The Briefing..

Today at the end of a very long day of ground school, we were briefed about the basic flight training part of the course. I am not sure how much of this I may have mentioned in the past, so here it is in a nutshell.

We join the flight school and are subjected to just over 6 months of ground school. This is the boring part which sees us studying to our wits end to pass the 14 JAA flight crew licensing exams. This is pretty much 6 months of sheer torture.

After [successfully] completing this phase we are then shipped [by air] to Arizona to commence the basic flight training. We survive in the sun for 20 weeks before coming back to the UK fully relaxed, with gleaming tans and our gold wings. Yes, on our return we are qualified CPL pilots..!

We then do some supplementary stuff to take our license up to the APTL level.

But back to the Arizona bit, we get to sit around all day by the pool, occasionally playing a spot of tennis on one of the many courts or volleyball; flying every now and then (whenever it isn't too hot) and generally having a good time.

This is where all of the hard work pays off..!!