Airline Qualification Course

Well it has been a while, but I can now continue my blogging as I have completed the first week of AQC (Airline Qualification Course) which is the intermediate stage of the CTC Wings Programme. The AQC course is designed for us to transition from single-pilot to multi-pilot operations and ensures we are ready to be put forward into the hold pool for airline placement

The first week was spent in groundschool at the Nursling training centre where we had 2 days technical training for the Boeing 737-300 aircraft and the remaining 3 days were spent on Crew Resource Management where we learnt the skills needed for multi-crew operations.

Practising on our cardboard cut-out of the 737-300

During the rest of the week when we weren't in the training centre, we have been learning and memorising all the checks and order of proceedings which has taken a very long,long, long time. We now have 9 simulator sessions, each 4 hours long, in the 737-300 to hone our multi-crew and jet aircraft handling skills.

Lots of stuff to learn....

Short and sweet, but hopefully more photos to come....

Instrument Rating Skills Test............ :)

So after 6 months in ground school, 8 months on the other side of the world in New Zealand and flying down in sunny Bournemouth for 8 weeks, I am pleased to say that I have now got my EASA CPL/IR, having passed my IR Skills Test yesterday.

The even better news is that everyone in CP106 have all got first time passes.

Backseating down to Cherbourg (France), the day before my IR

The IR test is made up of 6 sections: Departure, General Handling, Enroute IFR, Precision Approaches, Non-Precision Approaches and flight with one engine inoperative. The flight started with a route from Bournemouth to Exeter where I completed an RNAV (GPS) approach, followed by an engine failure in the go-around, then straight into a single NDB hold. After leaving the hold at Exeter, we then made our way back to Bournemouth with me demonstrating stall recoveries, unusual attitude recoveries and limited instrument flying (including compass turns). Once these exercises were completed I then returned to Bournemouth using just one engine for an asymmetric ILS approach and circuit.

Fortunately there wasn't a long wait for the result, and I can't explain in words how much it was a relief to hear I had passed.....

So that's the basic phase with CTC completed; looking back, the last 16 months have gone so fast, even though it seems an absolute age since the day we started. The next part of training is the Intermediate phase which is a 3-week course (AQC) down in Southampton, where we get to eventually fly the Boeing/Airbus simulators which we were dying to go in last year during groundschool. All that's left in Bournemouth is the final part of signing out......home tomorrow !!!

BA 747 as I backseated to Oxford

Flying down south.....

Hello all. The last couple of weeks have been fairly busy for CP106 as we enter our last week down in Bournemouth. Due to us becoming so close to the IR Skills Test we have been in for flights (flying and backseating) nearly every day.

The first flight in Bournemouth was just a 1 hour sortie overhead the airfield. After departing we went and flew a couple of holding patterns as well as flying a couple of approaches - NDB and ILS. As well as getting us use to being back in the plane it also exposed us for the first time to UK air traffic control and CTC SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures).

After this first flight, we then got straight in with some IR (Instrument Rating) routes, all of which are potential routes for the actual IR test. So far I have flown to Alderney in the Channel Islands, Cardiff and Exeter and have backseated all of these too. The next 2 flights I hope to fly myself are to Oxford and Cherbourg in France.

Alderney

Barry Island on finals to Cardiff

Yesterday was my birthday, and after having a flight of my own in the afternoon, I backseated a flight to Oxford and was treated to some fantastic views and sunset from 7000ft, before heading to the pub for a few celebratory drinks.

Birthday Sunset from Oxford

After the Oxford and Cherbourg routes which I am scheduled to be flying on Monday and Tuesday, I then have a F170a (a kind of mock IR) and then the big test........ 

Nearly in the air…

This week, I will hopefully have my first flight in Bournemouth as I only have one more simulator flight left. Since my last update, I have had 4 more sims and have also done a Limited Panel Exam.

In the sim on CTC's apron

The first 2 sims were the last couple of LOFT flights. The first one was from Heathrow to Birmingham, but I ended up diverting to East Midlands Airport; After losing one of my engines in the cruise I then lost both alternators during a go-around in Birmingham (due to weather below minima), which left me with about 30 minutes of electricity from the main battery. Unfortunately this ran out before I landed, but luckily I had the runway in sight so I was able to continue visually to land. The second flight was from Oxford to Manchester but again resulted in a divert to East Midlands as I had to shut down an engine because of low oil pressure.

Lined up at Bournemouth (RWY26)

The last 2 sims this week have been IR prep. In these we have flown routes which are possible for the actual IR Skills Test – Alderney and Exeter. These 2 haven’t been too bad, so hopefully the rest of the routes which are possible will be good too.

As part of our training, we also have to do a Limited Panel Exam which we do in a Duchess aircraft simulator. This test allows us to only use a select few instruments and our ability to read and fly from them. The actually principle is relatively easy, but flying an aircraft which you have never flown before and which is quite sensitive, certainly makes for a fun 20 minutes of testing.

Ground checks

On Wednesday, I should be scheduled for my last IRT preparation flight before I then go into the actual aircraft, it has been way too long…….

A Busy Week

It's fair to say I have been a lot busier in the last week than the previous. I’ve been in for 6 out of the past 7 days for 2 mass briefs and 4 simulator events. The good news though is that we still had time to enjoy the south coast sunshine!!!

After completing the final UK Orientation flight on Monday, Tuesday was the day that 3 of us had our introduction to Autopilot flight. This was by far one of the easiest flights I’ve had since starting CTC. With only hands on flying for the initial departure and last stage of landing, it demonstrated all the different functions that our system has to offer and how useful the autopilot can be for reducing workload.

The last 2 flights that I had this week were the first half of the 4 LOFT sorties. The LOFT sorties are where we act as though we are flying a single-pilot commercial flight from A to B; All planning, routes and decisions are down to us and we have all the equipment in the aircraft available to us – GPS, Autopilot, MFD (Multi-Function Display with moving map), etc. Another component to these flights is to see how we deal and cope with emergencies and poor weather leading to diverts. So far I’ve only had to deal with an engine failure during a go-around, but from other cadet's experiences I think there is going to be quite a lot to deal with in the final 2 of these flights.

Loft Flight Planning - Departure from Heathrow for Birmingham

Even though we've been busy working hard, we have still managed to find a bit of time to relax - this week a few of us had a round of golf and a beach BBQ. Hopefully we will be busy again this week, although the Instrument Rating skills test is approaching fast, only 12 more flights for me......

A Restful Week......

It has been a slow one this week with only 1 flight completed. The flight was another UK Orientation flight which means I still have another one of these to go, followed by an autopilot flight before the LOFT flights begin (which I'll talk about more when I've started them). It now means that with just 5 weeks remaining in Bournemouth, I have 17 flights, a limited panel exam and a Radio Telephony exam to do.

As I have had quite a bit of free time this week, there has been a couple of trips down to the Bournemouth seafront, some light reading, a round of golf and have just got back from seeing the Red Arrows drop by at Bournemouth airport as they have come south for the Isle of Wight festival.

Reading in the garden

Down at Bournemouth seafront

Red Arrows Departing Bournemouth

Red Arrows Arriving Back At Bournemouth

Arriving Back At Bournemouth (2)

Hopefully I'll have a few more flights this week to tell you about in my next post. Until then.....

Bournemouth

Sorry for my absence of blogging since returning from New Zealand; our course was fortunate enough to get an extra week of before beginning in Bournemouth so I am writing this as we come to the end of our first week here.

After moving into our accommodation last Sunday, we had a 2-day induction at the training centre looking at the differences between NZ and the UK, and the different procedures that we have to carry out for the remainder of our training. The days were very long but lunch at the nearby flying club cafe certainly made up for it.

After completing this induction, I had my first 2 simulator flights on Wednesday and Thursday. These are known as UK Orientation flights where we recapped on what we did in New Zealand with the introduction of UK differences. There are 3 simulators in Bournemouth, 2 of which are the same as those in New Zealand and the other is slightly different but I have yet to go in it.

Next week I hope to have a few more sims, I have 2 more of the UK Orientation flights and then we move onto the next stage. I hope you enjoyed the video I posted below – if you haven’t watched it yet just click the link.