The Wings Ceremony

The hard work of the last 12 months was finally rewarded today at the AP308 Wings Ceremony, where we presented with our OAA wings and 2 gold bar epaulettes. It really is a reminder and a reflection of everything we have achieved in becoming Commercial Pilots License holders, and though the hard work is just beginning, it feels good to enjoy what we have achieved. Following the ceremony we we treated to a few drinks ‘on the house’, and then finished the evening off by a few of us going to the pub to celebrate together. We now get to walk around school proudly showing off to the Ground School kids with our new epaulettes; it feels like just yesterday we were there ourselves!

Because we arrived back quite late from Arizona, I was only able to spend a few days at home before the move up to Oxford. It is nice to be back here, and the house is amazing, but I have to say it is quite something to go from the baking heat of Arizona to waking up to de-ice the car! It will hit home even more once we step into the aircraft, and turn the heating and de-icing equipment on!

Last week was a week of presentations and lectures as the final part of our First Officer Fundamentals course. It was a fascinating week, learning about everything from airline economics to air crash investigations. Plus we were lucky to have talks from the recruitment guys at British Airways and Ryanair, which have really started us thinking more about our future careers. For now though, the Instrument Rating begins in earnest, and we are due to have our first meeting with our instructor tomorrow. The hard work begins here…!