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!