I'm on a Boat..

So, after the trip to Embassy, rather than rushing back to Oxford, I thought I would make the most of my weekend.

Having been invited to an Army Boat party on the Thames I could hardly resist. A friend from University has adopted a military lifestyle since graduating. This has meant an invite to socialise with officers in the British Forces from time to time.

Allow me to set the scene; the boat, the Thames, the crisp London skyline by night, a jazz band gently playing in the corner of the boat, plenty of elegantly dressed attractive young women, black ties, flowing Champagne.

What a night..!

Approved Entry..

It's been a little while since I've last posted, so I'll give a quick catch up on what I've been doing for the past week. As you can imagine, ground school has become very much a routine; we have slowly moved from being one of the newest rookie classes to becoming the most senior class in ground school. Having said this, it does not detract from the feeling of boredom and angst towards ground school.

By now we have become very familiar with the instructors and are in the position to makes jokes with them liberally and banter back and forth; whilst still maintaining the delineation between tutor and tutee.

With the eagerly awaited Basic Flight Training portion of the course creeping closer and closer there are many preparations to be made; such as Visas, Insurance, etc..

Now I am only eight weeks away I can taste it. Friday saw our visit to the US Embassy in London to get our Visas approved ready for our arrival. This brought with it a day off from ground school and the prospect of enjoying the day in The Big Smoke. With the interviews being very early in the morning it would mean an early start, so I decided to travel to the Capital a day ahead to ease the journey.

Upon arrival at the embassy belts, watches, keys and coins had to be removed in a clear bag with no electronic items allowed; not even mobile phones or key fobs. I know what you're thinking, crazy; everyone carries a mobile phone..!

A number of security measures later we found ourselves in a vast waiting room. The armed police, restrooms signs and abundance of bronze eagles made clear we were on American soil [I would have taken a photo, but I imagine this would have been frowned upon by the authorities]. The wait seemed to go on for ever, with a rather disorganised serving structure. Some four hours later the wait was over with a rather short chat with an American on the other side of a glass window. The experience could be likened most accurately to a trip to the post office crossed with Disney World.

Whilst in London, we decided to make the most of it. With the rest of the day spent taking in the sights and sounds of various London Public Houses..

With the visa approved, I'm one step closer to my Flight Training..

Not Long to Go..

Having finished more tests on Friday I have had the weekend off. This has meant a bit of a tidy up of lots of old notes, etc.

Here begins the last leg of grounschool before being dispatched to the States for the eagerly awaited flight training.

I have my Interview at the US Embassy this Friday also, which will mean a nice break in London over the weekend..

More Tests..

Tomorrow begins a slog of six progress tests on this material that we had only started three and a half weeks ago. This second phase of ground school is really shooting past.

I have spend the day at the airport revising in one of the classrooms as the desk in my room is not large enough to accommodate the Topo map and reference tables we have been studying.

An early night's sleep and then three tomorrow and three the following day will see the arrival of the weekend.

By this stage, despite tests and exams becoming so routine, they are still not something to look forward to nor neglect..

The Depression..

This Thursday and Friday we have more assessments to look forward to; another 6. So if you're counting that will take the test counter up to 25 by the end of the week.

I am now 10 weeks and counting until the flight training begins, it does seem ever so close now; with the only caveat of the remaining 15 exams to go till then.

It has been non stop work during the day with classes and then non stop work in the evenings and as much as one can muster on the weekends. The work that we are doing at the moment is a lot more relevant to what will be applicable when we are flying, but it is very difficult to think anything BUT the flying at the moment. The weather in the UK is beginning to improve with a nice spring feel, but this just whets the appetite for the sun, of which there will an abundance of in the States.

We are on such a short time scale at the moment that there is no time to stop and think "I can't be bothered this evening, I'll take an easy one". This is precisely how I was feeling earlier; slightly depressed with the monotony of my current lifestyle, but hey, must carry on.

Tho put things into perspective, my trip to the US Embassy in London is a highlight to look forward to; two weeks till that comes..!!

Sound Advice..

I recently was contacted by a friend for some information about my degree as her brother was thinking of doing the same.

I jotted off what became a fairly long email answering his questions. I am posting it just incase anyone finds it at all useful when selecting university degrees. I did an Undergraduate Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

Here it is;

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1) Did you enjoy it and if not, why not? - The best part of the degree for me, was finishing it. I would say that it was nothing short of four years of relentless torture. I really enjoyed the thought of knowing that i had finished one of the three most difficult degrees at one of the best universities in the country (not one of those joke degrees like ..... did, lol). There is a real sense of pride and achievement that goes along with it. But whilst on the degree i hated every second of it.

2) What did your friends on the course go into jobwise? - Aeronautical Engineers are generally socially inept, and there are only a limited few who are not like this, as a result i did not really have that many friends on the course, mostly people i would call colleagues or acquaintances. Most of my friends were from other degrees. The people however; the most socially inept, stayed on at the university in post graduate roles such as PhDs, etc. Then a handful went into the industry as engineers; these were with big companies, many of which you will recognise, such as Airbus, RR, Smiths, BAe, GE. A few did go into finance; this is generally a common career path for those who can, but because of the economic situation this was not the case. A few are following the pilot route.

3) How hard was the maths? - Very hard, very very hard. The maths was extremely difficult, but once you get the hang of it, it ends up being the subject that you get the highest marks in.

4) Did you do further maths A level? - I didn't do further maths at A level. At ...... having done further maths actually makes your life more difficult, as you have to do certain things. I would advise doing a more fun subject at A level than further maths. You will get more maths on the degree than you can shake a stick at; this is usually enough for most normal people.

5) Best/Worst bits -

Best bit - Finishing the degree

Worst bit - The rest of the degree, but you will find that it makes you appreciate the time you have for the fun things at university.

6) How practical vs academic was it? - Practical, not so much. It was very academic, it is just the nature of the degree. But it does set you up very well for the real world. If you mean practical as in 'hands on' then there is almost nothing. Except for a few things in the first year, such as the Wing build and design and build projects; which are more a chance to play with tools and balsa wood.

7) Would you consider any other jobs in the aero field other than piloting? - I probably wouldn't consider an engineering job in any industry, this is solely because i have been there done that and got a number of t-shirts, and it wasn't for me. I found it really had nothing that could inspire to want to work there (as an engineer). However, as mentioned above, some people love it and are engineers now. It is purely a personal preference. You may enjoy it. Something a bit more hands on is for me, hence the piloting.

Hope that helps.

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If anyone has any further questions, please get in touch..

The Divorce Factory..

Before I started flight school my then girlfriend and I split up. The amount of work and the fact that we would be away from each other would have meant that we would have had to have dealt with a difficult long distant relationship [not that I was shying away from commitment].

On the course there were a number of other guys who were in happy relationships prior to starting, a few of which like mine ended prior to starting the course.

Not to sound too depressing, there were some who kept their relationships going. For them, there has always been the ever present dilemma of "do I hang out with the guys or do I visit the gf?"; those who have visited the gfs have failed to completely become integrated within our "band of brothers".

With the amount of work we have to do and with the visible lack of free time, I can't imagine trying to maintain a relationship at this time. Also, I have found myself travelling the country and indeed the immediate continent in my free time.

I constantly hear stories of pilots being married and then divorced, usually, but not necessarily limited to flight attendants or to the opposite sexes in the industry. With such an inconsistent work schedule it must make raising a family incredibly difficult, not least maintaining a relationship or marriage.

With pilots being of a gregarious, fun loving type and always being all over the place having fun, maybe it isn't possible to truly do both; without at least giving up the long haul, jet set lifestyle that one has long aspired for..?

This isn't something I will have to deal with for some time, thankfully.!

The Lessons of Life..

Mr Sheen shared some more useful gems of knowledge. He began;

- "Have you been told about the three rules of life?

Rule 1 - Play to win; you must always try your best in whatever you choose to do.

Rule 2 - If you can't win, cheat

Rule 3 - And if you must cheat, then for God's sake, don't get caught..!

As pilots you will always be finding ways to make your lives easier, everyone does it. You will all go out from bar to bar when down route having fun, turning up for duty feeling slightly worse for wear. But don't do what a certain aircrew did; they went out from bar to bar, and they took a young lady with them. They had a particularly boozy night, and turned up for work the following day, all feeling awful. It turned out that the 'young lady' was a reporter for The Times..!"

What a rookie mistake..!

Balcony View..

The weather here has improved greatly this week with the spring sun arriving. This has produced some really great flying conditions; not that I've been flying but the crew planning room has been filled with an air of relief as many of the advanced flight training students are getting to fill up their hours with actual flying rather than continuous planning.

Having been moved to the new wing of the Academy, our classroom now has a balcony overlooking the apron. With the weather being the way it is, we have taken to watching the planes carry out circuits whilst waiting for instructors to arrive and during the lunch breaks.

As I get closer to my flight training, this is really reminding me of what I can look forward to..