Sunshine in Oxford

As the days get warmer and exams get nearer and nearer, thoughts are already starting to turn to Phoenix! We had a presentation today from the Head of Flying Training, preparing us for the adventure that awaits us. He basically just gave us a brief about where we will be staying and the facilities, a bit about the area and a little bit about the flying too. It really does feel that it’s just around the corner now, although in reality of course there is still a long way to go.

It will be a week on Monday that we will be sitting our Test 2 exams, and we are racing through the subjects, in fact we have already completed the Flight Planning material. There is a very different feel to the subjects in this phase; it was very easy just to remember correct answers for  Phase 1 as each question was very black and white. However, there is a large amount of calculation and chart plotting required for these questions, which means if you don’t know the material and the methods, you are in trouble. There is also a real sense that what we are learning now isn’t just to pass exams, a lot of it is stuff that we will be using day to day in Arizona and beyond.

We also had a presentation from EasyJet, though I wasn’t too impressed  with them. They offer a scheme for new pilots called ‘flexi-crew’, which basically means they can work you as little or often as they like, with no job security whatsoever, plus you have to pay for the training. Although this scheme is the only option for some guys leaving Oxford at the moment, predictions are showing more and more that there will be a much healthier job market at the end for us, and we might be able to land something a bit better. To be honest, I have heard a lot more positives about Ryanair than EasyJet. Still, it’s a long way off yet!