Week 5: The Weather

My "favourite" place

Week 5 has drawn to a conclusion, and cp112 are now a chunk of their way through Meteorology, the study of the weather. Met is a fairly important subject for pilots to have a thorough knowledge of, as it tends to have the most significant bearing on day-to-day operations, and therefore questions around the topic are often scenario based to help give some context to the information being learnt. The key areas are:-

• The Atmosphere- including altimetry which is a life saving area
• Wind- horizontal movement of air in the atmosphere and further effects
• Thermodynamics- the relationship between temperature and the atmosphere
• Clouds/Fog- whether the sheep are in the sky or on the ground
• Precipitation- rain, snow, hail
• Air Masses- ties in all the previous knowledge into a 3D concept
• Climatology- worldwide differences, seasons
• Flight Hazards- icing, poor vis, thunderstorms (things that might end a flight early)
• Met Info- information to prevent the above! 

As a subject, the majority of pilots I have spoken to have found Met interesting as it is a practical subject which is easily applied on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it is rather vast and therefore the challenge once the material is understood is to keep it from escaping. For some students reading over the topics continuously works, and for others the answer is practice exam questions as the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) have a knack for asking questions in the most difficult to decipher manner. For one element I decided to get a wall map and cover it in arrows and key words so hopefully I retain all the necessary knowledge, especially when it comes to global climatology!

The timing for Met is also brilliant, as Britain this evening is to be pummeled by a large storm created by a deep depression in the North Atlantic. Unfortunately I failed to grab last nights synoptic chart, but below is the situation forecast for midnight tonight, the 27th October. Put simply, the black lines which join points of equal pressure are very close together, and in the same way that close contour lines on a map signify steep slopes, the closeness indicates strong winds.

Separately from my studies, CTC's newest course cp113 had APD1 on Friday. APD means Airline preparation day, and throughout the course CTC use these days to help train cadets for the non-technical skills required to successfully pilot an aircraft. Arguably a monkey could be taught to fly (as I have proven), but to be a good airline pilot requires sounds communication, confident decision making, strong situational awareness as well as a flexible approach to tasks. There is some amount of role play but also group discussion to help the learning progress, and as the course progresses the content of the APD changes to maintain relevant. However, cp113's arrival signals the end of cp112 being CTC's babies, and in only three weeks our instruction for module 1 will be over and the exams will be rapidly approaching! 

Enjoy the storm!

Underway, overworked...

Cadet Uniform items

On Friday, I passed the four week point of my course, which sees CP112 halfway through the instructional element of module 1. In four weeks we have covered:-

• Aircraft general knowledge- Airframe, Hydraulics, Landing gear, Pneumatics, Electrics, Piston engines, Turbines, and logic systems.
• Principles of flight- the theory of flight examining Flying controls, Forces in flight, Stalling, Stability, High speed flight, Operational limits and Propellers
• Instruments- thus far we have covered half of this but have managed Gyroscopes, Magnetism, Sensors and Pressure Instruments

For those of you shy of hard work, this is not the course for you! Unfortunately, given the pace of the course there is no opportunity to rest on your laurels at the end of a days lectures. The only sure way of passing is to immediately consolidate the new information, whilst revisiting previous topics so that they remain fresh. An average day during ground school is:-

• 0900              Lectures
• 1200              Lunch
• 1300              More lectures
• 1600- 1700   Home
• Evening       Grab something to eat and strap yourself in for some study! Personally i'm                            heading to bed somewhere between 10 and 11pm, but that is down to the                            individual. 

CP110 (July Starters) have just done their first set of exams, and CP111 have just done their mocks for Module one, so it won't be long until the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) send an invigilator to oversee the first 7 of ours!

Being at Nursling is also something of a mixed bag. It's great to be on the course and underway, but months of solid ground-school ahead will take it's toll. However, given there are three full motion simulators on the walk from the car park to the classroom, inspiration arrives first thing every morning! I am also in the fortunate position that even though I only get 6 months in New Zealand, as of September next year ill be spending the best part of 6 months in the Airbus A320 simulator due to the specific learning objectives of my MPL course. 

That'll do for this week, and hopefully from now I will be in a position to make a post a week. So look out on Sunday, and ill attempt to find a different topic to let you in on.

Fly safe

Paperwork.....not all fun and games

As mentioned, the posts on this blog are currently rather weak as my course doesn't start until September,  but the wheels are already in motion with regards to administration. I will therefore attempt to give you an impression of what happens between selection and commencing the course.

Initially, acceptance is fairly informal and it's via email, so no changes there. Once you as the cadet have accepted an offer, CTC begin to put together what can be classified as joining instructions, which also serves as a more detailed explanation of the various elements. The key aspects include:-

• Contracts to be signed (for both the main course and the foundation course in New Zealand)
• Information on the specifics of the easyJet MPL
• general run down of the wings course (although the MPL is slightly different)
• Criminal record check through Disclosure Scotland

The joining instructions also give a clearer insight into where your life is going and how long each element will approximately take. Given the timescales quoted and pending no delay, I am forecast to commence base training in March 2015, and hopefully will have passengers on board by the end of the month. Base training is the first time you fly the aircraft you have gained a type rating on; essentially a group of cadets will take an empty easyJet aircraft to a more quiet aerodrome, and attempt to demonstrate what has been learnt in the simulator under the watchful eye of a base training Captain. Pending a successful result, the cadet is then released for line operations in this case across the easyJet European network.

Given base training is comfortably a year and a half away, ill leave it there. But hopefully as the months wear on the content will become more interesting!

In the beginning...

This is my first time writing any sort of blog so please cut me some slack whilst I bed in!

I have recently been accepted onto the new easyJet MPL course flown with CTC, and in September I will be joining the course of CP112 for ground school. I am currently working in the industry as an Air traffic controller, and my title comes from the fact I used to be a bit tubby (thanks to a previous love of Rolo yogurts!). I am now moving to the other side of the fence and fulfilling a life long ambition of career flying, and what better place to start than easyJet!

Flying wise I have a PPL, I instruct on air cadet gliders and I just enjoy enjoy the fun of throwing a plane round. But this type of flying will be very new and no doubt challenging, which I plan to embrace with both hands!

As my course doesn't start for the best part of three months this blog will no doubt go cold, but I plan to keep everyone updated on the intricacies of the MPL course and how it differs from the traditional ATPL. In my opinion, the course will gradually become more popular with the airlines so I find myself in the exciting position of being one of the earlier participants.

For now, enjoy the sunshine and the delight that is the British summer!