Here’s another video of the approach into Newcastle, which I completely forgot to upload! Clicking through to youtube will let you watch a full size HD version!
Last week I spent 4 days down in the general region of London, to visit Oxford Aviation Academy and have my class A medical required to hold a commercial pilots license.
The medical took place on Friday, in the CAA medical center on the South side of Gatwick airport. It took me two and a half hours to drive there (From Leicester - where I was staying), arriving approximately 12:45, for an appointment at 1:45. After a light lunch and an overfilled coffee, I indulged in 10 minutes planespotting, and then prepared myself for examination!
The exam itself consisted of an eye test, a hearing test, an ECG, Spirometry (lung capacity), blood tests and a general exam by a Doctor. The staff in the medical center were very friendly, especially the lady who did my eye exam! She informed me that I have near perfect eyesight (good to know!) and that my hazel eyes are rather rare these days!
The full exam took about an hour and a half, and in a rather anticlimactic fashion, I watched the doctor print my certificate and hand it to me telling me that i’m free to go! So carrying £317’s worth of medical in my hand, I headed back to my lodgings for the night; through 4 hours of traffic!
On Saturday morning, I donned my suit and shoes and drove down to Oxford Aviation Academy. Being only an hour and a halfs drive away, the journey down was much more enjoyable than the Gatwick trip, especially since the views got more and more scenic the closer I got to the city! The academy itself is located in Oxford airport, which is just to the North of the city of Oxford. On arrival I parked up and was directed to a large marquee, where I ’signed in’ and took a seat.
I don’t think I was expecting as many people to be there, over 100 i’d imagine, but it didn’t bother me a great deal. After a LONG talk both by the head of the academy itself, and two airline captains and representatives of their respective companies, I had a good walk around the complex. I think most people were won over by the Netjets talk (which i’m interested in), purely because the cadetship itself is rather enticing. If you mention a starting salary of approximately £30,000+, and a working pattern of 7 days on - 6 days off, who wouldn’t be interested!? Netjets had one of their Hawker aircraft parked up on the apron which I managed to take a few photos of/climb inside the cockpit. Can’t say I wasn’t impressed.
I’m going to be waiting until Netjets open their application process again (supposedly in 6 months time - after the economy settles!) before I submit an application. I think i’m a competitor for the sponsorship, due to my qualifications and PPL, alongside work experince and other ‘duties’ at University. Netjets don’t publish their selection criteria, so i’m a bit in the dark as to my chances, so all I can do is wait! Even if i’m not taken on by Netjets, there’s always Flybe’s sponsorship deal (Eventually flying the Dash Q400! - I think…), and then the chance to be selected by British Airways in the final stages of any training. And if I don’t get selected for any of those… well, i’ll just have to apply for jobs rather than being picked!!
The main ‘downside’ of the academy, and the profession in general, is the cost. It was estimated that a full course, including costs for living expenses and all exam fees, comes in at £80,000. It’s not a big sum considering the salary once employed, and that it’s effectively a life investment, but it’s still a little daunting! Most of the cash will come from a career development loan offered by a Spanish bank who work with the academy, the rest will have to be savings and more loans!
All in all, a good weekend. It gave me a good insight into the academy, and the workings of the aviation business in general!
Something i’d been wanting to do for a while, was get my name printed on the back of my high vis jacket. After what was probably a year of procrastination on the subject, I eventually got around to doing it myself yesterday! - And there’s good news, it looks great! It has ‘Captain Coxy’ on the top in large letters, and then this website’s URL at the bottom. See the gallery for a picture!
Also, just as an aside, I updated my progress checklist for exams for the last time today (PPL wise at least!). Yesterday evening I passed my RT ground exam, meaning I have no more ground exams to do! Wahey!
As part of the PPL syllabus, you have to complete a Radiotelephony exam in order to be given a radio license. Before qualifying you operate the radio with student privleges, however once you obtain your PPL you’d no longer have those to rely on!
Today I sat a practice exam in the so called ’sweatbox’ in the flying school. It has a simulated aircraft panel and radio equipment, and you use it to speak to one of the flying instructors in the next room along. You’re given a route to fly, and have to pretend you’re flying along it, giving position reports and responding to any requests you’re given. There are certain points where you also have to pretend you have an engine failure, and make a mayday call.
My first experience with a Radio telephony style exam was in the written portion (’Part 1′), where you answer several multiple choice questions about the radio theory. After doing several practice exams in this case, it seemed easy enough to do without much revision, given that I use my radio knowledge every time I fly, so I took the exam and passed first time!
I apparently did fairly well today in the practical portion of the exam, given that it was my first go. I was given my exam sheet to look at and learn from, which i’ve kindly uploaded to my gallery for your viewing pleasure!
Today I added both the ‘Progess Checklist’ and ‘Photos and Video’ pages to the website, which can be accessed using the tabs at the top.
The Progress Checklist page indicates my current hours flying time for each license, exams completed and also flying exercises completed. The Photos and Video page contains links to Youtube videos taken on flights, and also photographs taken throughout my training.
I also added a search bar to the right, along with the post categories list and a ‘Total flying time’ counter for my PPL license.
As for the website theme, I plan to implement a ‘Superhero’ type theme in the near future, after recieving images to use from friends. The actual colour scheme and layout are still to be decided!
Today I completed my PPL Qualifying cross country flight. I feel quite lucky, as it’s quite often that pilots wait several weeks to get the weather required to fly the required 150nm distance. But alas - it is done!
I departed Newcastle at 08:45z in GBRJV, and routed West towards Stagshaw VRP. I was advised that the Spadeadam danger zone was active, and so routed further South than my intended route. From there, it was a hazy journey to Carlisle - and then onwards to Silloth A/D. The visibility was quite good at altitude, but a complete cloud covering at around 4000ft, and a generally light misty atmosphere made it seem worse than it was. The ‘extension’ of the flight to Silloth was to ensure I had the necessary distance on the flight, and after the 20 minute flight from overhead Carlisle to Silloth and back, i’d officially been further than i’d ever flown before!
After a ‘Good’ landing and ‘Excellent’ airmanship (Air traffic control’s words, not mine!), I parked up on stand 2A at Carlisle and went inside the operations room to get my first signature and stamp of the day! The main objective of the cross country flight is to land at 2 other aerodromes than your base, and complete a flight of over 150 nautical miles. As just mentioned, at each aerodrome you get a small report from the controllers, detailing how well you did in your time under their control, which is sent to the aviation authority along with your application for a license.
At precisely 10:00z I departed Carlisle airport and routed East towards Hexham, once again tracking overhead the Tyne and Haltwhistle to avoid the danger area. Once overhead Hexham, I steered South East and routed past Derwent Reservoir, Consett and headed directly for the main zone entry reference point at Durham, the Sedgefield racecourse. I was given a clearance to enter the zone, and promptly looked for the prominent reservoir just North of Durham Tees Valley airport. The runway in use was 23, so the reservoir lined me up nicely for right base.
After an ‘Excellent’ landing, and ‘Excellent’ airmanship, I taxied to stand 13 and awaited the handling agent (Midwest) to take me to operations. I paid my landing fee of £24.00 (!!) and handling fee of £5, and then proceeded this time to Durham tower, to get my sheet signed. Once I stepped up into the actual tower, there was an eerie silence, only broken by the faint chatter of the two controllers on duty, and sliding of aircraft strips. With this signature, my certificate was complete, and it was time to jump back into the aircraft and head back home. The 15 minute leg back to Newcastle was rather uneventful, aside from a Canadian pilot navigating the ‘Hexham Gap’ and Newcastle Radar warning me of a ‘Pretty big plane’ which would be passing overhead my position. He however assured me it wouldn’t be less than 1000ft above me - which is always a nice thing to know!
The landing at Newcastle was quite smooth, with a 9 knot crosswind from the left, compensated for with a bit of crabbing. Expedited due to to traffic on final behind me, I vacated onto Foxtrot and the flying school apron, ending my cross country flight!
I feel quite at home with the local area from the skies now. When I first started my lessons, everything would (inevitable pun) fly by. Now i’ve become accustomed to spotting features and towns without even needing to think about it. It’s quite encouraging, knowing that in 12 or so flying hours time, i’ll be a qualified private pilot!
Cross Country Certificate