So here I am on my Christmas holiday and what better time to update on my progress in training.
On the 15th November I moved up to Kidlington, this is where my adventure begins. We had arranged via a rather handy Facebook group to meet up the night before induction in the famous Black Horse pub. If you're studying at OAA then this place will be a regular spot for you, pretty cheap and cheerful and it's pretty comfortable in there. I think around 35 out of the 40 of my future classmates were there so we pretty much took over half of the pub, after a couple of hours most of us had comfortably meshed together and a few funny characters started coming out, I was already beginning to like the group. At 23:00 we all decided to be sensible and call it a night.
The next day 41 fresh faces rolled into the Academy, eagerly looking forward to the next 19 months. The day mainly consisted of collecting uniforms, bags, books ad filling out forms. It was a pretty good day getting to spend more time with my classmates and finding out about what was in store for us. It was quite fun getting.
That evening pretty much 95% of the class headed into Oxford, into a club called Lava. I must say it felt kind of nostalgic walking around in a student town again after 5 years of work, I guess walking around and seeing teenagers on the floor every 2 minutes was something I'd have to get used to again!
The weekend was great, turns out we have a few unique characters in the group and the alcohol seemed to help us all open up on Friday and Saturday night! And so began the our long journey towards becoming first officers.
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Before Biting The Bullet
If anyone were to look back on my childhood, it is a mystery as to how I ended up in the position I'm in today. I say this because from the age of around 12 - 18, I was pretty much a lost cause. My GCSEs results were pretty rubbish, I only just about scraped 5 passes in the important subjects. My A-Levels were pretty abysmal, I got 2 Es for A2 Information Technology and Business Studies and 2 Ds for General Studies and Sport Science. Embarrassing I know.
Before taking my A Levels I had also chosen Maths and Physics since these were important subjects to grasp to stand a chance in becoming a pilot. I also did work experience in Manston Airport, Kent, which I must add was an amazing experience for me. Anyway, I was dropped from Maths and Physics half way through the first year because of my lack of aptitude in these subjects, I was a little dejected but it was really going no where for me at that time. I decided at that point to give up the dream, I said to myself "maybe I'm just not smart enough".
It is embarrassing for me to say, but in a way getting these results was a blessing in disguise, I shall explain why in another blog.
After my A levels I began studying in Kingston University, Surrey. At first I took up a HND in Computing, probably my biggest mistake. I was still a pretty confused child at this point, I had long given up the dream of becoming a pilot and wanted to be a Computer Engineer instead. After the first year I dropped it due to the fact that I just could not grasp programming, only 4 out of the 32 people carried onto the second year, so that made me feel slightly better. I then decided to take up Media Technology with Business, which I must add was a pretty fascinating subject. It involved a good mix of technical and creative work such as Animation and Video Editing. It was only at this point where I finally started to apply myself academically. In 2007 I graduated with a 2.1! What an achievement for once underachieving kid!
In October 2007 I was employed by a simulation company to work as a 3D Modeller, and this has been my job role ever since. So you might be asking how I managed to get into Commercial Pilot Training? I shall explain. I have a very close friend of mine who started his training at Oxford Aviation Academy, before that point I didn't even know what a flight training organisation was and naturally I was curious about it. By at that point, my dream of flying hadn't quite returned yet.
I'd say about 2 years into my job I started to feel the need for some sort of change, somehow the dream had rekindled itself. I started to quiz my friend who was by this point employed by an airline. However, this was right when the worldwide economic crisis started and I was scared off again... The dream vanished once more.
It wasn't until 2010 when I was doing portfolio work and going for interviews with other creative companies where I started to question myself. Could I really do this until the age of 65? This was a difficult point for me, and I remember speaking to friends and family about what to do with my life. I had spoken to many people about what my situation was and what options were available to me. On one hand I was very comfortable in my position, the money was good and I'm very experienced and employable. However at the same time, I was uncomfortable with being comfortable.
I remember a day after I'd spoken to friends and family where I said "I'm gonna do it", and I don't mean jump off a cliff, I meant that I was gonna take the risk and go into commercial pilot training. That was the day I booked my Skills Assessment...
Before taking my A Levels I had also chosen Maths and Physics since these were important subjects to grasp to stand a chance in becoming a pilot. I also did work experience in Manston Airport, Kent, which I must add was an amazing experience for me. Anyway, I was dropped from Maths and Physics half way through the first year because of my lack of aptitude in these subjects, I was a little dejected but it was really going no where for me at that time. I decided at that point to give up the dream, I said to myself "maybe I'm just not smart enough".
It is embarrassing for me to say, but in a way getting these results was a blessing in disguise, I shall explain why in another blog.
After my A levels I began studying in Kingston University, Surrey. At first I took up a HND in Computing, probably my biggest mistake. I was still a pretty confused child at this point, I had long given up the dream of becoming a pilot and wanted to be a Computer Engineer instead. After the first year I dropped it due to the fact that I just could not grasp programming, only 4 out of the 32 people carried onto the second year, so that made me feel slightly better. I then decided to take up Media Technology with Business, which I must add was a pretty fascinating subject. It involved a good mix of technical and creative work such as Animation and Video Editing. It was only at this point where I finally started to apply myself academically. In 2007 I graduated with a 2.1! What an achievement for once underachieving kid!
In October 2007 I was employed by a simulation company to work as a 3D Modeller, and this has been my job role ever since. So you might be asking how I managed to get into Commercial Pilot Training? I shall explain. I have a very close friend of mine who started his training at Oxford Aviation Academy, before that point I didn't even know what a flight training organisation was and naturally I was curious about it. By at that point, my dream of flying hadn't quite returned yet.
I'd say about 2 years into my job I started to feel the need for some sort of change, somehow the dream had rekindled itself. I started to quiz my friend who was by this point employed by an airline. However, this was right when the worldwide economic crisis started and I was scared off again... The dream vanished once more.
It wasn't until 2010 when I was doing portfolio work and going for interviews with other creative companies where I started to question myself. Could I really do this until the age of 65? This was a difficult point for me, and I remember speaking to friends and family about what to do with my life. I had spoken to many people about what my situation was and what options were available to me. On one hand I was very comfortable in my position, the money was good and I'm very experienced and employable. However at the same time, I was uncomfortable with being comfortable.
I remember a day after I'd spoken to friends and family where I said "I'm gonna do it", and I don't mean jump off a cliff, I meant that I was gonna take the risk and go into commercial pilot training. That was the day I booked my Skills Assessment...
Share the dream...
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my blog. As the name suggests, this blog will focus around my soon to be exciting journey towards becoming a commercial pilot. This blog will be aimed mainly towards people who are aspiring or who simply have a dream of one day flying that big piece of metal through the sky, and I look forward to sharing as much as I can with you guys. Feel free to also ask me any questions and I will attempt to answer them as best I can.
So a little about myself and my humble beginnings. My name is Rickie, and I'm 27 years old. My parents are both Chinese, so naturally that made me Chinese too. I grew up in Broadstairs, Kent.
My dream came alive when I boarded my first flight at 8 years old. I remember clearly it was an indirect British Airways flight from Gatwick to Hong Kong with a stopover at Delhi. It was a childhood moment that I remember ever so clearly. I remember standing in front of the glass at the departure lounge and just staring at the aircraft before we boarded. Unfortunately when we did board the flight we got sat in the 4 center row seats :( Not much of a problem, I remember still being able to see out of a window as the aircraft was taxiing. I remember the excitement to this day, when I saw the runway lights and the plane turning to position itself for take off. When the aircraft fired up its engines, I just remember thinking "woooooooow" it was amazing. I remember walking towards the exit door window to have a peek outside whenever possible just to stare at the earth below. One particular moment was seeing the Himalayas from above, it was a truly spectacular view. I remember the landing too, back then Hong Kong was using Kai Tak Airport, which as most of you know what one of the hardest Airports to land in. It was truly amazing, seeing the buildings and mountains get closer, then eventually seeing the fast moving tarmac appear...
As a little boy and as an adult, I still love the experience of flying. and from that moment on I said to myself "I want to be the man flying this thing", and my dream was born.
My dream came alive when I boarded my first flight at 8 years old. I remember clearly it was an indirect British Airways flight from Gatwick to Hong Kong with a stopover at Delhi. It was a childhood moment that I remember ever so clearly. I remember standing in front of the glass at the departure lounge and just staring at the aircraft before we boarded. Unfortunately when we did board the flight we got sat in the 4 center row seats :( Not much of a problem, I remember still being able to see out of a window as the aircraft was taxiing. I remember the excitement to this day, when I saw the runway lights and the plane turning to position itself for take off. When the aircraft fired up its engines, I just remember thinking "woooooooow" it was amazing. I remember walking towards the exit door window to have a peek outside whenever possible just to stare at the earth below. One particular moment was seeing the Himalayas from above, it was a truly spectacular view. I remember the landing too, back then Hong Kong was using Kai Tak Airport, which as most of you know what one of the hardest Airports to land in. It was truly amazing, seeing the buildings and mountains get closer, then eventually seeing the fast moving tarmac appear...
As a little boy and as an adult, I still love the experience of flying. and from that moment on I said to myself "I want to be the man flying this thing", and my dream was born.
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