After 18 months of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, I graduated from Oxford on 1st June! The last few weeks of the course were so enjoyable as we finally ended up where we wanted 
to be, in the seat of a 737-400 and we were the ones flying it! After a lot of initial hard work learning the checks and the procedures, and a couple of introduction flights to flying the aircraft and the use of the autopilot, we were put to work flying a few routes. Initially they start off fine with all going smoothly, but very soon we were introduced to complex problems that we would have to work as a team to deal with, from deteriorating weather to engine failures and rapid decompressions. At the end of those few weeks I received the final part of my license, the Multi-Crew Co-operation (MCC) certificate and also a Jet Orientation Course (JOC) certificate, meaning my training is complete, and I now have all the parts that make up a ‘Frozen’ ATPL. The reason it is still frozen is because you are required to have 1500 hours before it becomes a full ATPL and the 
only way to do that is to get a job and work on the line.
So I have headed back home to Norfolk to begin the job hunt. Things are definitely looking a lot more positive these days compared to when I started the course, and I have been lucky to have a choice of a few airlines to apply to. I am hoping that my first interview will be sometime next month, and within a few months all being well I’ll be starting the next step in my journey, the type rating. To fly a particular jet you must undergo specific training for that type, including more ground school and a lot of hours in the sim before we finally get our hands on the real thing. In short it may be a quiet period for me on here but I’m looking forward to having some good news soon!
