Weeks 16,17 & 18: Module 2 Exams and Starting Module 3

As I've been rather lazy with the blog over the last couple of weeks, it's about time I posted an update of what's been going on since completing my Module 2 mock exams nearly a month ago!

So, after more long days and many cups of coffee later, I finally sat my Module 2 exams on the 9th and 10th of November. I'm really happy to say that the hard work is still paying off, as I achieved a 95% average across the 4 exams, and especially as I managed to get 98% in two of my exams, which was a pretty good feeling! To be honest, everyone did really well, all getting first time passes across the board, so only six exams now stand between us and flight training! Looking back on it, I'd have to say that Module 2 was a pretty tough 2 months, so I'm very glad that it's finally over!

We managed to have a well-deserved night off following our exams, however due to Christmas coming around soon and therefore affecting the teaching schedule over the Christmas period, we went straight into module 3 the following morning (after not many hours sleep!..). Despite this, it was still a great night, although I think a few people felt a bit worse for wear the next day!

So, we're now back into the daily routine! We all had our Visa meeting last week, which means for us guys going to the USA, we're going to have to take a trip the US embassy in London at some point soon to get our Student Visas sorted out. Although this is a bit of pain, it shows how we're getting quite close to finishing ground school now, which I guess is a bit of an incentive!

We've also just come to the end of our first Module 3 topic, which was Air Law, and I'm sure you could have a good guess at what that's about! Air Law is essentially a collection of the various laws and procedures that govern commercial aviation today. The origins of what makes up these rules can be traced back to the Chicago Convention in 1944, in which 52 states set about establishing laws that they would all adopt as their own over their own territory. This led to the formation of ICAO (The International Civil Aviation Organisation) in 1947 who to this day have a large number of Standards and Recommended Practices which member states such as the UK, France, Germany, Spain etc. follow. These govern all aspects of aviation, from the rules regarding Search & Rescue, all the way through to the colour of taxiway signs at airports. It's not been a overly difficult subject, however the sheer quantity of information has made it more of an exercise in learning facts!

We've now made a start on 3 other subjects, including Meteorology which I've been quite looking forward to, and I'll talk about this in the next couple of weeks. I also enjoyed helping out at another busy open day on Saturday, which I managed to fit in before the workload starts to build up again!

Weeks 13,14 +15: Radio Navigation And Mock Exams

I think it's about time to write a new post! Apologies for the lack of activity, it's been a rather busy few weeks as we draw towards the end of Module 2.

I thought I'd give a brief explanation of what we've been learning in our last topic of module 2, which was Radio Navigation. In aviation, accurate navigation using navigation aids is essential and simply wouldn't be possible without them! And depending on where we are in the world and what stage of flight we're in, there are a broad selection of nav aids that we'll use to guide us along the flight path.

VORs and DMEs are the main nav aids that aircraft use en route, which we'll tune into on their respective frequencies, giving us a bearing and a distance from the beacons themselves to help determine our position. So for example, a VOR sends out signals allowing aircraft to determine their bearing from the beacon, or how far off their desired track to or from the VOR station they are. Whilst a DME uses what's known as pulse interrogation. The DME station and the aircraft will send radio pulses to each other, and measure the time it takes to transmit and receive them to determine the aircraft's slant range from the DME. Here's a traditional VOR indicator, which nowadays you're more likely to find in smaller aircraft than big jets!

Another side of Radio Navigation was looking at the systems which are used for guiding the aeroplane on final approach and landing. The main system which is used all over the world is known as the Instrument Landing System (ILS). This is a ground-based system which provides both lateral and sometimes vertical guidance for aircraft to keep them on the runway centreline, and the optimum descent path to land on the runway at the correct point. It's usually only used for the approach when flying, but if there's poor visibility, it can be used to to complete the landing automatically without the pilots actually touching the controls! An example of this is in the video below, where the ILS is guiding the aircraft down to the runway, whilst the pilots are monitoring all the instruments to make sure it's all working as it should!

Radio Navigation was very interesting as a subject, but at the same time, it was ENORMOUS. Lots and lots of information to learn about other navigation aids, such as GPS and RADAR. But for the sake of keeping the blog at a suitable length, I though it was best to focus on a few systems rather than all of them or this would start to turn into an essay!

After finishing Radio Navigation we had just over a week to prepare for our Module 2 mock exams, which weren't easy, but thankfully I passed them all with pretty good marks. Since then, it's just been solid revision, so I'm hoping that the real exams on Monday and Tuesday go just as well!

Weeks 11 + 12: Flight Planning

With just over 3 days of lessons left to go in Module 2, exams are again looming... Thankfully we have a decent number of study days between now and then, so there's still ample time to continue working away at our 4 subjects.

Following Performance a couple of weeks ago, we made a start on Flight Planning. You may remember whilst I was studying General Navigation that I mentioned we had been briefly introduced to charts and given a basic understanding of how to use them. Flight Planning has taken this one rather large step further and taught us how to utilise navigation aids such as VORs and DMEs in conjunction with airways to plan a route from A to B. This is all well and good flying across the sky at 35,000ft, but you also need to take off and land at airports safely; this is where SIDS (Standard Instrument Departures) and STARS (Standard Terminal Arrival Routes) come into play. These are essentially pre-planned paths that guide aeroplanes in and out of airports in a safe fashion though the use of waypoints, rather than having a free-for-all to land and take off! Here's an example of a Standard Instrument Departure at London Heathrow; think of it as a slip road that you'd use to join the motorway!

The other side of Flight Planning focuses on the important cost in commercial aviation, and that is of course fuel. Airlines don't like their aircraft to carry more fuel than they need, as it's obviously very expensive and carrying more means burning extra fuel to lift the heavier aircraft into the sky. Therefore, we were taught using a multitude of graphs and tables how to determine the amount of fuel different aircraft would need for a specific operation dependant on the sector distance, and the amount of fuel per hour the aircraft would burn, including reserves for emergencies, adverse weather etc. Riveting stuff I know, but burning unnecessary amounts of fuel is inefficient and drives up costs, so airlines like to keep it to a minimum. We finished off the week with an exercise in which we planned a flight from London Stansted to Biarritz, filling in a flight plan, plotting the route on the chart and working out the fuel we would need, which was quite an enjoyable end to the topic.

After quite a busy few days of ground school this week, we celebrated the birthday of one of my course mates Rumanul, with a Chinese on Friday night. This is one the few meals out we've actually been able to have as a group, so it's good to have an evening off every once in a while from work and relax!

Weeks 10 + 11: Performance

Another two weeks of ground school have come and gone, as has another lengthy subject; Performance. It's mainly related to, funnily enough, the performance of an aircraft at the various stages of flight and the external conditions that can have significant effects on the aircraft in question.

So for example, we are required to work out (with the seemingly endless supply of graphs), the distance required for the aircraft to take off depending on the weight, altitude, temperature, wind, slope etc, and the speeds at which it will lift off the runway and safely climb away at a given rate of climb and thrust setting. I think a lot of people assume planes apply full power, hurtle down the runway and take off the same way every time, but there's a lot of factors that I've just mentioned which can make a huge difference. Having a runway contaminated with water can cause its takeoff and landing distance to increase because of the lack of friction, so making sure the aircraft has enough runway is very important!

There's also a decent chunk of theory involved, some of which we originally covered in Principles of Flight, which fortunately makes the learning curve a little less steep!

Although Performance is of course relevant, I'd be lying if I said it was my favourite subject! There's a lot of speeds and numbers to learn off by heart, and it's not as interesting as some of the other subjects I've done. Oh well, I'd best get on with it!

I also had a good time volunteering at the CTC Open Day the Saturday before last. It was good to give aspiring pilots some advice and just have a general chat, as this time last year I was in the same position! I also managed to get some time in the simulator, which is always a bonus!

Week 9: Instruments

A week of lessons is over, and so is another topic; Instruments, which is split into two parts. Basic Instruments is associated with mostly mechanical instruments and how they operate in relation to pressure and temperature. So for example, an airspeed indicator is fed with both total pressure as well as static pressure (pressure of the ambient air) and therefore the differential pressure between them is used to determine speed. It's a clever, yet simple piece of kit..

Moving on from this (and the concept of gyroscopes, thank goodness!), we finished off the topic with Advanced Instruments from Thursday until Saturday, which was taught to us by two Airbus A320 pilots. This is more to do with the technical, computer sides of things and deals with components of modern aircraft such as the Autopilot System and Flight Management Computer (FMC). The FMC contains all the navigation and performance data which pilots need to navigate a flight a plan effectively whilst also determining the optimum speeds and altitude at which to fly. Despite having a very important and complex job, it's actually quite weak in terms of power compared with today's computers funnily enough! We also covered the automated, safety sides of things like the TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) which in a nutshell, alerts the pilots if you're flying a little bit close to another aircraft! 

The Control Display Unit (CDU), used to access the Flight Management Computer (FMC)

Advanced Instruments has definitely been the most interesting part of Ground School for me so far, and it's all relevant stuff which we'll be using on a daily basis in our careers. Although right now it's just a lot to take in and remember! We also had a brief simulator session on Saturday morning in the 737-700 to have a go at programming the systems and seeing how they actually work in reality. It was great fun, and certainly gave me a motivation boost (not that I needed one!). 

Credits go to my course mate Eren for the photos..  https://instagram.com/eren12/

Mocks and Module One Exams

First of all, sorry for the lack of activity on here recently. Unfortunately during the period of revision for exams frankly there isn't much to talk about, apart from how little time I've spent away from my desk! Nevertheless, I thought I'd give a quick update on what's been going on in the last couple of weeks.

Following on from my last module one lessons, we had about a week or so to revise (and most importantly remember!) everything before sitting our first set of mock exams. CTC Aviation require that we sit these mock exams before the real thing, which is a good idea because it's shows the progress that you're making and also highlights any weak areas which you then have time to work on before you sit the real exam.

Thankfully I passed all the mocks and then what followed was the SLOWEST 2 weeks of my life; getting ready for the real CAA exams. The days felt longer and my wall of notes just kept growing..

Before I arrived, I'd set myself a target of 90% average as a minimum for my exams, and I'm happy to say that I got a 94% average across my module 1 exams, meaning that the hard work and late nights have paid off! I'm now looking forward to a weekend off at home for the first time, before module 2 starts on Monday! It's also exciting to think that we are a third of the way through ground school, so flight training in Phoenix is slowing starting to creep up on us!

Week 5: The Earth's Orbit, Charts and The Cockpit Environment

Finishing off HPL and GNav has been the main focus of this week's lessons, as it's now less than 7 days until our first set of mock exams!

We've covered quite a few different areas of GNav this week, starting with the solar system, and how the Earth's orbit of the sun influences the seasons and the amount of daylight and night-time that  different areas of the world receive. The main reason for this is the 23.5° axial tilt of the Earth,  meaning that as the earth orbits the sun throughout the year, the area of the earth that the sun is directly overhead changes by up to 23.5° north or south of the equator (at the tropics). Converting between time zones is also something we've learnt, allowing us to accurately determine for example, the local time in a westerly location compared to an easterly location depending on their distance from Greenwich (GMT). 

This probably explains it better than I have!

The most interesting topic by far this week has been an introduction to radio plotting on charts, which is important for plotting an accurate, real-time position of the aircraft in relation to navigation aids such as VORs and DMEs. As you can probably guess, it's a hands-on topic, which took a little while to understand but became a lot easier after a bit of practice. We've only briefly covered charts, but will come back to them in Flight Planning in much more detail later on in ground school. All that's left now of GNav is a bit on fuel calculations which we'll do on Monday.

Later on in the week we got to the end of the HPL syllabus (phew!), with the majority of information being in relation to the cockpit environment. A lot of emphasis in the aviation world is put on having a "synergistic cockpit"; one with effective leadership, teamwork and cooperation of the flight crew. This allows a positive, professional and most importantly SAFE cockpit atmosphere to be maintained. It makes sense being taught about it now, as it's going to be repeated to us again and again during our future careers!

Finally, I capped off the working week with a trip to Bournemouth Airshow on Friday night with a few of my course mates. I've been to a lot of airshows before, but never in the evening, which makes it even more impressive to watch when there's neon lights and fireworks involved!

Week 4: Continuing with GNav and HPL

Well this week we have continued to plough through more of General Navigation and Human Performance + Limitations, as we reach the halfway point of module 1! CP136 arrived for their meet and greet on Thursday and start ground school tomorrow, meaning we are no longer the babies of CTC!

We've done a further 3 days of General Navigation this week, focusing mainly on various types of charts such as the Mercator, Lambert's conformal and the dreaded POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC charts. These are all types of charts used on a day to day basis in aviation, and as such, we are required to understand not only their properties, but also calculate things such as the distance and direction between points on the graphs (very simplified explanation..) and calculate the changes in scale across the chart, building on the basics of convergency and departure that we learnt last week. I've personally found this rather difficult as I'm not a natural mathematician and some of the questions require a decent amount of maths to come to the answer. However, General Navigation is a very hands-on topic, so I'm hoping that practice and perfecting the technique is the key to success!

This more or less sums up Polar Stereographic Charts for me!

To finish off the week on Friday we had another day of HPL, which is in essence, "100 ways to lose your class 1 medical"! The causes of diabetes, hypoxia, stress, errors, the effects of alcohol on the body, the properties of the eye, nervous system, vestibular system and cardiovascular system are all things we have been learning about this week (to name a few!..). I'll be honest, these aren't the most interesting topics to learn about, but our instructor seems to have a story for almost every single one so that has definitely made it more enjoyable!

We have just over a week of lessons left from tomorrow onwards, and then following this is a couple of weeks of revision, so the first exams are getting closer by the day!

Week 3: Introduction to GNav and HPL

Week 3 has now come to a close, and it still feels like we only been here a week!

As I mentioned briefly in my last post, this week has seen us make a start on our second mammoth-sized subject of module 1; General Navigation. We've had 3 days of GNav ground school so far this week covering numerous topic areas, most of which involving our other new friend; the CRP-5! This clever piece of kit allows me to do a multitude of things, such as calculate wind speed and direction, and convert between different units of measurement and speed. Following this was an introduction to latitude and longitude, and how we can find the distance between locations on the earth using a number of different formulae; (Convergency= Change in Longitude (Degrees) x sine mean latitude) being my favourite..

The magic calculator, A.K.A Pooleys CRP-5 Flight Computer

On Thursday morning we made a start on our 4th and final topic of Module 1; Human Performance and Limitations. Although there have been vast safety improvements in commercial aviation over the years, pilot error is still to blame for over 70% of accidents, so learning our physical and mental limitations is key to understanding how accidents involving human factors can be avoided in the future. On Friday afternoon, we were fortunate enough to be given a presentation on spatial disorientation by Dr Rollin Stott. A rather fun way of showing spatial disorientation in action was getting us to wear a pair of glasses that reverse your horizontal vision, making it seem like you've had a few too many pints down the pub!

It's crazy to think that we've been here nearly a month already, as we will soon no longer be the babies of CTC! CP136 have their APD next week, so if I'm around I'll try and say hi when they arrive on Friday. Although the workload is still very high, relieving stress is key to staying on track throughout the 6 months I'm here, so I did manage to have a rare night out on Saturday and subsequent BBQ with some of the guys at our house on Sunday evening as well, before it all starts again on Monday morning.

Week 2: Principles of Flight

As another long week comes to an end, so too does Principles of Flight, meaning us cadets can breath a momentary sigh of relief!

Having started our second topic last Friday, this week has been solely focused on continuing to squeeze as much information into our heads about Principles of Flight as possible. Starting off the week by learning about drag and its effects on aircraft, stalling (something we want to avoid..), all the way through to learning about flight controls and how they are used to manoeuvre an aircraft around the air.  Interestingly enough, we've also been learning about the basics of supersonic flight and how shockwaves form on an aircraft as it passes through the transonic speed range and becomes supersonic, although it may be quite a while before I ever get the chance to fly an aircraft capable of this!

It's been a mixed bag of both interesting principles, and also enormous numbers of facts and formulae that simply have to be committed to memory for the sake of our exams. Taking it all in whilst learning an abundance of new material everyday AND keeping up to date with M&B has proved to be rather stressful, but still enjoyable.

The ATPL question bank, one of your new friends during ground school. 

Unfortunately there's no time to relax, as tomorrow we plough on with the start of our third (and enormous) topic, General Navigation! Strangely, this is the topic I've been both dreading and really looking forward to, so I'll let you know how it's going at the end of this week!

Week 1: Maths and M&B

Well, that first week went quickly, we're 1 subject down, 13 to go!

When people say that ground school at CTC is intense, they aren't lying... it's been a very busy first week. Studying 9-5 in a classroom then going home and doing 3-4 hours more in the evening at home has taken some getting use to but I'm now starting to get into the routine, which makes things a lot easier going forward.

We started off the week with a maths refresher day on Monday, which although not overly difficult, took a while to take in as it's been a few years since I've really done any proper Maths (and I was never brilliant at it, if I'm going to be honest...)


The following morning marked the start of our ATPL theory study, beginning with Mass and Balance, which was taught to us by Nathan Powrie, a former CTC Wings Cadet himself. This lasted from Tuesday until Thursday, and I think I speak for everyone when I say what a large amount of information we've learnt in a matter of days! Although it may not be the most interesting of topics, M&B has significant real world importance. We learnt about the components that make up an aircraft's mass and how they are determined, also how the centre of gravity of the aircraft is measured and adjusted for performance and safety reasons, amongst other things that must be taken into consideration when loading an aircraft for flight. If an aircraft were overloaded or loaded too far forward or behind the centre of gravity limits, there could be disastrous consequences...


Moving on from that slightly morbid note, yesterday we began our second and much lengthier topic, Principles of Flight, which as the same suggests, teaches us the various principles that allow an aircraft to fly. We've only covered a days worth of material so far but have already learnt how lift is generated and its effects on the aircraft. It's fair to say that there is a LOT more to learn than in M&B and frankly the amount of information yesterday came down on me like a tonne of bricks (an interesting tonne of bricks though..). This will last all of next week and after finishing will mark the halfway point in our module one studies.


As I've said, it's been a tough first week, but still thoroughly enjoyable and I can't wait for next week! In the meantime, here's a photo of CP135 and CP135G after finishing M&B on Thursday:

Meet + Greet and APD 1.

After all this waiting, I'm happy to say that I'm now officially started at CTC after finishing my Airline Preparation Day this afternoon!

Meet and Greet

Tracking back a bit first, it all started yesterday with my meet and greet with the other Cadets starting on CP135, CP135G, CPN06, and QA23. This was my first chance to meet the other cadets before starting our ground school studies on Tuesday morning (CP135 and CP135G that is, the others are straight off to NZ.)   This was followed by a short presentation outlining the structure of the programme, after which we were given our epaulettes, hitting home that I was finally at CTC!

Whilst our families were given a tour of the centre, we received our uniform and flight bag, meaning we now looked the part!

After having been given the keys to our accommodation, myself and the 3 other guys I'll be living with; Eren, Jake and Ollie, made the short drive to our house out by the airport. I'll be honest, I'm very happy with the house we've been given (I've even managed to get an ensuite!)

Myself, Ollie, Eren and Jake outside our new home for the next 6 months!

APD 1

The following day, we had the first of our Airline Preparation Days which will be staggered between the various phases of training. This was a great chance for us cadets to further introduce ourselves to one another, learn what is expected of us during our time on the course (Working hard being the main thing...) and also some fun group exercises which capped off quite an enjoyable introduction to the course before the hard work starts next week!

The Beginning...

Well, let me start by telling you a little bit about myself..

My name is George Hayward, and as of writing this, I'm 20 years old, having just had my last shift as a barman less than 2 weeks ago. I'm about to start as a CTC Wings Cadet on course CP135G, and I'm in the final process of getting ready to move down into my house in Southampton with some of my fellow course mates. I'm embarking on what I'm certain is going to be the toughest, yet most exciting 18 months of my life, and I'm hoping to provide you all with an insight into what it's like training to become a commercial airline pilot, whilst also completing a BSc Degree in Professional Aviation Pilot Practice at Middlesex University.

Ever since I was 6 years old, I've always dreamed of becoming a pilot. Upon attending the Eastbourne Airshow for the 1st time in 2001 and seeing the Tornado F3, Harrier and most importantly the Red Arrows perform their displays, I knew that becoming a pilot was what I wanted to do when I was older. I've never wanted to do anything else, a mindset that has stuck with me to this day. After having been a member of my school's Combined Cadet Force and completing my A-Levels in 2013, I was lucky enough to be awarded an RAF Gliding Scholarship and gained my solo wings, which gave me my first taste of flying an aircraft. This reinforced what I already knew: that becoming a pilot was the career for me.

Me after completing my RAF Gliding Scholarship at RAF Kenley with 615 VGS in August 2013.

After unfortunately being unable to pursue a career in the RAF as a pilot, I immediately started to research the opportunities available to me in the commercial side of aviation. CTC's Wings course stood out to me as the most impressive route available, most notably because of their ability to place cadets with a broad number of airlines. So, after much consideration, I started my application..

Application

I started to fill out my application form back in December 2014, a straight forward process which asked for simple details such as my qualifications, work and flying experience. After having submitted my application, I passed the first stage and was invited to an assessment day in the first week of February, and frantically increased my preparation for the big day!

Dibden Manor, where CTC's assessment days take place.

Assessment Day

After staying overnight at CTC's assessment day facility, Dibden Manor (Having eating very little that morning!), I waited nervously with the other 8 hopefuls waiting for the day to begin. It started with a presentation by one of the members of the selection team, outlining the CTC Wings Programme, what to expect during the day, answering any last minute question we had, whilst also trying to keep us as calm and stress-free as possible!

After the presentation, we were split into 2 groups. Whilst the other group went off to start the PILAPT and maths tests, our group started off the morning with an problem solving exercise of sorts, allowing us to demonstrate our teamwork, communication and leadership skills. Now I'm not really allowed to tell you what the exercise involved,  but it was actually an enjoyable start to the day having a discussion with the other guys, almost forgetting that there were people at the other end of the table assessing us!

Following that we moved on to what I had been the most apprehensive about: the PILAPT and maths tests. PILAPT is a collective term for the computerised tests that CTC use to test your natural aptitude, spatial awareness and multi-tasking ability among other qualities that pilots must have to perform their job properly. Now again, CTC probably wouldn't be very happy with me spilling the details on all of their tests, but let's just say they weren't easy! Each test required me to use a keyboard, joystick, or on one occasion even both to complete to complete the various tasks. After finishing the tricky PILAPT tests, I moved on to the maths. This was fortunately much more straight forward: 15 multiple choice GCSE level maths questions in 15 mins, which after completing meant it was time for a well-deserved lunch break.

Interview

The final stage of the day was a 1 on 1 interview with a member of the selection team, discussing things such as my motivation to become a pilot, the experiences I've had in the past which demonstrates the qualities they're looking for, and even how I would cope with a difficult scenario on the flight deck working as a pilot. Again, I was made to feel relaxed and had what seemed like a calm discussion, rather than being grilled like I can imagine many other interviews to be like! It was after the interview that I wished the other cadets good luck, and started to make my way home, absolutely shattered but feeling happy with how the day went.

Aftermath

I can honestly say that in my life so far, I have never had a weekend go slower than the one following my assessment day! After waiting for what seemed like an eternity and refreshing my email inbox about a million times, I got the email from CTC saying that I had been successful and was offered a place on the Wings Programme. After I had calmed down, I accepted the place on their July Course (CP135) which gave me just enough time to get all the finances and other fun stuff sorted so I was ready to start!

A short while after agreeing to join as part of CP135, I was given the option to complete my basic flight training out at CTC's new training facility in Phoenix, Arizona rather than in Hamilton, New Zealand. Because of the excellent, reliable weather, the training in the USA finishes 2 months earlier than in NZ, so I chose Phoenix instead and would be joined by 5 other cadets on my course, which meant I was now part of a smaller group known as CP135G (I still don't know what the G stands for by the way..)

CTC's training facility at Goodyear Airport in Phoenix, AZ.

So, here I am now, with just a week left to go, doing lots of pre-studying to try to ease myself into ground school as much as possible. I am nervous, yet excited about the 6 months of studying and exams that lay ahead, and I hope to keep you updated with everything that's going on as much as I can!