Halfway through Module 1

Well here I am, three subjects down, four to go in my first set of exams. The workload is still mad and I am amazed at how much I have learnt in the past month and a bit (and also how much you learn from playing too much FSX and watching far too many episodes of Air Crash Investigation). So far I have done Aircraft General Knowledge, Principles of Flight, Instruments and am a few days into Meteorology. My life revolves around question bank and reading - feels like I have had to do it forever!

See... the middle of nowhere (aka 'home')

We are no longer the newest CP - CP106 began their training last Monday and we are struggling to believe just how long ago it was that we actually started. There is a great atmosphere here in Ashurst (or as some have lovingly named it, 'Harry Potter's Forest', seeing as we live in the middle of nowhere), and we are still having fun. I am still struggling to make the whole experience feel real, although I am sure it will settle in the week of our mock exams! We are hopefully in for another sim ride soon, so there'll possibly be another update in the next few weeks with lots more pictures of us playing the oversized video game. Until next time!

Sim ride!!!!!!

If you didn't manage to work this out from the post's title, today was my first OFFICIAL sim ride! ARGGHHHH!!!!! Right. All out of my system now. After a long day slaving away over Aircraft General Knowledge the Ashurst group were booked in for a session on the Boeing 737 700 fixed based sim. This basically means it doesn't move, but your body genuinely doesn't agree with this when you're doing a 30 degree turn. We were at EGKK (Gatwick) and each did a circuit.

I took off from runway 26L and climbed to 3000ft, where we 'had a play' with aircraft trimming, which is definitely an art! After a few sharp turns and doing my very best to maintain 3000ft, I descended to 2000ft and the flaps were extended. Before I knew it I could see the runway, the gear was down and locked, flaps set 30 and using the ILS to guide me down 'smoothly' landed back onto runway 26L; not on the grass, not on the M23, actually on the runway centreline. Result! As I was the last to 'fly', I helped the instructor shut down the aircraft by flicking a few switches and of course, accidentally, flipped the seatbelt off sign. Totally by accident, of course.

Basically I had a blast. It is fantastic to get a go in the sims, as it helps remind me exactly why I am here and that I am going to be flying these massive pressurised tubes through the air not too far along in the future. I'm loving CTC and have made lots of new friends, which really helps lower the stress of the workload we have (which is crazy). Plenty of banter flying around - and there is without doubt a battle between Northerners and Southerners (I mean, who actually eats chips, cheese and gravy? Oh and John/Dan, the afternoon meal is lunch, not dinner.) Bring on more ground school!

March Open Day

Rubbish Blackberry quality, but still pretty cool nonetheless!

I helped out at the CTC Nursling open day today. It was great to finally be one of the cadets that I remember seeing when I visited the training centre! All of us volunteers were put into small teams and rotated around the building so that everyone 'had a go' of everything. I really enjoyed helping in the selection room, as it was nice to try and help people who were exactly where I was not even a year ago! I managed to get myself helping on a fixed base Boeing 737 300 sim, which was amazing. I started off by controlling the computer to reset the sim/position it, but after a short while I was soon put into the left hand seat helping the pilots-to-be land this 737 Classic into Gatwick, which isn't really something I get to do too often. Luckily when everyone had left, the sim wasn't booked for any training so a few of us cadets were allowed to have a play around on it ourselves, which turned out to be my first (if unofficial) sim session. Basically I had a great day, met lots of people and had a lot of fun. Cannot wait until Wednesday when I have another sim session booked!