Faith in a Dream

We're stable at 41000ft, it's deeply dark out there apart from a brighter spot on the horizon in our 9 o'clock. The dimmed flightdeck lets us enjoy an amazing canopy of stars. As I lean forward, I relish the reddish horizon just above the Captain's shoulders.
The view is about to get fantastic. I wish you were here to see this.

"Airline pilot? Come on, stop dreaming! There's no job out there".

Turning left by 10°, the morning light is slowly starting to flood the cockpit. The Alps are taking a sharper shape in the orange darkness as we progress further South. This never fails to be magical, I don't know how to describe it to you but this is truely awesome!

"Get a normal job and fly on your spare time rather, that's the best thing to do".

The Captain is glued to the window, some of the finest landscape is now seating all around us.
A mighty 747 crosses us 1000ft above, leaving miles of bright orange contrails behind.
The sun is cracking the horizon, God this is magnificient!

"Be realistic young boy, this industry is no longer what it used to be, find something else".

The mighty Mont Blanc, standing at some 15,800 ft in our 1 o'clock, is getting a truely amazing golden coat.
I'm speechless, the view from the flightdeck is incredible!
I grab my camera to catch the action, but no picture nor words can describe what we're gaping at.
I can't help but think of those who gave me these wise advice, probably stuck in the traffic at this time of day on their way to some boring job. If I had followed their recommendations, I'd probably be seating at a desk with no window either, wondering why I listened to those who once told me I would never achieve my goal.
Among them, a lot were people who dreamt of becoming pilots themselves but ended up letting the dream go.
Someone once said, people too weak to follow their dream will always try to discourage yours. There might be a clue there...

The Captain invites one by one our four Flight Attendants in the cockpit. They are as amazed as we are. I'm looking down at the approach charts with a smile spreading across my face. At destination I'll be flying a "non-precision approach" (no ILS) with a 30° turn on short final and a steeper than normal approach angle, a very nice procedure to fly. I remember quite well all those who claimed that flying an airliner was all about pushing buttons. They would have loved the ride if they were here today.

After the up-and-downs, the never ending struggle, the hits-and-misses and years of hard work, I'm pondering on how my job is awesome.

For every risk I took, there was someone to tell me I would not make it.
When I was looking for a tow pilot job, I called every single flying club in the country. Lots of them can be quite agressive on the phone, they don't need you, they want you to have such and such licences and ratings that you don't have, they are looking for people already experienced in this area, they expect you to be from the city, you have to be available on the next morning, you must be ok with working for them while earning nothing and having to do the cleaning, paperwork and maintenance, ...
You're never the person they're looking for, and when they do have something to offer, it is miles from what you were hoping for. So you keep looking, you get on a bus, you travel across the country and you do what you are supposed to do: you don't give up.
Then one day comes when fortune favors you, when fortune favors the bold.

The sun is now intensely bright, sunglasses on, time to set up the stunning six-month old 737 for my approach.

Hold on to your dreams,

Hang in there.

Agustus 12, 2012

Career Paths

The beauty of this job is that there are almost as many pilots as there are career paths leading to a pilot job.

In Europe, most people think of famous training organisations such as Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA), or Embry Riddle in the US.
But there are many other schools where you can train the modular way and do each step in a different location, and it is usually some two or three times less expensive.
There are hundreds of options for someone willing to become a commercial pilot.
In Europe, the two main ones are integrated training with an airline sponsorship (CTC with easyJet pilot placement for example), or the less expensive modular training, usually with no airline connection.
Doing an integrated training with a school that doesn't offer any kind of airline placement is, to my mind, a huge waste of money. Those schools know how to sell the "dream" job and a lot of people fall in the trap.

It is difficult to give realistic figures, but in average in Europe, for the past few years less than a third of newly qualified pilots have ended up getting a pilot job. In some schools, this figure can be as low as a few percents.

We see an increasing number of young people suddenly deciding they want to become airline pilots. They usually have no interest in aviation in the first place, didn't take any flying lesson or trial flight before, and blindly listened to the schools' misleading commercial talks.
How many of them get a job in the end? A very tiny amount.

A lot of people enroll in pilot training with no post-highschool degree, no fall-back job and a rather low or inexistant level of awareness towards the job market.
Outside of the English-speaking countries, a lot have a very poor English level, resulting in even worse chances of getting employed.
Worse even, most think they will end up flying a big shiny jet straight out of school and don't even consider anything else. Seems like the love for Aviation is long-time gone for a lot of newbies.

So what's the real story like?

I've listed below a number of career paths from different individual with different stories, all from the French aviation forum Aeronet:

•  PPL, CPL/IR - MCC training, 5 years doing various ground jobs while flying from time to time as a safety pilot, FI (Flight Instructor) Rating, Beech 1900 type rating with a FO contract, a few years later Captain on the B1900, then moved onto the PC12 as Captain and more recently flying the Be350 with 2400 hrs flight time. 
•  PPL, CPL and IR from 1998 to 2000, dispatcher for three years (until 2003), FI rating, ground handling agent until 2005, flying turboprops from 2006 and flying jets from 2008.
• PPL in France, CPL, IR and MEP in the US, licenses conversion (FAA to JAA) in France, FI in a flying club, FO job in a small regional airline before working as an Air Traffic Information Operator and dispatcher, and later on being hired as a CL604/605 First Officer.
•  Gliding license in 1998, glider instructor in 2003, PPL in 2004, glider towing, ATPL theory - CPL/IR/MCC from 2006 to 2008, glider towing in 2009, volonteering pilot in Africa for Aviation Sans Frontiere (NGO) on the Cessna Caravan in 2010 with 700 hrs total.
• First flight back in 1991, 8 years working in the Air Force, PPL in 1995, commercial pilot training spread over 5 years from 1996 to 2001, MCC in 2003, estate agent for a year, 3 years working in aircraft ground handling, FO Cessna Citation for one year and now on the Global Express.
• Initial pilot training (PPL and ATPL theory) from 2004 to 2006 while working in computer sciences, successful in the Thomsonfly Cadet sponsorship, sponsorship which was later on cancelled due to the economic crisis. First pilot job as of summer 2009 as a skydiving pilot. 
•  PPL in 2001, post-graduate degree in 2004, 2 years working in a cloth shop, emigrate to Canada in 2006, CPL/IR training in 2007, from mid-2007 until mid-2008 working as a ground agent uploading and unloading cargo aircraft in Ontario, and from then on FO on the Embraer 110 (turboprop).
• Graduate degree in 2003, ATPL theory in 2004, 2 years working as a dispatcher, failed Air France pilots' selections, CPL/IR training in 2007, glider towing, moved to the UK and a lot of short-term jobs, first pilot job in 2009 flying the DHC-6 Twin Otter in remote islands.
• Airline pilot training from 2002 to 2004 in Belgium, first job in 2004 working in Senegal flying the Robin HR100 (small 4 seater), mechanical degree in 2005, back in Africa in 2006 flying the Cessna 207, Piper Seneca and Navajo. Back in Belgium in 2007 but no luck with the job-hunting, other than a few safety pilot flights on a Be90 Kingair. Finally got a job in 2008 working for a cartography company, in 2009 same company but flying the Merlin.
•  1998 to 2001 : Cabin Crew based in the UK. PPL in America with IMC and night rating, ATPL theory back in the UK, JAA CPL in South Africa (Johannesburg), IR in Coventry (UK) on the Cessna 310Q. In 2003, MCC on the 737-400. Later on this year : cabin crew (CSS). From 2004 to 2007 : dispatcher in the UK, in 2005 self sponsored Type Rating on the ATR42/72, first FO contract in spring 2007, Captain by late 2011.

I hope this gives you a better overall insight.
If all you want is to fly a shiny jet, you get the wrong idea.
Get interested first.
There is a lot to discover: gliding, skydiving, ultralight, tail-wheel, aerobatics, formation flying...
And as an aspiring pilot, there is quite a fair chance you will end up flying single engine propeller aircraft a few years before getting any kind of pilot job. If you don't like this idea, think again.

(Some) schools like their students to wear shiny uniforms with stripes to fly their PA28 ...
Why not after all, but the fact people are doing CPL/IR training doesn't mean they will all become airline pilots.

One advice I was given a few years back was : If you hesitate between pilot and something else, do something else. A bit harsh but it gives the idea.


If you want to get a job, you need to have not one plan but many of them.
More than that, there is no way you will get a job if you don't act to make things happen.
Quite a lot of people go to the US to get FAA licenses and wonder why they don't get hired back in Europe.
It is already very difficult when you have the proper licenses (JAA)...
(Read : Getting a pilot job in Europe)


Before you take any decison, you should ask yourself whether this is the lifestyle you want and what it would imply.
Some people are very satisfied in this industry but a lot do not fit the lifestyle or find drawbacks overcome the positive aspects. This of course depends a lot on the job you get as a pilot.
A freight dawg (cargo pilot) won't have the same life as a business pilot flying Citations. You don't really get to choose but generally, you can expect years of struggle, unstability, financial difficulties (at the biginning at least) and the reccurent necessity to relocate.
Add to that unhealthy working hours with very long and exhausting working periods (often over 12 hrs of duty in a day and easily more than 50 hrs in a busy week).
Many people don't have the motivation to put up with the struggle to get a job. They will send CVs and wait home for that call which will usually never come.
As you can see from the above-listed career profiles, among the lucky ones who fly for a living, a majority have had lots of varied positions before ending up in that right hand seat, and these intermediate jobs may have played a great role in successfully becoming an airline pilot. Whatever you do in between is up to you, that's the beauty of this career, no two pilots share the same story.

Why didn't I choose the "integrated" training? I wanted to get UK licenses, fly in the US, build my hours at my own pace and have a bit of adventure. An integrated school plans everything from your first introduction flight to graduation.
I was told the wait between training completion and flying a commercial aircraft would be demotivating, I certainly was lucky and worked hard to ensure I would enjoy my time and in fact I loved every second of it.

I was inspired by many people and this helped me make up my own career path.
Among them, Danny, a fellow French pilot who made it to the US and now flies for Delta. Two easyJet pilots who shared their adventures on blogspot, Captain Dave ( flightlevel390.blogspot.com ) flying the A320 for Delta. Shaun Lunt, a young American bush-flying in Alaska in his Piper Super Cub and taking the best pictures one could find on the internet ( shaunlunt.typepad.com ), sadly he tragically died while flying his Super Cub. Three French PPL pilots flying for a couple of months in the US sharing their wonderful pictures online ( thebarteam.blogspot.com ). Olivier, another friend who completed a JAA training in the UK and now flies the Be200 ( lj35.blogspot.com ) ...
Those last two greatly influenced my choice of building my hours in the US and do a CPL/IR training in the UK.

That's your career and you get to choose every step, if you want to.
When you take a decision, make sure this is the right thing for you.

 

Maret 13, 2012

Thunderstorms

The mixed orange and blue sky is slowly being replaced by darkness as night sets in.

Straight ahead, the lights of Manchester illuminate the surrounding CBs (Cumulo-nimbus, typical thunderstorm clouds).

We temporarily level off at 16000 feet, just above the clouds tops. This evening view is amazing. The shape of the clouds contrasts with the redness of the dusk sky.

Quick fuel check, we will have over 3 tonnes of fuel upon landing, an extra 800 kg on top of the reserves, enough to hold 20 minutes if we need before we have to divert to Liverpool.

Descending into the tops of the frosty clouds, engine anti-ice ON, we enter the turbulent air of the upper layers.

Both the windshield and wipers are already showing signs of severe icing.

I ask the Captain to turn the wings anti-ice ON.

I get a hit of adrenaline from the speed feeling as we punch through the clouds, brightened by our landing lights. We’re doing 280 knots indicated, 350 knots true airspeed.

The whole airframe is shaking under the pressure of the storm.

We constantly request new headings to avoid the worst of the weather, depicted as red on the weather radar.

I notice that the winds are increasing as we descent, this is quite unusual. Add to that the sound of the hail which resonates through the length of the plane, this is really getting exciting!

I ask the Captain to update the FMC by re-entering the next waypoint and putting it on top again. It refreshes the vertical profile with the current wind.

The new VNAV (Vertical Navigation, calculating an ideal descent profile) deviation pointer shows a fly-down indication, direct consequence from stronger tailwinds.

We’re going to get high and fast. My left hand reaches the MCP and engages LVL CHG (Level Change), bring back the thrust levers to idle and pull out the spoilers to the flight detent position. They disrupt the airflow around the wings and help increase the rate of descent.

In a jet, it is very hard to loose altitude and decelerate at the same time. A tailwind makes it worse and the last thing we want is to be too high or too fast on the approach.

ATC asks if we can accept a left turn to establish onto the localizer, I shake my head and the Captain informs them we would like radar vectors for a 10 miles final instead.

We’re still high and fast, I bring back the speed to flaps-up speed and ask for flaps 1. Seconds later, flaps 5 and 190 knots in the speed window with spoilers extended, the aircraft dive to catch up with the descent profile. 

A flashing glow attracts my attention and for the first time, I get to witness St Elmo's Fires. Those are in fact electric arcs across the windshield caused by charged air around the airframe, creating an electric field. I am too busy to grab my camera but this is quite fascinating!

Out of the clouds, we can barely see the airport in our 9 o’clock.

We are all over the place and the turbulences don’t stop whatsoever.

Quick distance versus altitude check, we have 12 track miles to run and 4000ft to loose. It is coming together nicely. I stow the speedbrakes as ATC clears us to establish on the ILS for runway 23R. I arm the approach mode as the Captain tells me to give it a go and fly manually.

Quick check at the instant wind, the MFD is showing 160 at 52 knots. He certainly can see my hesitation here but after all, this is what flying is all about. “Go for it” are the calm words he addresses me once again.

Double-click on the auto-throttle disconnect button, and seconds later I disengage the autopilot, ready to fight against the wind.

The speed trend arrow is varying so quickly that it is pointless to chase it. I try to keep the average around my speed bug and it works out nicely.

I further slow down as the tailwind is going to push us through the centreline.

“Localizer capture” and left turn to establish onto final.

The Captain announces “runway in sight”. I look straight ahead, common mistake for new copilots I guess, the runway is in our one O’clock due to the strong crosswind.

This is going to be good!

I do my best to keep the vertical speed between 700 and 800 feet per minute, speed is averaging at 170 knots indicated and we are on the (extended) centreline.

I can clearly feel the turbulences through the controls.

"1000ft".

Crosswind is now down to 38 knots from the left. ATC confirms a ground wind of 160 at 19 gusting 26 knots. We still experience moderate turbulences on short final.

The threshold slides beneath us. Right rudder and left aileron to de-crabe the aircraft and line it up with the runway, I gently pull the yoke to start the flare, the nose pitches a few degrees and the main gear touches down surprisingly smoothly. I immediately deploy the reverses as the spoilers automatically extend.

Second detent activated, the reverse thrust kicks in and the plane decelerates quickly. At 80 knots, I override the autobrake by applying a greater pressure on the brakes pedals. The Captain calls “autobrake disarms”. 60 knots, reverses back to idle and I hand over controls to the Captain.

The taxi to the gate is eventless but my head is 5 minutes behind, still on the approach. One of those things from which it is hard to move on.

There is probably nothing more rewarding than flying a good manual approach in difficult weather conditions and strong wind gusts, the kind of approaches you don’t forget. What a feeling!

The passengers disembark the aircraft and as the flight deck door is slightly opened, a few of them pop up at the cockpit’s entry and compliment us.

All the paperwork for the next leg sorted out, it is time to fly back home.

Airborne life at its best!

Februari 20, 2012

Getting a pilot job in Europe

Don’t hold your breath, I am not announcing a major pilot shortage and I don’t think this will ever happen, at least not in Europe.
A lot of schools are advertising their courses with some very misleading comments such as “now is a good time to train, airlines will desperately be looking for pilots by the time you complete training”.
In the past decade, this has been half-true for not even a year, around 2007. They were certainly not desperate but a lot were hiring and the requirements were quite low.
This hasn’t lasted long though and rather than waiting for this sort of economic climate to come back, if you are looking for a job you should focus on what you can do in the current, fairly poor, climate instead.

This post is my own thought on the topic, hence not everyone will agree and share that same opinion. I may have very little experience in the industry, this process did help me get several job opportunities, and this is also the sort of attitude some of my friends had when they got their first pilot job.

Most pilots fresh out of school will just send a couple hundreds of CVs and wait until the phone finally rings. It sometimes works, it did for me, but there are a lot more things you can do to get a pilot job.

Right, first thing first, let’s talk about LUCK.
There isn't any absolute solution, there is no key, but luck does happen and it can be triggered.
Don't think luck doesn't come to you because you are not that kind of person.
Luck is not a simple character trait, it is a skill in its own.
Of course, you can get lucky or unlucky but those who tend to come across luck many times in a row most likely act in order to make it happen.
I'm not blaming those who are not in that position, just enlightening that the lucky ones tend to be the ones who create a positive environment.
A famous Professor did some work on that, you can look it up or google it: Richard Wiseman, Book: The luck factor.
Basically, one way to do that is to trigger opportunities. Which is, to get to meet the right people in the right place, listen to their expectations and position yourself on this demand.
Having a stable and steady life isn't really going to help you get opportunities, for a start.
Create a network, get to be the one that creates links between people (one of them being well-positioned) and help others before expecting others to help you.

Right, how do you do that in terms of real life?
You don’t look for these people, you don’t sell yourself to them. In fact, you shouldn’t need to, you just have to place yourself in a positive environment.
Here are a few examples:
- I worked on a big soaring airfield for 5 months. Within this lap of time, I met at least 50 retired airline pilots, got to talk to them and I eventually met other pilots who heard my name during random conversations. That’s a good start.
I met a Boeing 757 Captain well placed in his company to pass on my CV.
- Just a few days before I left, I received a phone-call from a chief pilot flying light twin-turboprops in remote islands. He got my contact details via a retired pilot I talked a lot with, one of those guys you could spend hours and hours talking to without getting bored as they have so many stories and life experiences to share.
Anyway, this chief pilot was looking for a pilot with glider towing experience because he operates on small trips with steep approaches, the kind of things you do as a tow pilot (I later learnt he had been a towing pilot himself a couple of years back). I realised I didn’t even applied to them as they were asking for a lot more hours than I had.
I turned the job down, having already signed my contract on the 737, but I kept him in my contacts.
- Other experiences, other luck? Probably. I recently met a nice guy at an airshow, I was one of those wearing a yellow high-vis jacket on the other side of the fence, as a photographer. We started talking about photographic equipment, and it is only after a while he presented himself as a member of the recruitment team of a corporate airline. Luck stroke twice, his company was looking for a Learjet first officer.
I am not saying that’s the way you get a job, but that’s at least a good way to get an interview.

Second tip, you need to plan everything.
Do not rely on a single project, you’d better have a second plan and even a third one.
Try to act in order to make things happen, and if they don’t, move on.
You should get organised with a Plan B, a Plan C and a Plan D. Once you have sent in your CVs worldwide, just put Plan A on the side (Plan A: an airline or small operator will eventually get back to you regarding your application, and call you for an interview). Don’t rely on that because it may well take years or even never happen.

Using my own experience, once I finished training, I knew I wanted to build my hours to fulfil the requirements of various operators asking for 500 to 700 hrs.
In case I wouldn’t get a place as a tow pilot, I applied to ground crew jobs on various airports.
I talked to a guy who told me his flying club would be happy to have me for the season, as a tow pilot. I relied on that, and when I went to the airfield, a guy got the place before I did and was already trained. Because the soaring (glider) season had already started, most of the gliding clubs had already found a tow pilot. I applied everywhere, called every single flying club, until one told me “I know this one place that’s looking for a pilot”. That was the National Soaring Centre, offering the best (or should I say, the least worst) conditions in the country.
I got the Chief pilot’s number and called him straight away. He told me they had not far from a hundred of CVs already and a few guys coming at the end of that week, but if I wanted I could pop up and bring my CV the following Monday, a week later.
The next morning at 6am, I was on a train to the airfield, a CV and a headset in my bag. Once arrived, I asked to have a chat with the Chief pilot, who was away for the morning, I waited and finally got to talk to him briefly around noon. He appreciated the move but told me he had already arranged appointments with other pilots the next day. I insisted, told him I was ready to go fly, and probably with a CV as good as the others'. He went flying and I waited until late afternoon for him to land, insisted again and finally convinced him to let me have a go. We went flying and did some general handling, various stalls, steep climbs and steep approaches, short landings and precision landings. Well fun despite the day-long wait, after what he offered me the place without any more delay.
A lot of positions in the aviation industry work like this one, you have to fight for it. If you don’t, someone else will.

Also, be realistic.
I highly doubt more than half of those who train to be commercial pilots will ever get a flying job. Pilot schools either hide statistics or make them look like if everyone is getting jobs. This is really not the case, the fact you complete a pilot course in no way means you will ever get employed as such.
For this reason, when there is an opportunity, whatever that is, don't turn it down unless you have a very serious alternative or very good reasons to do so.
Stop dreaming on excellent and very rewarding Terms&Conditions, as a low-timer non-experienced pilot you stand very little chances to start with more than decent working conditions.

Right, how about if you can’t get a hold of a flying position?
Getting yourself a ground job such as flight dispatcher will certainly help you more than working at MacDonald’s or going back to your old job in a civil engineering office.
Why? I can see two reasons. The first one is the experience you will gain as a ground crew, this is usually not a requirement from the airlines but they do appreciate this kind of background. For you, this is also a good opportunity to discover the airline world from a different perspective, not to mention the fact you’re still seeing airplanes on a daily basis. Then there is the possibility to network. Depending on what company you work for, you may come across lots of pilots working for a lot of different airlines. Some will be uninterested and some others might be training captains or chief pilots, you never know. Always carry a CV with you, in a folder.

- The following story happened to a great friend of mine, he had been dispatching on a busy European airport for a while when he got to see several times the Chief pilot of a major airlines. Having a CV on him as always, he kindly gave it to the chief pilot and mentioned how much he’d like to have a formal interview with him. Unfortunately, the latter refused. On the third occasion he saw him, he suggested again the idea of an interview, and when the chief pilot declined, he told him “right, I’ll keep the load sheet then, unless you changed your mind?” (in a humorous way, of course). He got called for the interview a week later…

So, how about what you read on the internet? In particular, web forums such as PPRuNe?
Those forums surely can be useful as they broadcast aviation news, which is a good way to stay current, knowing who’s recruiting, who’s not and who may well be in a couple of months. You will find there a wide range of interview questions and sim profiles as well, very useful when you finally get that phonecall inviting you for a selection.

However, you will also find a huge amount of gloom and doom, bullying and trolling. If you feel turned down or need some motivating perspective, don’t go on there.
Bear in mind a lot of those people spreading depressing (and often false) news are not pilots themselves, some of those who are pilots may have failed to get employed for various reasons. Some others may have dreamt to become pilots but never tried.
To compensate, they feel better telling you how bad it is.
You’d better spend your time actively looking for a job and networking than wasting it reading depressing comments on PPRuNe.

A lot of these people saw a light when they came across an advert for a pilot school. They were not interested in aviation in the first place, but imagined they just had to pay to get their licences and will soon land a very well paid job on a big shiny jet, full of prestige and glamour. For most employed pilots, this is utterly unreal.
You may land a job on a twin engine jet, but you better be happy to fly single props because this is most likely what you’re going to end on for quite a time, before actually getting your hands on a jet or a turboprop.
You need to be realistic. For a lot of pilots, their lives are nowhere near what people think they are.

The Aviation world is a bit like a lake full of crocodiles.
When a newcomer jumps in the pool, eyes wide open, he has great chances to end up very far from expectations. Some will get interested eventually, and a lot will not.
When those guys end up not getting jobs, while seeing classmates living the dream, they start getting frustrated, they openly blame the schools, blame the airlines and blame those who get jobs.
They also blame the networking or recommending system. It seems unfair to most, because you do bypass the long queue of waiting pilots. Now, you can choose to blame others, or be in the position where others might blame you for succeeding.

Good luck to all those looking for a job.
This certainly is far more difficult than the training itself, and sometimes you do everything you can and it just won’t work. Hang on to it and keep trying.
I know this sounds a lot easier than it is. My advice won’t get everyone a job.
But no book or website dares talking about the real job hunting, how it really happens.

This may open the eyes of those living in a fairy world.

Airborne life continues…

September 17, 2011

Tow Pilot job

For many people, including pilots, getting a job during a recession is not an easy task.
For us, pilots, the tough part starts with having to stand out from the crowd.

I've got a few things that could slightly help: an English ICAO Level 6 (which most people of French Nationality don't have), a few flights as a safety pilot on a King Air Be90 and a University Degree related to aviation, but this is usually not enough.
All the rest looks the same as to what everyone's got: a JAA (European) frozen ATPL licence with 250 flight hours.
A great amount of luck is an obvious key factor in this industry, and this is something you can, and have to, trigger yourself.

What are the airlines looking for, other than a nice chap with good CRM skills?
Being type rated and having a reasonable amount of experience on the aircraft is probably the number one element they want to see on your CV, especially right now where there are hundreds or even thousands of experienced pilots previously laid off and looking for a job.
But hey, you can't just go on a random type rating course and buy some 500 hours on the aircraft and hope this is the aircraft your future employer will use, without serious contact beforehand. Some people give it a try but I don't intend to do this with 250 hrs total time. And even if I did, I wouldn't be able to afford it.

Number two key line on your CV is the amount of flying time you've got. And this is something you can work on much more easily that doing an A320 or 737NG Type Rating, and then buying 500 hours in the right hand seat of an airliner full of passengers and hoping that will get you a job.
And this 'number two key line' is what I chose to work on.

I finally managed to get a flying job.
Nothing very impressive, no big airliner with two big jet engines, no uniform with stripes, but hey, a flying job is a flying job, and I wouldn't give it away for anything!
I'm going to be a tow pilot for the European biggest soaring airfield. My job is fairly straightforward: towing gliders up to 2-3000 ft, and getting back to the ground asap, ready to tow the next one, and so on.
I passed the interview and flight test yesterday, and the course starts on monday, which I'm really looking forward to!

Some of my relatives were actually disappointed for me, but this actually more than fulfills my expectations. I am going to have a pretty awesome time flying those little planes, building up my hours (400 flight hours over the next 7 ~ 8 months), and sharpening my flying skills in a very busy environment.
On the plus side, on top of getting paid to do what I love the most, I get free accomodation and free food everyday, and I get to live in sunny South France. I also get to fly gliders (including instruction) for free. And, there's a swimming pool... What else?

Airborne life continues...

Maret 10, 2011

Doing the right thing

For many years, I've been inspired by a fellow French pilot now flying in the US for the World's largest airline: Delta.
He's kept on writing an online diary since 1998, and although we follow different paths, I share the same philosophy that contributes a great deal in leading to a successful pilot's carrier.

He once said, One of the best advice one could get, would be to not follow someone else’s advice.

If you do, you’re most likely going to end up disappointed and upset because someone not expert in the subject managed to persuade you he was right.

People don’t like to mind their own business. They feel like they have to share their opinion, even though you didn’t ask for it. They talk about a subject they do not master, but think they possess a great knowledge because they read newspapers and magazines.
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so" (Mark Twain).

Those people tell wrong facts, and they tend to spread gloom and doom, this is why you should avoid them at all costs.

I’ve been told by countless people that the French education system was the best in the world.
Funny enough, none of those people experienced any foreign education system.
When I moved to England, I was told so many different stories about the country, the people, their culture and their way to teach; I was actually very surprised to realise most of those fairy tales were deeply wrong. Same happened when I went to the US.
And once again, none of those people ever experienced any of this themselves, however they are glued to their TV every single evening.

So, what's the deal about the French education system?
Some french people believe they possess a greater knowledge than people from other countries, especially America.
Having experienced both the American and the British way to teach, along with the french's, I believe the Americans are much more pragmatic when it comes to education, knowhow based (practical knowledge) rather than our fact-based knowledge.
And as Danny mentionned in his diary (link below), this is why no-one in America will end up flying a 737 with 200 flight hours, while this does happen in Europe.

The know-it-alls wander on the web forums and blogs, spread non-correct and depressing information, and use a confident tone while talking about the job they once dreamed of and failed somewhere along the way. Then, satisfied, they’ll switch off their computer and will walk off to their 9 to 5 job.

Without any doubt, listening to success stories is way more useful than taking any advice from those people.

I've decided, and this is where people started to disagree and shared that with me, to build up my experience in a way that is neither a job nor something you have to pay for, as well as keeping current my IFR and CRM skills as a safety pilot on the Kingair and possibly some other planes.
I have plans and opportunities, and once again, some people felt like they had to bring their own advice, arguing "this is not a good idea", because they have read otherwise in some random magazines.

Turn your back to them and walk ahead, this is probably the reasonable thing to do.

If I had followed any of the advice I received when I expressed my wishes to become a commercial pilot, I wouldn't be here today.
One reason to that: almost everyone whom I didn't ask any advice from, told me I should forget about my wishes and take up a normal carrier instead.
When I started my pilot training, those same people commented on how wrong I was to train in the UK and in the States instead of my own country. Today, I realise this is one of the best decisions I ever took.

Danny had below-average grades in French when he was in high school, and since then, he never stopped writing.
I was at the bottom of my class in English just 6 years ago, I never stopped working on it, and I am now close to be bilingual.

Fortune favors the bold, you have to act to make things happen.

Link (in french): http://piloteus.journalintime.com/2010/07/01-un-conseil-important
Thank you Danny.

Airborne life continues...

Maret 03, 2011