School Open Day and Pilot Not Flying

On Saturday 20th July I offered my services to the OAA open day. Since it was the first time I'd done it, I thought I would share my experience of it. For those who aren't aware, the school usually does an open day every month. It's an opportunity not only for the school to show off the facilities, but also for the potential candidates to come and get many of their questions answered about the course and the school. 

I wanted to do the open day because this time last year, I was in the same position as all of these guys. Since I'd only just successfully completed ground school, it was obvious that the best place for me to place my expertise was in Ground Training which was situated in the main exam room.

Looks like a lonely day ahead!

As you can see in the table above, there was space for a few more volunteers but it wasn't really much of a problem at the beginning of the day. I spent a good hour in Ground Training talking to families and many young hopefuls about my experience and what to expect of ground school. It was nice to see how enthusiastic some of these people were, and it was a great feeling to be able to share my experiences and to actually be in a position to give valuable advice to them. 

From about 11:00 onwards I was put on rotation for making sure people crossed the airfield zebra crossing safely. Admittedly it wasn't as interesting as being in Ground Training, however safety is vital and since they were pretty short on volunteers that day, I had to make sure that people weren't wandering off and into some live propellers, which wouldn't have done much good for OAA's reputation. I rotated crossing duty with two other Easyjet MPL cadets who were on the CRJ-200 simulator. The lady who was leading the open day had very kindly arranged for me to have a go on the simulator at the end of the day! 

When someone took my place on the crossing, I would be in the CRJ simulator talking to groups of visitors and watching other students perform some STARs and ILS approaches which was fascinating to see. I also met a few more Easyjet MPL cadets and an instructor who was with them at the time, so it was a very good opportunity to find out about them and what they did.

Couple of Easyjet MPL guys on the CRJ-200

Being responsible for the crossing wasn't all bad, I did manage to get the opportunity to shout at a few people who did decide to wander dangerously off the path, but more importantly I still managed to offer some advice to people who were walking past. I remember meeting a guy from London, who is in a similar position as I was where he is currently working, saved up the money over a few years, and is ready to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an airline pilot. When he told me his story it reminded me about how I was before I started at OAA, about how excited and enthusiastic I felt, and it also made me appreciate that I've passed all of the exams and that in a few days I'll be flying over to Arizona to do what I've been longing to do since I was 8 years old. Best of luck to him. 

At about 14:45 I got the all clear to shut the gate to the crossing, I then dashed over the the simulator where I was soon offered the chance to have a go! I sat on the left hand seat and acted as 'pilot not flying' with an Easyjet MPL cadet on the right as the 'pilot flying'. Behind us was another Easyjet cadet who briefed me on what to do as PNF. It was an interesting experience particularly since I'd never even considered what it was like to be the PNF prior to this occasion. It was a pretty steep learning curve for me since the last time I was on that simulator was on my skills assessment, and even then I didn't use any of the buttons or nobs. I did end up having to ask him to guide me for much of the flight time.

Acting as the PNF was an amazing experience, I got to do the checklist, speed call outs on take off, and setting the required speed and headings on the MCP for the PF. It was also a remarkable feeling to know that much of the theory that I had covered in ground school came back to me, which definitely made much of what I was doing a lot more relevant.

I think the most important thing that I took away from the experience was just how vital it is to monitor as the PNF. It's fairly simple to follow headings and speeds as a PF, however it is a different skill and at times very difficult to spot if the PF is making any mistakes. As the PNF It is important to make the PF aware of corrections that need to be made, as well as being able to monitor the other parameters that are presented in front of you.

It was a shame that due to the lack of volunteers I wasn't able to stay in Ground Training because I was quite passionate about sharing my experiences and offering advice to the new hopefuls and their families that were there. Nevertheless the day went very smoothly and from what I gather, all of the visitors had a great time. The day also reminded me of how much there is yet to learn in this profession, and that thought alone is exciting. A successful day altogether.

Emirates Aviation Experience

The other day I had the pleasure of visiting the new Emirates Aviation Experience in North Greenwich so I'd like to share what I thought about the whole thing. So what is it exactly? I only really found out about it last week from a news article.

The experience offers an insight into the wonders of modern commercial air travel. As the name suggests, it was Emirates who funded the £4million attraction. It opened on Friday 5th July 2013, costs £3 to enter for adults and £1.50 for children. They also have a Boeing 777-300ER, and an Airbus A380-800 Simulator, which costs £45 if you want to have a go for half an hour (£35 before 10am). Since I used to work in simulation and knowing what the going hourly rates are for these things, the additional cost for a ride doesn't surprise me.

The experience is next to the North Greenwich Airline Station, which are the cable cars linking the O2 Arena and the ExCeL London. Me and a couple of friends arrived by car and parked in the O2 Arena car park which is actually right next to the Aviation Experience. The only thing with this is that the parking charges are ridiculous, it cost us £5 for an hour and I believe it goes up to something astronomical after 2 hours. Otherwise the best way is probably via North Greenwich tube station which is also very close-by.

The attraction has a few cool things for the customers to play about with, most of which is educational. The first thing we played around with was the interactive Principles of Flight screen, where you had an animated aerofoil with air particles. You could adjust the shape of the aerofoil and the speed of the air and see how efficient or inefficient you were making it in real time, which was pretty fun and I think very useful in helping people to understanding the theory behind flying. My friends tried giving me a hard time by asking how it all worked, but fortunately I managed to sound clever and dug out all of that good stuff about Bernoulli's principle from ground school.

Changing the shape of the aerofoil

Brings back memories of Ground School

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On top of the principles of flight screens there is a 1:2 scale replica of a Rolls Royce Trent 800 engine made entirely of Lego. I have to say, this thing is a masterpiece and I salute whoever made it, even more impressively the fan blades actually move!

Spinning blades

From the side-ish

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There was also a cool video presentation which shows how the luggage is transported from when they're checked in to entering the cargo hold along with some interesting facts being flashed up through out the video such as the distance the baggage travels.

This luggage has travelled further than I have in the past few months

Baggage about to fly

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The main attraction for me was the 777 and A380 simulators upstairs. It didn't really make sense for me to pay for a half hour ride in these sims since I've already paid a considerable amount of money towards my training anyway, of which will consist of training in a 737 sim during my MCC. Nevertheless I asked the person who was supervising if I could have a sit down on the 777 sim to get some pictures. It's quite a feeling to sit there and think that one day (hopefully) I'll be in this seat for real, so I did savour those few minutes.

On the 777 Sim

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The only criticism I have of the attraction is that it is a bit short on content, and I'm not sure if the general public would really appreciate what Emirates are trying to show here. It isn't something that's worth travelling a long distance for, since you can't really spend more than an hour there, however there is plenty to do in the area with it being right next to the O2 Arena so it would be wise to make it part of a day out. When I went, there were pretty much only 3 other people who came in after us, all of which left before we did so I'd say a bit more advertising is needed. For me it was a great experience since I am naturally an aviation enthusiast, and both of my friends enjoyed it too. If you like your planes then I would recommend a little visit if you're around London.

Check out the rest of the photos:

Excuse the pillar

A380 from upstairs

Economy class seats

 

Hologram of an A380 in flight

A380 at the gates

Attitude Problem?

What I want to write about here is how my attitude has changed throughout my life and how it can help some of you think about whether or not you are ready to get into flying commercially.

Back when I was an infant I was tough to control. I remember being sent home and suspended from primary and secondary school on several occasions. I was very easily distracted, and when I was in secondary school I had a big problem fitting into a particular friends circle. I wasn't the best at talking to others and I had a massive problem with self-esteem at the time. As I mentioned before, my GCSE and A-level grades were rubbish and I'm pretty sure that my parents were thinking about giving up on me.

This was me for about 15 years

As I grew up, my parents were pretty strict on me, my father in particular. They had come from very tough beginnings. There was even a point in their childhood where they couldn't even afford shoes, and my father had lost his parents when he was very young, so they had to grow up much faster than I did. This meant that they always had something to say about me, and naturally I was a bit of a handful. Sorry mum and dad!

The start of University was when things started changing for the better. I chose Kingston University in particular because I really enjoyed the mix of different backgrounds. I said to myself that I would try to hang out with as many people as possible. I ended up meeting a wide variety of people, most of whom were absolutely amazing and 10 years on, many of them are still my best friends today, and it's an experience that greatly changed my behaviour in different social situations. This was also the point where my attitude changed with my studying, I suddenly started to knuckle down and get a lot of work done. This was a stark contrast to how I was several years before!

When I became more independent and started dealing with problems on my own I suddenly realised that there was no short cut to life. I started to realise why my parents were strict on me and realise how fortunate I was to even have the privilege of higher education. The problem was that I couldn't accept that you needed to work hard to be successful. I wanted things there and then, I didn't want to drive from A to B using the roads, I wanted to plow through the buildings and people. Now of course, this doesn't apply to everyone, it wasn't like everyone else in school did as bad as I did, the majority in fact got very good grades and went to good Universities. Everyone is different, and some people (like me) do take longer to mature.

After graduating from Kingston, I went onto work at XPI Simulation for just over five years as a 3D Modeller. This really helped me in terms of working and behaving in a professional environment. All of the work here was project based and at times involved a lot of pressure with deadlines, so naturally I learned how to keep calm and get the task done whilst at the same time, keeping things smooth with my colleagues.

When I went for my skills assessment at Oxford Aviation Academy, I realised that had I tried to do between the age of 18 to about 22, I would have failed it miserably, and they probably would have told me to to wake up and stop dreaming.

At this stage I can't give a 100% guarantee that I'll make it through training and get a job (though I will stay optimistic) What I can say though is if you are indeed thinking about making a big move and taking a risk of going into flight school to seriously consider not only your collateral, but how you are as a person. For me, I knew the time was right, not only because I had saved a sufficient amount of money, but also because I felt that I had finally gone through enough of my own challenges to make me responsible and wise enough.

This is how I see myself in a couple of years...

I will probably want to change most of what I've written here as I progress through my training since my experiences are always changing. What I can confidently say now though is that ground school requires serious discipline (read my blog post on Ground School) It is not something you can approach if you simply have the passion, you need to also responsible for your own actions and be incredibly disciplined. The training is relentless, and you need to be not only up to the task, but also demonstrate the ability to deal with the stress effectively and set your priorities properly. This is particularly important when you begin your actual flying and even more important when you start flying with passengers.

Be consciously aware of your mistakes, and don't be ashamed to admit them. Self-improvement doesn't just apply in Aviation, it applies in all aspects of life, and this is how I made it onto this journey that I'm currently embarking on.

End of Ground School!

It's been a very long while, but yes you've read the title correctly. I am pleased to announced that 760 classroom hours and 39 exhausting exams later, I managed to achieved a 1st Time Pass with a 96% average in the EASA JAR-FCL exams :)

So how would I describe my experience of Ground School? To begin with it was tough, but at the start of Phase 1 I remember thinking "just how am I going to learn all of this?", then as Phase 1 progressed the pace just went faster and faster. You have to keep up with every lesson otherwise you will fall behind, this is particularly the case because a lot of the knowledge relies on the foundations that you will have learned previously. 

Phase 2 however was a different kettle of fish for me. Phase 1 was more of a memory test, there were so many different things to learn and they didn't always make logical sense, whereas in Phase 2 and in particular for Gen Nav, Radio Nav, Performance and Mass and Balance you really have to grasp the deep fundamentals in order to stand a chance of passing. 

In short, Ground School is extremely challenging. My daily routine consisted of lessons or CBTs (computer based learning) from 8:40 till 16:20, home to relax for an hour, dinner, back to school at 18:30, home at 22:30. Now, I'm not the best at learning things first time round, so even on weekends I would start at 10:00 latest, and finish at around 20:00. Of course at the beginning of Phase 1 and 2 I would take Fridays and Saturday evenings off to go out or just to have a relaxing evening with some of my classmates, otherwise I would have gone crazy. However when it came close to exams, I would consistently work from 9:00 till 23:30 (with some breaks of course!)

My ideal Friday night

It goes without saying, the more you put into something, the more you get out. Often people called me crazy for the amount of hours that I put in, however I came in here with the intention of being at least in the top 5% of my class. I knew long before I even applied to OAA that it wasn't going to be easy, and I was spot on. Different people handle it differently though, so I stress that I speak only from my individual experience of it.

The toughest times though were the period leading up to the exams. Before you're allowed to sit your EASA exams for each Phase, you must sit OAA's internal exams which they call the School Finals. This is in essence two days of exams with an exam for every subject that you have covered in that particular Phase. In my opinion I think that it's good that the school make their exams so difficult and close together. You are tested to your limits, and if you can come out of the School Finals with good marks, then you should have no problems in the JAR-FCL examinations.

So far I have made it sound like I've had to walk across hot coals, so I should point out that there are some very good moments from Ground School! I am currently in a fantastic class which has a lot of humour and banter, and that's very healthy. Everyone goes through the same thing so I think that does help to bring the class closer together.

Class of AP344A

I must mention as well how amazing those instructors are, not just in their knowledge but also their teaching style. The majority of them are ex-RAF engineers so they do have a great sense of humour, and they're also not ashamed to embarrass certain students in front of the class either, which is always amusing! But most importantly they do have a keen interest in how you're getting on, I remember asking them questions quite frequently during break and lunch and the help that they provide is remarkable, although I'm sure they'll be glad to know that I won't be bothering them so much now!

My advice to anyone who is thinking or about to start Ground School is to be prepared. It's a lot to learn and there are times when you feel a lot of pressure. But what got me through was looking at myself with my uniform on in the mirror every morning and feeling proud to be in the position that I'm in. I always remembered the reason why I was there, because at times when you're snowed under with revision, or you're having a lot of trouble getting your head round a particular subject, then it is easy to get frustrated. My philosophy is to think of it like working out in the gym; you don't get any results unless you push past the pain, and the same applies with ground school. Don't leave things till the last minute because you simply won't have enough time, and if you do have problems then please seek help from the instructors or even from your classmates. Part of Ground School is learning how to work as a team so take this as an opportunity.

Me posing majestically

So for now I enjoy a short break which will allow me the much needed opportunity to catch up with friends, spend time helping my family in their business, and also rather importantly getting my body back into shape! Then it's off to Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ to start my flying! The dream continues... 

Week 1

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.

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...

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.