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!