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.
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