Flight Training
Frozen ATPL
The Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) is the highest aviation certificate one can hold, and gives the privilege og being able to command commercial flights. In other words, a “captain’s licence”. There are, however, rather extensive experience requirements to obtain that licence. While I am working towards the European edition of the second highest level [...]
Second bankruptcy
Once again I experience that my flight school goes bankrupt. The simulator broke down before Christmas, but we got the Multi-Crew Cooperation course done in January. It was very rewarding. We were put through our paces in a line oriented training programme, facing diversions, challenging approaches in Northern Norway, emergency situations and a completely different [...]
ATPL Ground School
Once again I’m back at the school outside Aalesund, on the North-West coast of Norway. Having come back to Oslo in September I got a couple of months to read up, get myself organised, start working again and then put myself on a plane to come up here. We are doing ground school for the [...]
Tough times. Tough choices.
The airline industry has been through a rather rough period. Usually this starts becoming evident at the top, as the full-service legacy carriers find fewer customers. Gradually the low-cost carriers start feeling the effects, and finally the flight schools see the demand for their services dry up. Luckily the world recession has come and gone, [...]
Commercial Multiengine Airplane
That’s what my new certificate reads. After almost a year of delays, maintenance issues, unaccumulating checkrides and the like, I finally pushed forward and got my multi-engine rating wrapped up. It’s good being done with the US part of the training programme. I’ve got another four months of work left, then I’m heading back to [...]
Cruising home for holidays
I’m writing this from flight level 350 (35000 ft) cruising over the Atlantic Ocean on a Lufthansa 747. Europe awaits over the horizon as we make our way into the night. Our almost all-male cabin crew are clearing away the dinner trays and I suspect some rest will soon be the order of the day. [...]
The Few. The Proud. The Pelicans.
I’ve been working on a small video lately that I’ve called “The Pelicans”. It’s about life at Pelican Flight Training Center, and is partially themed on the U.S. Marine Corps commercials that have been going over here. It’s a response, in a way, to the old “NAIA Strong” video which was themed on the U.S. [...]
An integrated effort
The school I am over here through switched names from NEAR to NEIA in September when they changed their U.S. training location. A few days ago they announced that their integrated training programme will revert to a modular course from 1. May. On April 30th I completed my last (multi-engine) flight of the integrated programme [...]
From instructed to instructor
Much has happened since the last post. The unfortunate events of 6. December 2008 involving the loss of Stuart and Edson made its mark on everyone, but as our president Terry Fensome said “the show must go on”. It has, and the school was back in full operation days after the accident. Christmas came and [...]
Tragedy strikes at Pelican Airways
Stuart Brown – R.I.P. Yesterday afternoon our Cessna 172 registration number N369ES left North Perry airport on a westbound departure. On board was a student, Edson Jefferson and his instructor, Stuart Brown; one of Pelican’s most highly regarded instructors, an assistant chief flight instructor at the school and the instructor I did most of my [...]
