The Journey Begins!

Well everyone, what better way to share my experiences over the next couple of years than with this shiny new blog?! For those who don't know, 2 weeks tomorrow I will be starting my first day as a trainee pilot with Oxford Aviation Academy. In August this year I was accepted by them after a challenging 2 day selection process, involving all kinds of personality, hand/eye/feet co-ordination, memory, numerical (and many more) tests, the highlight of which was a short checkride on a CAA-approved Bombardier CRJ200 simulator. This involved a few short climbs and descents and some co-ordinated turns, a lot of which whilst being asked questions by the examiner, but most of all was a great taste of the kind of position I want to be sitting in in 2 years time! All of these tests, plus successfully passing my Class 1 medical at Gatwick, means I am officially enrolled on class AP308 (November 2009) of the APP First Officer programme!

So what does the course involve? Well, the first 6 months will be the hugely intensive 'ground school' at Oxford Airport, leading up to the 14 written exams set by the CAA. Once those exams are passed (and no sooner!) I'll be on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona to begin my Foundation Flight Training! After 5 months of flying in the desert sun I will return to the UK, the proud owner of a Multi-Engine Commercial Pilot's Licence. The next part of the course is Advanced Flight Training at Oxford Airport, working towards the enormously challenging Instrument Rating, meaning I'll be able to fly in poor weather solely using the aircraft's instruments. And then finally...it's into the amazing simulators at Oxford for Jet Training - learning to work as part of a two man team to pilot a commercial jet. All this will result in me receiving my frozen Airline Traffic Pilot's Licence as well as a Foundation Degree in Air Transport Management. Then it's just a simple case of finding a job with an airline and completing the necessary training on a specific aircraft and...I'll officially be an airline pilot!! Phew!

Well, as you can tell it's the start of a very long journey, and there is definitely a lot of hard work ahead of me before I get that licence, but I'm looking forward to many exciting adventures along the way! I'll be moving to Oxford a week on Thursday, so the challenge starts there!