Weeks 86-93: Training has all come to an end!!

Firstly a massive apology for the lack of updates during the remainder of my line training, but given my priority was on getting the job done, I don't feel quite so bad! 

Line training continued with some really great days out all over Europe, as well as some more interesting days closer to home. It's amazing how much I knew about the Airbus, but at the same time knew practically nothing and found myself very much at the start of a learning curve! The major difference from the simulators and the real world, is that in the sims the biggest distraction would maybe be a computer not doing what it was supposed to, and a simple reset was called for. In the real world there seems to be a continuous stream of dispatchers, fuellers, crew and passengers all offering distraction when it comes to getting off the stand, and given Europe's congested airspace sometimes it's not possible to get off the stand at all due to heavy slots.

Of the more interesting trips I had was a double up to Glasgow, as the weather and terrain made for approaches needing a lot of thought and very little scope for dawdling. Given the height of the hills surrounding the airport, ATC will only clear approaching aircraft to altitudes which keep them safe against the terrain, but if the heading they've given you isn't great you end up high of the glideslope and inevitably have to perform an intercept from above. This basically means you are descending on a path that is steeper than normal, and if the aircraft hasn't already been decelerated and dirtied up (normally to flaps 2), the speed is rapidly going to increase again and the approach is going to end with a go-around. Thankfully my training Captain was prompt to give me some advise and therefore avoiding a wasted approach, advise which came in handy on later flights to other destinations with similar challenges.

Training for me went well, and although not everyone's opinion I definitely enjoyed it. Yes there were moments when I ran out of ideas but that is why the Captain is in charge, and it is their experience that makes them the skipper. I suppose it just took a bit longer to get more creative with the approaches, and with experience I grew to understand what the aircraft could do, and at what point I had to intervene if the situation wasn't going as well as I initially planned. 

Towards the end of training I had bad news which eventually became good news. Due to an aircraft arriving late, a four sector day became a two sector one, so my final line check was slipping back to a later date. However, after meeting with the head of training in the crew room but sheer luck, and him having a look through my training file, the decision was made that if I performed at the easyJet standard on my aircraft competency check, my final line check could go ahead two flights early. I am very pleased to say that the ACC went well, and I completed my line check down to Marseille with no issues to prevent me from being released to the line.

LIne flying has been the real learning experience for me, as the safety net of having a training Captain has been removed, and the amount of scenarios I have seen has rapidly increased. Compared to going into the big airports like Gatwick and Amsterdam, the reality is that smaller airports tend to be more challenging and there are significantly more things that don't go how you want. This tends to be due to a mix of airline traffic and smaller training planes, the result being shortened approaches and the threat of high energy approaches. That said the challenges just confirm to me that this job is the best ever, the exciting moments staving off any hint of complacency. I've also had a couple of night stops which have been great for getting to know more crew, as we're fairly isolated in the flight deck and it's nice to find out more than if my colleagues make a good cuppa!

Ironically as my training has come to and end, i've found myself disappearing back into the books. It took a long time to commit a lot of the required knowledge to memory, but almost word-for-word every Captain has said that if you leave the books too long, you'll find it impossible to get back into them. 

My plan from here is to do the odd update, maybe every 4-6 weeks to keep updating those interested as to what it's like flying for the UK's biggest airline. For those of you that have followed me on here during training I hope you have enjoyed the blog, and hopefully there are more stories to come from the line. I also have a fairly busy Instagram account and you can find my stuff at @kieran615 so stop by if pictures take your fancy! Cheers

Week 85: just me and the skipper

As line training has continued from my base at Gatwick, I have been able to visit more airports in the European network. At the beginning of the week I had to days with a return flight on each, both still with a safety pilot riding on the jump seat. This is standard practice during the early stages of line training, and the safety pilot acts as a safety net to catch any missed SOP's during the operation. it's all well and good to say that the Captain should catch any slips, but in the early stages of training they are working quite hard already, so building in extra redundancies is nothing but sensible! Following my second day round trip to Seville in Southern Spain I had (thankfully) proven that I could operate as part of a two person crew, so was released to continue training with just myself and the skipper. 

Yesterday I had quite a busy day to use my new responsibility, doing a return to Basel and also a return to Barcelona. Basel was an interesting start, as there are many threats to be considered ahead of the approach, the most significant being the high ground which surrounds the airfield. Given there was quite a lot of low cloud the terrain wasn't visible, so maintaining the correct track was of vital importance to avoid a rather undesirable situation. 

Barcelona shared some similar threats, with high ground a major cause for concern. Added to this is the threat of birds flying close to the approach given the position relative to the Mediterranean, and the shear size of the airport itself means the taxi route can be pretty complex and getting lost is a fairly easy! To make matters worse I had briefed for the precision approach but on being transferred to approach the I was informed the ILS was switched off due to calibration,  so quickly had to set up for a non-precision approach, brief it, then fly the approach itself. To say my workload went through the roof would be an understatement, but any sort of experiences like that during training can only be good for my learning. On the way back to London we had an incredible view of these lenticular cloud as we crossed the Pyrenees, an indicator of wave lift which is perfect gliding. 

I had another early flight this morning, this time down to the town of Montpellier in the south of France. The day however didn't get off to the best start, as congestion in the skies meant we had a 30 minute delay from air traffic (a slot), so would be starting behind schedule. If that wasn't bad enough, the bleed function of the auxilliary power unit (the APU which is a small engine in the tail which provides electricity and pressurised air) failed so we lost all air conditioning in what was an already cold aircraft. The bleed air is also used to start the rotation of the engines during start up, so without a fully serviceable APU we wouldn't be able to leave. The solution was to use an external unit which is specifically used for starting the engines, but inevitably by the time it arrived and we had worked through the procedure we had been delayed further. That said, I learnt a lot getting to perform a non-standard procedure, another benefit towards my training.

Tomorrow I fly to Bordeaux and back, which will be my 19th and 20th sectors of line training. Sector 20 is significant as it is a progress check point, and my Captain is in fact the Gatwick base Captain, so i'm sure he'll put me through my paces! The reality is I shouldn't be worried but instead continue to do things exactly as normal. If I start changing things that's when i'm going to make mistakes, so ill avoid that at all costs.

Week 83 & 84: Base and line training

It is with an absolute wealth of pride I can now report that I've completed my base training, and am now working through the early stages of line training. As previously reported I was planned to pop to Doncaster for three days base training, but in keeping with the rest of my training there were inevitable issues that meant the old faithful plan B came into play! Unfortunately a rather deep depression decided to park itself just to the West of Scotland, and with that the winds across the British Isles were unacceptably high for the base training. Given it's our first crack at landing the Airbus for real and quite a step from the simulator, as much as possible the detail is flown with the wind not too strong, and flowing down the runway. The solution? Chateauroux, mid-France. 

With the delay in our base training, 4 more guys had been added to the detail so we met all of them in the Gatwick South crew room. On the way down to Chateauroux, Nik swapped seats with the safety pilot, so on our arrival we were able to crack straight on. Nik had already done 3 circuits from our previous base detail, so after doing 9 more I was called up ready to go. The nerves didn't even have a chance to show themselves, as I was straight into the right hand seat getting my chair position right ready to get going. The base Captain Tony was in the left hand seat when I had previously landed back at Gatwick, so it was nice to have a familiar trainer from before. Fortunately on that occasion the landing technique was solid, so his briefing was simply to do that again 12 more times, and i'd be signed off ready for line training. No pressure!

Happily the technique I had been taught and practiced in the simulator showed itself to be a brilliant foundation, and after 7 landings Tony was happy that I was consistently delivering the aircraft to the correct point with a satisfactory touchdown. I was at this point he decided that rather than fly all of my 12 circuits in one go, I would do 5 more the next day giving someone else the chance to get a few landings under their belt.

Thankfully on the second day and once another trainee had flown a collection of circuits, I completed my final 5 and had successfully passed base training ready for line training. Time to get an updated roster!

My roster was quickly amended once I was confirmed as having passed base, and I was surprised to read I was off to Paris for my first three days of training. This came with two emotions; excitement and fear! I was dead chuffed to know I was finally starting my training, and to be based out of Paris for the first few days was an exciting prospect as the place is a veritable monster. That said, the monster also needs to be respected, and having my first three days at Charles de Gaulle would be a baptism of fire!

After positioning to Paris the day before, I found the crew room and went to work printing flight plans. I have been spoilt up to now, an Gatwick has dedicated staff in the easyJet crew room who prepare the flight plans for the day and leave them out ready for collection. However at CDG this is not the case, and as much as it isn't a big deal it still wasn't something I was expecting. My training Captain joined me shortly after, and after a brief discussion we decided that i'd hit the ground running and take the aircraft down to Milan. To say the flight was a blur is an understatement, but I think forever ill remember the point we broke cloud and I flew the approach and landing into Malpensa. 

On my second day of training I flew with a new Captain, and my first rotation was the short hop to Gatwick. The second of these flights was quite notable for me for two reasons; the first was that I flew my first approach with the wind close to my limits, as I completed the landing with a 15 knot crosswind (my limit being 20kts). The second reason was that my girlfriend was in fact a member of the passenger list, and she'd be experiencing first hand how I performed in a full plane.

Unfortunately due to my Captain reporting sick my third day of training was cancelled, but with Alice having stayed we now had the opportunity to explore Paris before positioning home to London. Even with numerous trips on the Metro we must've walked miles trying to squeeze in as many sights as possible in two days. By far and away the highlight was ascending the Eiffel Tower in the darkness, and enjoying the view from the top of a really clear Paris evening. 

Next up i'm off to Berlin and Seville, which are slightly longer flights so I will only have a return flight on each of my next two duties. As long as they both go successfully I will be able to continue line training without the requirement to have a safety pilot spectating from the jump seat. 

Week 82: Line operations from the jumpseat

As described during my last post, this week I had my supernumerary flights planned to see line operations as viewed from the back seat of the flight deck. The point of these flights (in my opinion) is two-fold; firstly and as previously commented it's an opportunity to understand how easyJet run their operation, with standard operating procedures put to use in real scenarios. Secondly (and again this is my opinion), I believe for cadets being put on a supernumerary flight is designed to show them there is a vast amount more to being a First Officer than just pointing the aeroplane where you want it to go! 

My first flight was to Palma on the island of Mallorca, which for my first flight was an ideal length as there wasn't a mad rush to get everything done. For starters, the immediate difference between the simulator and the line is that i'd never met my crew, so would be shaking hands with them for the first time 60 minutes before departure. I have to say the two chaps I met were brilliant, immediately starting my learning process by going through the paper flight plan and helping me to understand the processes involved in deciding the fuel load and how to book an uplift with the fuel company. 

Given we had a relatively early departure, meeting the cabin crew happened on the way to the aircraft. This may seem baffling to some, but the theory of meeting them on the move is pretty sound. As we on the flight deck have to go through introductions and decide on some operational factors, the cabin crew have a similar early introduction to go through. If we were then to come together for a chat this would eat more time into the 60 minutes before departure, and on time departure first thing in the morning is of vital importance. If the first wave of flights leave on time, there is a good chance that particular aircraft will maintain its schedule all day, and just a few minutes delay on the first flight could have a knock on effect hours later. Instead with the 10 minute walk from the crew room to the aircraft, we all took the opportunity to have a brief chat, learn names (something i'm useless at), and informally form the team for the day.

The flight itself was an eye opener, as there were quite a few tasks that needed completing which we never did in the simulator, and also the use of technology especially out of Gatwick is much higher. Rather than needing to use the radio to fetch the weather and clearances, easyJet use a system which utilise's satellite's to transmit data directly to the flight deck, thus lowering some of the workload for the pilots. Also given the longer length of the flights, fuel checks take on a new level of importance. Up to now they have been something we have performed but with no reference to how long we have been airborne. Now there is a comparison made between the planned airborne time and actual time, and how much fuel the aircraft has used to avoid not noticing a fuel leak scenario. 

Turnarounds were also a fairly pressurised time, where the crew had a planned 25 minutes to shut the engines down and prep for the next departure. However up front we definitely have it easy, as the cabin crew need to clear the passengers, tidy up, prep the cabin for the next flight, and get the next set of passengers sat down before the planned off blocks time. Somehow in there they managed to find the time to come and ask us what meals we would like on the way back to Gatwick; in truth this isn't just out of niceness, but they need to plan when they can prep our lunch so it won't interfere with the cabin service.

Following our return flight I had an out and back to Amsterdam, a veritable monster in terms of size and complexity. Coupled with that the flight time from Gatwick is under an hour, so briefings need to be concise to avoid getting behind the aircraft. Normally arrivals from the west like us would be sent to runway 18R which is one of the newer runways at Amsterdam Schiphol; unfortunately this runway is also miles away from the airport, and taxiing to the gate can take upwards of 20 minutes! By complete luck we were sent to runway 18C, which when we vacated made us only a few hundred metres from our stand, so we parked early as schedules are designed to take into account the likely taxi after arrival. 

Later in the week I also sat in on a flight to Bordeaux, which initially was ideal as my first planned flight was to be to Toulouse so the flight times weren't too different. Unfortunately with my cancelled base training I have been removed from that flight, so the plan has changed. Now that the summer schedules are in force it is very difficult for the airline to find a free aeroplane and base training captain, hence me waiting around for a few weeks. Thankfully my roster has changed and I now find myself on a three day base training trip starting next Tuesday. There are 9 of us going, 6 of which i've never met, the two I have being Nik and Dan who I trained with at CTC aviation. I do wish it was a bit sooner as the longer I don't fly the rustier ill get, but we have a refresher sim booked for this week so when I disappear up to Doncaster I should be more than ready to complete my 12 circuits.

My final flight was with a crew doing the short hop to Amsterdam first thing in the morning, upon which the FO was actually a CTC cadet from a course a year ahead of me. Hoan (excuse me if I got the spelling wrong!) seemed to be settling into the line operation really well which gives me confidence that as much hard work as there may be, the hard work certainly pays off!

Given the wonderful weather we've had this week, I took the chance to pop down to the Balcombe Viaduct which is only about 15 minutes from my new home. It's a massive structure that was built in the 1840's, and has clearly stood the test of time because the main London-Brighton railway line still utilises it. I appreciate a brick railway bridge isn't everyone's cup of tea, but a wander in the sunshine was an excuse enough for me to see an engineering marvel. 

Week 81: So close, so very close!!

This week I came so very close to finally completing my base training, but irritatingly our continental friends in French air traffic control decided that a strike was a great way to follow the Easter weekend. For those of you that are unsure, base training is the first occasion a professional pilot flies a big jet and alongside a first solo leaves a lasting imprint on one's memory. The aircraft used is empty of passengers, and the training detail involves flying visual circuits to practice landing.

Unfortunately, forces were against me this week and completing base training was always going to be a challenge. Two students from my course that were supposed to fly the week before had their training detail cancelled because of high winds, and even though they spent three days flying between Cornwall, Northern Scotland and France, they didn't manage to complete their 12 circuits. To further 'improve' the situation, with the French air traffic strike easyJet made the tactical decision to cancel our second days training so that the aircraft was available in terms of contingency planning. This meant that there were now 7 cadets trying to complete 12 circuits in an aircraft we only had for 10 hours. No chance!

This is one of the realities of working for a large airline, the result being I just have to sit on my hands for a few days in the hope that crewing come up with a plan to get us flying. The reality is that our base training will be rescheduled at a convenient time for the company and not before; ultimately transporting passengers around Europe and earning money as a result is how my wages will be paid, and if customers aren't flying the company's not making money. Annoyingly there is a possibility the French will have a further three days of strikes starting on Thursday, so fingers crossed some sort of solution occurs. 

Luckily even though I haven't managed to fly my base training, as part of my introduction to easyJet's way of doing things I am rostered for 8 sectors of supernumerary flights, 4 of which I have tomorrow. These flights are designed to give me the opportunity to watch a crew perform a line flight without being part of the working crew, and I will spectate from the jump-seat which sits at the back of the flight deck. My first one goes to Palma in Mallorca, so I have a decent opportunity to ask questions, then later in the day i'm going over to Amsterdam which promises to be quite challenging given how busy the airport is.

For the moment i'm just waiting on some good news and a change to my schedule, so hopefully by next week things have developed a bit! 

Weeks 79 & 80: Adding a little more orange to my life!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, as I have finally joined easyJet and am now under their care. During my first week of induction I was based at the easyJet academy, Luton, where we were introduced to the company. During the first day we were visited by many people from various parts of the business, and given a pretty decent overview of what makes the company tick. As the week wore on we moved onto the more practical activities, including floating about a pool wearing a life jacket as part of our SEP training. 

The group we cadets found ourselves in was quite new in terms of the norm for easyJet, as a group of direct entry Captains were being inducted. When we moved onto security, this was of huge benefit as their experience made the whole session incredibly worthwhile as they were able to give a bit more context to the scenarios. That said, as cadets from an MPL programme there was an odd shift in terms of knowledge when it came to easyJet SOP's (Standard operating procedures), as we were significantly better versed as we had the luxury of 6 months working on them in Southampton.

As much as the crew on the flight deck aren't as customer facing as our colleagues in the cabin, we still need to understand their role as well as have some basic skills in terms of first aid. To this end we had an opportunity to learn CPR using the much loved mannequin, but we also got to use the new on board defibrillator which basically tells you what to do to keep things ticking along! Understanding the cabin crew role also extended to learning how to operate the aircraft doors correctly, something which I hadn't given enough respect to. Put simply if you cock up the order or make a mistake, when you open the door you could activate the slide, and anything that was blocking the door is soon getting shifted!!

The week finished with a day of crew resource management, delivered by two pilots based out of Gatwick. We also had a chance to visit hanger 89 again, and with that our induction week was over.

The weekend following induction Alice and I moved into our flat in Crawley, or at least moved enough stuff to live until we could hire a van for the rest! Unfortunately that didn't extend to a sofa, so we spent four days getting a numb bum sat on the floor. Thankfully when I got another break we moved properly, and our flat is now pretty cosy.

Induction continued this week, but this time at Burgess Hill which is just South of Gatwick. It's the main flight deck training facility, and houses many simulators for a variety of airlines. Frustrating our first two days there were spent in the classroom learning a bit more about line training, as well as how to negotiate a full flight plan. Given each flight plan is about 20 pages long and we could be doing 4 flights a day, thats plenty of paper to get through!

Finally yesterday we were back in the simulator in readiness for base training, but we still had training to get through. This included PRNAV, which put simply is a form of satellite based naviagation. We weren't really learning about the mechanics of the system, more how we will use it on a daily basis and what to do when the system fails. Todays sim session was however a lot more topical, as it was our pre-base sim. Sheldon and I were paired up, and we basically had 4 hours to fly round and round in the circuit at Gatwick to get used to the pattern we will fly tomorrow. Given we both completed our LST a month ago it was also a big opportunity to really blow away the cobwebs and get confident in the aeroplane again. Thankfully there were no major dramas and I feel ready for base training tomorrow, so hopefully there are no snags to stop us going ahead. As long as I continue to fly the way I have been taught and practiced, I should fair OK and will ideally be training in a week. So it's an early night for me, and an exciting day tomorrow. Time to fly the jet, and I finally wear these beauties with pride!!

Week 77 & 78: gearing up for big school!

After the absolute ecstasy of successfully completing my LST, I was given a (well deserved) two weeks off to relax whilst waiting for my induction. some of my collegues found themselves with onbly a few days before their induction, but as I picked Gatwick as my base my start date was the 23rd. And it's a good job, as I found I actually had plenty to get on with. 

For starters Alice and I managed to sort ourselves a flat on the outskirts of Crawley, which was nothing but stressful. Given the state of the property market there are huge amounts of people needing to rent, and a such whenever a nice property becomes available about six million people want to view it that day, and invariably one of them will take it. But finally after lots of frustration and a fair dose of patience we managed to find a place which is only a 10 minute drive to the staff car park at Gatwick. I appreciate that doesn't sound terribly important, but given ill need to then catch a bus from the car park to the crew room (Gatwick is rather large!) anywhere I can cut a few minutes and save myself an even earlier alarm is welcomed!

I then had a nice family party as my Mum's cousin celebrated her 50th birthday. It was great to be able to go, because working shifts for so many years has led to me missing quite a few family gatherings. I suppose that's one of the inevitabilities of working in aviation, that sometimes social plans just don't have a chance as work is the driving force. 

As I had another week off I had a great chance to shoot off to CenterParcs with my family to spend a few days relaxing in the woods. I won't lie I did get a bit excitable at the water park place, getting a touch too giddy playing on all the slides. My sister and niece were there too so I had a great chance to mess about with them (and she made a mess too as she's recently onto solids the little cutie), because now i've got quite a few weeks of work ahead so the opportunities may not come along. Finally Mum treated Alice and I to a relaxing evening in the spa where I experienced about 8 different ways of being tortured by heat and steam, but I definitely left feeling energized!

Finally this week one of the much loved teachers from my secondary school is retiring this week, and I had the chance to pop up and be part of a surprise farewell party. She was mine and my sisters swimming coach so we both spent a lot of time under her care, and it was wonderful to be part of her big goodbye. What made the day even more exciting was that so many of my old coaches and Masters were there so I was able to catch up with some of the people who played a big part in making me the man I am today, 10 years after I left a school I really loved. 

I now find myself in a hotel room on the outskirts of Luton relaxing before my first day of induction tomorrow. Rather than do battle with the m25 and m1 on a Monday morning i've come up a day early, so hopefully the traffic around the airport doesn't let me down! So this single bed is where i'm laying my head for the night, with hopes that I don't roll off the side! As of tomorrow I officially fall under the responsibility of easyJet, and the next chapter of my journey commences. Best bring a change of underwear, absolutely bricking it!

Week 76: Qualified Airbus A320 pilot? Oh go on then!

It is with great pleasure, elation, emotion and relief I can announce that on Saturday March 7th 2015 I passed the license skills test (LST), qualifying me as a type rated pilot on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft. Given that this blog has been updated throughout my training, I can confirm it has been one of the most intense and draining 18months of my life, but the hard work has paid off and I am now of some use to easyJet!

To fill you in on the profile of the test, it is spread across two days each with 4 hours in the simulator, during which we have to demonstrate we can proficiently fly a variety of manoeuvres. These range from normal take offs to landing with one engine failed, and effectively during the test we are proving we are competent operators of the A320 and would be safe to form part of the flight deck crew. I was paired with Steph, and although we got a bit of a sting having our first day moved from 10am to 6am, the move meant we flew in ct599 which is the newest and most modern of the simulators.

During the test we continue to work as pilot flying and pilot monitoring, and the challenge is to do absolutely nothing different from previous lessons. Steph went first and fortunately managed to complete all of her sign off items in about 2.5 hours, leaving me 1.5 hours to work through mine. By the end of the first detail we had made great headway but I was yet to perform the engine failure after V1 and the raw data ILS, so these were ready for me the next day. These were to be flown in a different simulator, ct250, which is quite old so the software isn't quite so modern, and all I wished for was an hour to get my stuff done!!

From walking into the sim on the second day I took about 30 minutes to get the aircraft off the stand ready to taxi (this involves pre-flight checks, a briefing, then getting relevant permissions from ATC), and then about another 30 minutes to complete my two sign off items. So about one hour after walking in (and with ct250 having behaved itself) our examiner Paul happily informed us we had now both officially passed the LST, and the rest of the flight reverted to instruction. To say I was grinning from ear to ear would be an understatement, but after a moment of pure bliss we went straight onto the next task. 

From here we moved onto Low visibility operations (LVO's) as is a requirement of the type rating, taking the opportunity to experience thick fog and the problems it brings. For about two hours we performed a number of take offs and landings, the recurring theme being that we had very little to see out the window. We even performed engine failures during the take off roll which really does take a fair amount of mental work, because the normal visual cues are non-existent! I'm pleased to say the LVO element was successful and Steph and I were complete. From there we had about 40 minutes of spare time so performed visual circuits in the same manner we'll experience during base training. Base training will be the first time we fly a real A320, but it will just be trainee pilots and crew on board, as we're not quite ready for passengers. It was nice to finish what was a stressful couple of days looking forward, and it shows just how close those line flights really are!

I now have two weeks off in which I intend to catch up with Alice (who's on her first trip with BA about to land in Barbados!!), and am going to Centerparks with my family for a spot of relaxation. I start induction on the 23rd up at Luton, but shock of all shocks I have a chunk of work to get through so i'm ready when I arrive. I plan to continue weekly updates to the end of my line training so that a realistic timescale of the MPL is more apparent, so ill just have to think of something to talk about next week. For now pub, beer, celebration, and a bit of feet up relaxation!

Week 75: my final week of sim training

I know this post is late, but it seemed appropriate to wait until this afternoon to post and for good reason. As of 1015 this morning my final training flight in the Airbus A320 was over, signifying the rapid approach of my licence skills test (LST) on Friday. I will discuss that later, but for now the flights I've done this week...

One of the beauties of the MPL is that we have an opportunity to look at many aspects that a normal type rating just can't because of the limited training time. In some cases notable points are also repeated, which was the case for flight controls as well as upset recovery. To save going into that as it's already been discussed at length earlier in this blog, we had the opportunity to work through an exercise centred around unreliable speed, in our case the outcome of a computer failure. A more usual scenario would be the external probes icing up so there is no way of reading the information, and this was the case for AirFrance 447, which unfortunately ended up pancaking the Atlantic Ocean in a near vertical descent. It is through learning lessons from incidents like this that we progress, unfortunately at the cost of hundreds of lives.

Once the unreliable speed has been recognised, either by comparing different indications or with sudden changes to those indications, the challenge is almost to sit on your hands and do very little as sometimes actions can worsen the situation. Obviously close to the ground there is a real element of danger and accordingly memory drills are employed which should keep the aircraft safe, but in the cruise with plenty of air between the plane and the earth, changing nothing should mean the aircraft remains safe!

The basic theory is that with a given power setting and the nose a certain angle in relation to the horizon (pitch) the aircraft will fly roughly the correct speed. The pitch/power tables are from the quick reference handbook, but given they cover 10 tons of aircraft weights, there is a neccessity to tweak the figures for the right result. Every so often (and to build our faith in the technique) our instructor Alex would allow us to reference the standby instrument to prove just how good it is; I can humbly say I was amazed that on pretty much every occasion we were within a couple of knots of the desired speed, so who needs an airspeed indicator? Unfortunately the aircraft we were in didnt have a newer development known as the BUSS (back up speed scale) which means flight within the green is safe, but if I never see one in my entire life I wont be complaining!

My last two flight have been line orientated, giving myself and Steph the chance to consolidate ahead of our final check. On both occasions there were training elements we had to work through so we were still learning, but the focus was mainly on flying as many of the things that will come up, so we're not too rusty. Thankfully today that involved single engine work, and its a good job because its been a while! On my first single engine go around I was a little too quick to use the rudder, so as a result put opposite rudder on to try and return to balanced flight. Unfortunately as the engine spooled up I then had too little and was back out of balance, so had to work my socks off to control the aeroplane! However badly I thought it was, my instructor said it was good enough to pass but was just a little untidy, and id much prefer to hear that feedback today than on Friday after royally butchering it!

I feel confident that I can operate the Airbus as a member of a multi-crew easyJet operation, and rather oddly am looking forward to Friday. That's probably mostly because I just want it over with, but if CTC didn't think i'd pass i'd not be sitting the test, so nervous or not I feel ready. Wish me luck!

Week 74: Smoke, the scariest thing yet!

We continued to work through failures this week, but with the more modern simulator '599' were able to complete exercises with an increased sense of realism. Starting out we looked at the pressurisation systems, and therefore the sorts of scenario's we'd be in requiring an emergency descent. An emergency descent is what you see on TV when a naf documentary is showing an aircraft in a dive, but they have their details slightly mixed up so give the impression that a door blowing out is what caused the aircraft to fall into an uncontrollable dive. The reality is totally different, and it is the pilots that initiate the fast descent in order to preserve the lives of the passengers and for more suitable conditions (its a rather chilly -50 degrees at 36,000ft!). For the crew it isnt just a case of holding ones breath and hoping you make it down in time, so the (not so) wonderful oxygen masks come out to play. 

For pressurisation we looked at pack failures, leaks, and explosive decompressions (bomb explosion), the common theme being that we had to get the aircraft down quickly without falling into a blind panic. Thats easier said than done, as you only have a few seconds to get your mask on before your body is rapidly put outside its survivable comfort zone, so the simulator detail does its best to mimic these conditions. The real core learning point though was the immediate memory drill actions both pilots have to follow, and these must be committed to memory but readily retrieved as an emergency descent could happen anytime. Worse yet, if one crewmember leaves the flight deck to use the lavatory, the remaining pilot must remember to do both pilots actions, and shouldnt expect their collegue to return to the flight deck until the emergency descent is complete.

We also looked at engine failures, which was more of revision than learning. Thats not to say I was textbook on my first go, but it was good to brush up on something that makes up a substantial part of the LST (licence skills test). I think the main point I have taken from the single engine exercise is that being proactive (more than usual) is the best way to counter the numerous threats that exist in this unusual scenario. 

Finally we closed the week with one of the scariest situations a crew could be exposed with, smoke on the flight deck. What makes the situation so awful is that smoke will be coming from a combustable source, and if it's already burning how long will it take for the fire to be so bad that it burns through vital components. Equally the smoke itself is highly toxic, but worse it can fog vision to the extent instruments are caked in soot and need to be wiped. To help raise the simulation, CT599 being one of the newest sims actually produces smoke which is similar to the dry ice from a school disco (the picture shows me coming to the end of the smoke clearance). It quickly flooded the flight deck so we had to don the masks, and with one of us scrabbling to get the aircraft down the other would be working through the Quick reference handbook (QRH) smoke procedure, followed up by the clearance drill. All in all I have firmly established that I would rather lose both engines and bring my gliding skills into play than have to deal with smoke; you just dont know how long you have a flyable aircraft for, but at least with a double flame out sticking the nose down means gravity's on your side. Obviously neither is particularly pleasant, but it's amazing how what on first inspection is the worst problem actually might be the more manageable!

So I now find myself with only 5 more instructional flights before my big day and the LST. The last two instructional flights I will actually be flying as a pair with Steph, which means we have extra time to consolidate any deficiencies and practice until we are above the standard required to pass the type rating. In less than two weeks it's all over, and ill be finishing one journey eagerly awaiting the start of the next! 

Week 73: some tough scenarios to contend with

Following our relatively gentle start to Advanced, the flights this week have really pushed us to scratch around in the grey matter and work through some fairly hairy failures. The areas of focus were mainly the electrical and hydraulic failures, as deficiencies with either of these systems have some pretty far reaching consequences. 

Starting with the electrics, the Airbus really relies on these systems to be working because of the fly by wire architecture; put simply, if the electrics die, the computers that are responsible for the control protections are gone and things get quite interesting. We looked at the loss of both AC and DC electrics, and in different situation one or the other pilot would lose all their instrumentation, or in one extreme case (lightning strike) everything went dark for a few seconds. Common to most electrical failures there was a degradation to 'Alternate law' which makes the aircraft a little twitchy, but more importantly the normal protections are reduced. 

As for hydraulic, this really is a vital system. Even though computers power the flight control system, they are still sending signals to hydraulic actuator, which will move the desired control surface. Therefore no hydraulics, no control surface movement, and more importantly no ability to control the aircraft. With this in mind the nice chaps at Airbus have designed the A320 with three separate and independent hydraulic systems, with the philosophy that a loss of one makes the aircraft comfortably flyable. That said the loss of two out of three is a fairly bad situation, but the aircraft will still be controllable which fills me with confidence!

The actual failures weren't the only important element of this weeks flights, but the manner in which we dealt with them. There's little point running into a solution when its a load of rubbish, so the ECAM system (electronic centralized aircraft monitoring) gives a foundation for problem solving. But regardless of the failure, if the crew adhere strictly to the ECAM process failures should be dealt with quickly, accurately, and offer solutions without delay. We would also then be able to decide if continuing or diverting was the next step, therefore forcing us to consider ATC, the cabin crew, and the passengers who heard the bang down the back! 

Again failures will be on the cards this week, including rapid descents and engine failures. More worrying, that with 9 lessons to go I only have 19 days until my LST is complete. Get it over quick, I wanna get to the Airbus!

Week 72: Advanced commences

After a nice relaxed week advanced is under way, with the Airbus showing us all the wonderful things that can go wrong! Before we got going i'd enjoyed a week off, so whilst being at home managed a trip to the Imperial War Museum in London, somewhere i'd not been for easily 15 years! As usual the aeroplanes on display grabbed my attention, but pretty much everything took my interest. At the moment there is a Holocaust Exhibition which was really incredible; the fact that the human race were capable of such atrocities is unbelievable, but the tone of the exhibition, level of knowledge I left with, and the many learning aids included left me well-informed, but saddened. Amazingly we consider this to be an isolated occurrence, but history has proven that such nasty acts have been repeated and probably will again.

Coming back to Southampton we had another day in the classroom in preparation for the advanced phase of training, looking into how the operation would change and the areas of focus during the flights. Advanced only consists of 14 flights in which we have many failures to cover, so each flight really needs to count. We also have items that need to be 'signed off' to confirm that we have reached an acceptable standard of proficiency ahead of our Licence Skills test (LST), proving that opportunities to prepare are gently reducing! The focus of our first flight was manual handling, looking at the dreaded circling approaches, non-precision approaches, landings, and take offs. We also had a chance to look at a rather scary manoeuvre, the 'TOGA 10'. It is a low level recovery manoeuvre, normally following a bounce on landing, where the pilot selects go-around power, pitches the nose to 10 degrees and waits. This is because prior to the bounce the power would have been reduced to idle (zero), so the engines will take time to spool up to full power, and when they do the nose may pitch up violently which could lead to a tail-strike. By utilising TOGA 10 the aircraft should stay off the runway, and once it gently begins to climb the normal go-around procedure can be put into action.

Hopefully next weeks post is a bit more interesting as things start to go seriously wrong. Thank God it's all in a simulator!

Week 71: Well that didn't last long!

After only 20 days of instruction, intermediate is already over! Starting on the 9th and finishing last Wednesday (the 28th) with another competency assurance, we managed to fly 13 profiles, all with the motion finally switched on. I'm pleased to say that I completed the CA with no major issues, so am enjoying a week off ahead of the advanced. Fortunately this week roughly coincided with mine and Alice's one year, so we went to Smith and Western for some top notch Texan cowboy style dining. 

To give a flavour of the intermediate CA, with our recently acquired skills in the multi-crew environment we were expecting some sort our failure that would require us to work as a team to resolve the situation. The focus was in fact performing overweight landings, so the three scenarios we were given all pushed us to prep the aircraft quickly and make an approach. These included a bomb threat, an APU fire (which was mine) and smoke in the cabin, with the resultant drills tobe followed in response. 

In all cases we were put into a situation where we were forced to work quickly, but had to avoid the temptation to rush in an effort to prevent mistakes being made. The theory is that if you take your time and do it right, you won't have to do it again! That's not to say you take hours considering every possible detail, but equally you don't need to jump straight in and start a plan which ultimately might be the wrong one. 

With Advanced starting on Saturday with a day in the classroom, I can finally see the end in sight and a  first summer zooming all over Europe. The lads on EZMP01 have been through induction with easyJet, and are now waiting for uniform and their first flights as rosters have started to arrive. It must be so exciting for them, and a demonstration just how close qualification is!

Week 70: Manual handling, incapacitation, and ECAM

Quite a busy week of flying for us, working through a lot of manual handling so we feel more confident in a wider range of possibilities. Of note were TCAS and EGPWS manoeuvres, which if completed correctly should see the aircraft avoid trading paint with another aircraft, or bumping into terrain. TCAS stands for traffic alert and collision avoidance system, and is a useful system that prevents mid-air collisions. Put simply if both aircraft are equipped with TCAS, they will recognise there is a potential for a loss of safe separation, and come up with a complimentary resolution to solve the problem. These resolutions will only give a command in the vertical plane, requiring the pilot to either climb, descend or level off, and they are designed to achieve a miss and not full legal separation. 

TCAS encounters can be quite stressful, because the system 'waking up' indicates the potential for a collision, so the pilot must respond quickly and accurately to any commands. In the case of terrain avoidance, a system called the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) is used, which utilises a terrain database to enhance warning. Again put very simply, the system is designed to prevent unplanned comtact with the earth, normally referred to as CFIT (controlled flight into terrain), which unfortunately was to blaim in many accidents a few decades ago. 

In both cases, the pilot must respond quickly an accurately. The procedure is what is known as a memory drill, so the response must occur without reference to any written material or checklists; quite obvious considering how quickly the situation may deteriorate, and faffing with checks might end up with sheep and cows getting quite a bit closer!

On one of the flights, we had the opportunity to see what an incapacitation scenario feels like. As cadets in the Captain's seat we had to pretend to lose consciousness, so whilst flying as First Officer we had complete control of the aircraft. It's easy to say this is what we had to do during earlier training on light aircraft, but the Airbus is a tad more complex and having two pilots to spread the load makes normal operations more manageable. That said, with a bit of thought the whole affair is doable.

Finally we've also looked at ECAM operations, specifically what happens during failures. ECAM is the electronic centralized aircraft monitoring system, and rather than running through dozens of paper checklists, the ECAM should indicate the failure and give a work-through to solve the problem. There arent ECAM drills for everything, but the majority of problems encountered in normal operations should be catered for. 

Tomorrow we have a nice early sim starting at 0515, then I have my competency assurance on Tuesday morning. Here's hoping the next few days go well, then its a week off ahead of the final push through advanced!

Week 69: LOFT routes and autoflight

As intermediate has rapidly progressed, we've taken advantage of full motion to hone our skills when it comes to landing the Airbus, as well as gently allowing our trust in the automation to increase. It's very easy to say that engaging the autopilot takes no effort as the aircraft's doing all the work, but if we as pilots don't actually understand what it's doing (ie. we lose our situational awareness) we very quickly arrive in an undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario. 

The first system we have looked at is the auto-thrust, which effectively gives control of engine thrust to a computer. I could for example tell the aircraft I want to fly a selected airspeed, and dependent on the aircrafts position (eg. nose high) the computer will tell the engines how much power is required. On the approach this is an incredibly handy tool, as it frees up a significant amount of mental capacity to concentrate on the aircrafts flight profile, as well as monitor the progress of the flight and any changes required. The aircraft can also be in managed speed, where it understands what stage of the flight we are in and what speed is required.........the important thing here is maintaining situational awareness, because if no-one monitors what the aircraft is doing and it's wrong, the results could potentially be fatal. 

We continued to develop our understanding of the automation on what are called Line orientated flight training (LOFT) routes, utilising the full flight management and guidance system, interfacing through the MCDU (pictured). In the real world of line flying the vast majority of the flight is controlled through the MCDU, as its direct link to the Flight management computer works a lot quicker than our human brains. That said the system's capability can be seen as something of a curse, as there's so much it can do learning all of it's functions takes time. Fortunately the MPL provides us with opportunity to work through many of the funcitons without feeling too rushed, thus far having looked at routing direct (ATC give us a short cut), holding (entering holds, changing them, creating a new hold), as well as changing the approach mid-flight. It all seems like a lot, but with practice I personally feel more comfortable in using the MCDU, but can guarantee I will still be learning when I arrive at easyJet for my line training!

On our final flight this week we also got to experience low visibility operations (LVO's), to start gaining some experience of the visual cues we will have from the flight deck, and just how much more challenging flying becomes. Initially we were just looking at Cat 1 operations which is the least restrictive, but at certain point our instructor changed the visibility to give us a greater appreciation of deteriorating conditions. One notable point was on line up when we started with about 400m visibility which we initially thought was very restrictive. However, as he gradually reduced the outside visibility to a thick fog of 75m (Cat 3b) and we felt like we were in thick pea soup, when the visibility was increased to 400m again it felt like a clear day! For the LVO flights we also looked at the approach, discovering just how limiting forward visibility can be when attempting to complete a landing, the decision whether to land having to be left right until the last second (a point called minimum, an altitude below which the aircraft must not descend unless the pilot has the necessary visual cues to continue). This was a new experience as we had previously been given a generous margin above minimum to settle, but now the scenario is more reflective of the real world.

As we've had the weekend off i've been able to relax (a bit), but always had my work to keep me company. This is really the business end of the course and there's a huge amount of knowledge to consolidate, and rather scarily I only have 7 more intermediate sims, 16 advanced sims (which include my licence skills test), and in 10 weeks tomorrow I commence induction at the easyJet Academy, Luton. Even more scary is that when I write this next Sunday I will only have 2 more intermediate sims left, proof that time is flying by and I have no opportunity to let up!

Week 68: Final written exams and back in the driving seat

I have finally completed my last written examination with CTC aviation, so as of now any testing I get will be purely practical inside the A320 simulator. To say it's a relief is an understatement, but I have no doubts about the difficulty of any further tests. After the written exam (performance) our final day of technical ground-school was actually a lot more relaxed, the focus switching to crew resource management. Our instructor used the session to actually look at what was going to happen when we arrived at easyJet, discussing any fears or anxieties we had before joining the airline. I definitely found the session most beneificial and it certainly answered most quesitons I had about moving to full operations. 

As I had a few days off in the middle of the week, Alice and I chose to go for a walk on the beach at Lepe, a fairly quiet beach west of Southampton water. Although the beach is quite nice for a walk, the weather was pretty wild and we looked more like members of Scott's expedition with the amount of layers we had on! As well as some old fortifications left from the second world war (many troops/vehicles left from the beach at Lepe during the Normandy landings) conveniently there was a great view of stricken car transporter Hoegh Osaka, that only a couple of days before had been beached on the Bramble Bank sandbar. As the transporter left Southampton docks it began to significantly list, and the harbour pilot knowing the waters of the Solent decided that beaching the vessel was the best course of action. 

After a couple of days off, on Friday (and after a month of no flying) I had my first lesson of intermediate, the focus of which was landings. I know it's a stupid thing to say, but officially I hadn't flown the Airbus as the requirements of basic were to fly a generic jet, and we were just lucky the jet on offer at CTC was an A320. Now that intermediate has started and the motion has been switched on, we are now learning the formal technique for flying the A320 starting with one of the most difficult manual manoeuvres, landing. The reason it's so difficult is the aircraft whilst airborne has a huge amount of energy, so the landing can be seen as a controlled crash! Ideally the technique should remove most of the energy to avoid damage, which is very similar to a light aircraft but with one subtle difference; in a Cessna the plan was to hold the aircraft off the runway until it ran out of energy, only allowing touchdown when the aircraft was incapable of staying airborne. In the Airbus, if this technique was employed the aircraft would touch down a significant distance down the runway as it's going so much faster, and therefore any performance figures calculated would be redundant. Instead, at about 30ft the thrust levers are closed (or 'retarded') and the nose is pitched up to merely arrest the rate of descent and allow the main gear to absorb the landing load. This I was initially struggling with as I couldn't get out of the habit of soft touchdowns, but as the lesson wore on I became more comfortable with the 'positive' landings. For once the saying "If there's no smoke your landing's a joke" actually has some truth!

In our second lesson we continued with manual handling, this time looking at circling approaches. For a circling approach the instrument approach is flown towards one runway, and when visual (and close enough) a visual circling manoeuvre is flown with the intention of landing on the opposite runway. This may be because of the wind or terrain which prohibits an instrument approach to the in to wind runway, and is one of the more challenging flying tasks. The crude picture i've drawn gives an idea of the circle, firstly with the green instrument element, followed by the red visual part. I went first and annoyingly I cocked up my timings, so had to perform a go-around as I didn't manage to stabilise my approach. That said, it gave me practice at flying the missed approach from a circling manoeuvre, and thankfully my second approach was as planned and I landed successfully. 

Day off tomorrow so going in to CTC to use one of the virtual flight deck and flight computer trainer. There is a hell of a lot of information to learn and commit to memory, so the workload can only go one direction!