the workload and makes the pilot flying's job more difficult. For the first couple I was slightly behind the aircraft (everything's happening quicker!), so gave myself a bit of a mountain to climb towards the back end of the approach, but once I gave myself a talking to I finally was ahead of the aircraft and flying to the required standard.

Ready to run on rwy 27 at Liverpool John Lennon

Sometimes an instrument approach to the runway of choice may not be suitable due to geographical constraints (like a wapping great mountain at the end of the runway), so in this circumstance the aircraft performs an instrument approach to the unrestricted runway, in an effort to break cloud and go visual with the runway/terrain. Once the pilot has positively identified the runway, they can perform what is known as a circling manoeuvre landing on the opposite end of the runway, remaining clear of cloud and maintaining visual contact with the airfield. Differently to a normal instrument approach where the aircraft is stable at 5-6 miles, the aircraft will still be turning towards the runway at 2-3 miles so energy management is of vital importance and the onus is on the pilot to stabilise the approach as early as possible. These procedures are fairly rare (fortunately!) but do exist so we had an opportunity to practice them at a few airfields, so we don't just rely on instruments and remember there are windows for a reason!

I'm now off until Tuesday so went for a wander today at the Itchen Valley country park, which somehow ended in a certain someone (Alice!) panicking because the cows were surrounding us, our route back to the car blocked by a slow moving, grass chewing collection of Frisians. Until next week, enjoy the view of my office........from now until retirement!

Week 56: planning ahead has taken on a new meaning!

Apparently the Airbus move rather quickly, have lots of inertia, and are designed to be as slippery as a fish so they're rubbish at slowing down; welcome to operations on a short haul jet! 

As we worked through the earlier exercises, expectations were increasing, and the ability to handle the aircraft with a decent level of competence was required. As the Airbus is capable of higher level cruise, we now need to think about how this effects our operation, and how to plan accordingly to satisfy any speed or level constraints. Up to now descents have been from a few thousand feet, and if the aircraft was higher than planned shoving the nose down would more than compensate. Unfortunately doing this in a jet will cause it to accelerate, and because it is so much heavier it carries a greater inertia, inertia which means slowing down takes quite a few miles. Therefore one of aviations famous rules of thumb comes into play!

In the case of descent planning, a good start point is work out how many thousands of feet you need to lose, then multiply that number by three to get your average track miles. As an example starting from 30,000 feet and descending to the Willo hold at Gatwick (say 10,000ft), you want to start descending at a range of 60 track miles (20 x 3). In addition, the aircraft will be flying faster at a high level (~300kts/345mph), but if it arrives at the hold at the speed it will go steaming through and out the other side. With this in mind a good target speed is known as 'green dot' (~210kts) which is the lowest speed the aircraft wants to fly at without any lift devices deployed on the wing, so at some point a deceleration of 90kts needs to happen. With the slippery characteristics of a jet another rule of thumb is that the deceleration will take about 1 mile per 10kts speed reduction, so from our cruising level of 30,000ft and at a speed of 300kts, we really want to initiate the descent some 70 miles from the hold to arrive at the right level and speed. There are other factors to consider such as tailwinds, or ATC slowing the aircraft down earlier (jets are poor at going down and slowing down at the same time), but you get the general idea!

Before the descent even commences the aircraft needs to be prepped, passengers put back in their seats, and the pilots need to brief the approach, so if all this hasn't started by the 100 miles to go mark, chances are there will be a lot of catching up to do. This is a lesson we are gradually learning, and as much as the early details are fairly relaxed (relaxed compared to whats coming later), getting into good habits now will pay dividends later in the course. So for the moment I will continue taking baby steps, and as the workload ramps up hopefully my capacity does too! Sorry for the lack of pics, dashing to a sim now so will hopefully have some later.

Week 55: The toys just got a little bigger!

For all the delays, irritations and distractions throughout this course, EZMP03 have finally made it back to Nursling for the final stage of training. We had something of a baptism of fire on Monday, getting stuck in straight away to the SOP's (Standard operating procedures) employed by easyJet, which will form the backbone of our course. Initially these were a little dry with a lot of reading through the manual and discussing with our instructor, but there's no easy way to learn them so it's a necessary evil. Once enough knowledge had settled into our brains, we used the virtual flight deck that CTC use as a simple replacement for the simulator, so switches and levers look and location were easier to identify and therefore we had better context. This SOP familiarisation was three days long, but after the initial slog we were booked for our first flights on Thursday.

What I will say for the Airbus is it's a magnificent piece of kit, very clever, and simple to operate. That's not to say i'm flying it particularly well yet as 60 tons of jet respond very differently to the light aircraft i'm used to, but I feel confident that with practice I will improve and feel better able to manage a larger machine. 

To help our home learning of the procedures we've been given a poster so we can run through 'touch drills' without needing the aircraft because they're obviously tough to get anywhere near. They are slightly false as the scale is reduced and nothing can compare to doing the real thing, but Alice has been helping me with my checklists (lucky girl) so hopefully the knowledge is gently becoming more permanent. 

Also this week we've finally been given new items of uniform which match CTC's new branding. I've had my new tie a while but didn't want to wear it as i'd be mixing the two schemes, but with the arrival of my new epaulettes the next thing i'm hunting is my first stripe. This we have been told we will be presented during our visit to Luton, as it will represent the same point on the course as a wings cadet having gone through a CPL/IR. But as that seems a million miles away, for the moment I just need to keep working and negotiate the next 27 details. 

Week 54: Patience is a virtue...

After completing the core phase I found myself with a week off, and as much as time off can be a luxury, i'm desperate to get cracking with the Airbus, and like a child waiting for Christmas i'm starting to get impatient! However, joy of all joys I got to help Alice move house during the week (lucky me!), including a session of cleaning the bathroom (which admittedly I do find quite satisfying when it's shiny after!). Thankfully our new manager sent through some pre-course reading to get stick into, and as much as study can be quite boring, i'm so excited  to get going that I actually enjoyed going through it all. 

Irritatingly and in keeping with the norm, EZMP03 have experienced a disruption. The houses we are supposed to move into tonight (ie. now!) are not ready for occupants, nor will they be until Tuesday evening. Accordingly we have been sent back to our previous houses in Bournemouth, and will be commuting to Nursling in the morning. Not impressed!

As nothing else has happened to me this week, the only other relevant news is that easyJet have had quite a boost to their share price after improved forecasts for the years profits. Granted this isn't the most exciting news, but it's comforting to know that the company I will be flying for are financially healthy, especially considering competition airlines like Monarch are struggling to the extent they've reduced their workforce by 25%. Good news for the shareholders as a dividend is likely to be paid soon, just a shame i'm lacking a portfolio! 

Hopefully a lot more interesting stuff next week, and I apologise if that's 5 minutes of your life you're never getting back! 

Week 53: Multi-engine IFR and the final end of core.

As much as I thought the core phase ended in New Zealand, easyJet's requirement for multi-engine instrument flight in UK airspace meant we had a few more weeks before heading back to Nursling. However, following a relatively good run of weather I completed my final flight on Friday, and now have the rest of the week to relax before heading down to Southampton to commence the Airbus phase. 

As well as the upset recovery training, easyJet wanted us to fly in the UK where the radio procedures are seen by some as a lot more complex. I personally don't agree with this as the instructions we receive from air traffic control are the same, but given the UK's more congested airspace, frequency changes happen often, and with a lot more traffic there is a real need to get things right first time. As good as the MPL programme is for developing well-drilled multi-crew pilots, it's failing is that spending 6 months in a simulator will make the trainee inevitably quite rusty when talking to air traffic. The instructor will be making calls and the trainee will answer accordingly, but nothing can mimic the fast-paced, accent mixed environment that is London Control. 

For the TwinStar flights we flew using terrestrial navaids instead of just the GPS system we had been using in New Zealand. To ensure we were confident in their use my instructor Russ planned our flight so that we didn't go far, and therefore had a greater opportunity to practice holding and approaches, rather than just flying for an extended period with the wings level. These flights were quite enjoyable, but the best flight by far was my final TwinStar one on Friday when I took the opportunity to fly south to one of the Channel Islands, Alderney. We went into cloud at about 700ft above Bournemouth, and the first time I saw the earth again (in this case the sea) was at about 3 miles from touchdown, so I had to be disciplined in both my flying and workload management. To keep things interesting Russ failed an engine during the go-around, and engine failure which I had to take back to the hold then onward for another approach. Put simply in a light twin when one engine fails the aircraft is out of balance and wants to steer towards the dead engine. The only way to counter this is with positive control of the rudder, but after 10 minutes with one leg locked out, your muscles are screaming at you to stop upsetting them! Thankfully after the second approach I was given the engine back, and we shot off back to Bournemouth.

Making good time back to Bournemouth I was able to perform two approaches, the first with the autopilot flying us all the way down to decision altitude. It was interesting to watch the aircraft flying itself down the approach in a monitoring role, knowing that I would quickly have to transition from autoflight to manual control. This will feature highly for the rest of my career when visibility is so bad that the automatics are vital for a safe operation, so to see the equipment working was quite cool. On the second approach I hand flew the aircraft under radar advised headings from air traffic, and managed to fluke one of my best landings ever in a light aircraft, which ill never fly again. Typical!

With the rest of the week ill hopefully get some notes to start looking through ahead of starting next Monday, as I have no reservations that once we start time is going to fly by and I need to be sure i've shoe-horned all the knowledge into my head! 

Week 52: Multi-engine operations = TwinStar time!!

I had another busy week, working through the remainder of the upset recovery flights before moving onto the IFR operations. The second two UPART flight were the more interesting, as they involved the Bulldog as well as upset under Instrument conditions. The Bulldog being able to withstand higher G forces means it's a more capable training device, but for our needs we operated between +3g and -1g. For a bit of fun at the end this also included aerobatics, allowing me to perform a barrel roll before completing the flight. As for UPART 3, we went through some of the previous techniques, but this time were wearing the hood to simulate instrument flight conditions. The risk here is following the 'startle factor' being unsure of what's happening as the brain gets confused, so the rule of always trust your instruments is more important than ever.

Onto the twin engine operations, and things start to get more interesting. We started with a simulator session, where my instructor Russ was pressing home the importance of learning and memorising the engine failure drill. This was a very new scenario, as an engine failing in any previous flights would inevitably lead to a forced landing as there would be no alternate power source to maintain forward speed. Now the aircraft is capable of flight with only half of it's available power, but initially after failures the pilots workload is high and requires the correct actions to be carried out as expeditiously as possible. 

Steph taking us down the approach for rwy08

After the simulator session and a radar vectored instrument approach, I finally got my chance to climb into the front seat of a DA42 TwinStar and work through the multi engine familiarisation flight. All I can say is the flight was awesome, the aircraft a pleasure to fly, and on a personal level I finally feel like I have crossed the bridge from light aircraft operations to commercial flight. The aircraft is heavier than anything else I have flown and consequently carries more inertia, but with increased inertia the aircraft is significantly more stable which makes it slightly easier to fly during instrument operations. I also had my first chance to fly a real ILS approach with visibility of less than 3km; as much as it was mid-morning and therefore relatively still, it was an awesome feeling to see the lead in lights looming out of the mist following the approach.

Unfortunately my second flight was cancel due to thunder activity close to the airfield, but on the upside I got to look around and inside one of the private jets CTC operate, a HS125. The aircraft cabin was very comfortable, but I personally found the flight deck quite cramped (not sure what my mouth's doing!). I probably had the seat in the wrong place, and having my jacket on didn't help, but from memory the flight deck of the A320 is very roomy and I can't wait to get there!

 

Week 51: Back in the aircraft

Rather surprisingly the order of my flights has been changed, so on Thursday I actually got to fly an aircraft instead of the simulator which was brilliant. After the week started with 3 days of ground school (can't get away from it, you can see everyone's glee!), the time finally came to get back flying. As Bournemouth is used by CTC for the modular training CPL's (wings take off) and all Instrument rating, there aren't normally any single engine aircraft available for training. However as we needed to work through some upset recovery a DA40 has been brought in, and it's a much nicer aircraft to fly than the Cessna which was like a cow with wings! But before I get comfortable in the DA40, tomorrow i'm getting into the more powerful Bulldog, an aircraft which the RAF used to use as their primary trainer so it's got plenty of poke. I actually have two flights tomorrow so will end the day back in the DA40, then i'm ready for the twin star; excitement doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe how I feel!

So upset recovery......for those that don't know, in 2009 an AirFrance widebody smashed into the Atlantic during a flight from Rio to Paris, following an encounter with ice. Put simply the probe that indicates the aircraft's airspeed was covered in ice (as were the spares), and without input the autopilot was incapable of maintaining control and switched off. At this point the pilots didn't quite appreciate what was happening, and this lack of understanding and incorrect subsequent actions caused a perfectly serviceable aircraft to hit the ocean in a near vertical descent after the aircraft had stalled. This event has led to pilots now having more emphasis placed on upset recovery training, so they are better able to successfully survive an event. 

In a light aircraft the recovery from pretty much any scenario is possible by pointing the nose down and applying full power. Unfortunately, in a large airliner applying power could make the situation worse, and with passengers potentially wandering round the cabin throwing the aircraft round isn't the best idea. Instead the pilot should try and avoid any power changes, whilst limiting control inputs to avoid excessive g forces. It doesn't sound overly dramatic, but as the course is multi-crew orientated all recoveries must be verbalised (ie. talk through the recovery as it's happening) so that the other pilot is aware of the pilot who's flying's thought process. 

Being in Bournemouth has also come with some added bonuses, one of which is the fact we are living a five minute walk from the beach. With the sun doing it's best to shine we've been enjoying the sand, and i'd like to think my photos do it justice (Alice clearly enjoying the sunset). Hopefully the weather stays fine, so the flights happen quickly and we can move on sooner. 

Another treat of being at Bournemouth is that CTC's parking area is next to an active taxiway, so I enjoyed a Boeing 747sp taxi past which is someones private jet, and a three ship of classic RAF jets came in including a Canberra and two Hunters. On Friday there were also two Lancaster's in ready for the weekend's Goodwood revival, but sadly I missed out on the hum of 8 Merlin engine's as I wasn't in. 

I also got to pop up to Essex for a birthday as I had the entire weekend off, always fun! But now i'm prepped for what will hopefully be a busy week of zooming about the South coast. Thank god i'm back, I was losing my mind having so little to do!

Hopefully by next week i'll have had a go in the twin star, and will be a step closer to the Airbus phase. 

Week 50: Off to Bournemouth, ready for the final push.

This week I mostly took the opportunity to enjoy the company of my friends and family before heading back down to the South coast in readiness for my next stage of training. I've been placed with 5 others on my course, and ironically the house we're in is about a mile from the one I lived in during my initial training as an air traffic controller. As a house it's standard student accommodation so nothing particular to complain about, and as we're at the end of a blocked road last night I slept like a log due to the relative silence. 

This morning we were back in the classroom for our induction briefing at CTC's main UK flight training centre, which is on the northern side of Bournemouth airport. After what seemed like a constant stream of introductions we got down to business, straight back into formal tuition concerning UK airspace and our flights we're planned to fly. We actually only have 8 flying events and 4 weeks in which to complete them before we're due over at Nursling for the Airbus phase, so if the weather cooperates we could be done in about 2-3 weeks, with a cheeky bit of leave at the end. However, given EZMP03's luck concerning the weather, i'm not holding my breath!

For tonight it's just a case of settling into the house more and a bit of light reading before more lectures tomorrow. The phrase 'death by powerpoint' was uttered today, and it couldn't be more true; even with time off everyone seems to have left the classroom tired and in need of a nap! Hopefully by the end of the week I will at least have done my first sim, and perhaps even the first upset flight before the weekend, as i'm already pretty sure my instructor's off which means I am too. Enjoy the last of the summer...

Week 49: R&R, a wedding and a crumble.

Given we're not due back until the 8th of September, the past week has been spent enjoying some time off to relax and recharge the batteries ahead of the final push. Getting home earlier I have spent a chunk of my time visiting my sister and family, but as she's on the mend I have been able to spend more time with Alice, including a friends wedding on Saturday. I hadn't managed to catch up with all of my friends before starting the course, so it was brilliant to have a few pints and throw some shapes out on the dancefloor.

On Sunday Alice and I cooked a roast for her friends and brother, my job being an apple and raspberry crumble. Now I hadn't made one before so was worried it'd be rubbish, but thankfully no-one made any funny faces and I quite enjoyed it so a small success! 

Unfortunately with the wedding I was unable to get to the Bournemouth air show, which is a first for about 5 years! Thankfully though, when I do get to Bournemouth next week the weather is apparently going to be quite nice for the remainder of September, so I may get a summer after what feels like an eternal winter. I believe CTC's stand at the show was quite popular, and it clearly had the perfect backdrop for attracting interest.

For the rest of the week I plan to continue relaxing, getting my gear together for the next stage, and getting to know my niece a bit better before i'm yanked away for a few months! It's nice to think it's only about 6 months until I start flying passengers, but I have no doubts that the months will fly by and before I know it there will be dozens of holiday makers excitedly boarding my aircraft bound for exotic locations all over Europe. And i'm driving!