The Ozwegian Observer

Education complete

ozwegian — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:45:26 +0000

15th August 2010 I had my skill test for the JAA CPL-IR-ME. I already had the SE rating from when I did my PPL in 2007, so I am now a fully licenced European commercial pilot. It has been a long and complicated process, including two school bankruptcies and many months of hard theory studies. Finally it’s all over and I can sit back and relax knowing that school is over. There’s much training to come, but hopefully that will be a consequence of being employed. It’s good to be done and I’m looking forward to getting a flying job.

Frozen ATPL

ozwegian — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:05:59 +0000

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 of certification, the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), it is customary to complete the full 14 papers of the ATPL theoretical examinations so as to not have to think about it once one is ready for the ATPL skill test. A few hours ago I received the results from my final exams. Finally I am done with the ATPL theory! It’s a big relief, as the studying has been both hard and exhausting. This leaves me with something on my licence called, in pilot-jargon, the “frozen ATPL.” What is meant by that is that although I fulfill the theoretical requirements for the Airline Transport Pilot Licence, I am still lacking in operational experience. Once the experience requirements are met (generally a set number of flight hours) and a skill test is completed successfully, the licence is “unfrozen” and I receive my full ATPL certification. Next up; flying!

Second bankruptcy

ozwegian — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:34:34 +0000

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 way of flying – no longer alone – but as a crew. North European Institute of Aviation closed its doors on 11th February 2010, leaving many of my colleagues stranded in Florida with no money and nowhere to go. When NAIA closed down in September 2008, we had the school in Norway to help us along our way. That is not the situation at the moment, and it would seem as though those still in the U.S. will be facing more or less a double tuition – as the money that was put into the old school is now gone. For my class, although the further costs are not much above what was expected, there are challenging times ahead. Apparently Rørosfly and the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority are teaming up to get us through, but nothing is certain as of yet. I’m currently reading for the ATPL theoretical examinations and looking forward to getting done with them.

Flying the Beach King Air B200 FNPT II simulator.

ATPL Ground School

ozwegian — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:32:56 +0000

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 ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot Licence) theory exams. It will last a month. The school has decided to expedite us a little, so once we’re done with the ground school we’ll start the MCC (Multi-Crew Cooperation) course – preparing us for a career in a crew environment – where cooperation and cross-checking are key.

Our living arrangements for this last part – Phase 5 – is at the school’s lodging house in the town of Roald. A rather desolate place, but friendly with fresh air and beautiful surroundings. The Chief Flight Instructor has said he’s planning to give us a ride in the simulator already next weekend, as an introduction to flying the Beechcraft King Air B200 (or rather, the FNPT II MCC simulator based on that aircraft). We’re all looking forward to that, and to getting the theory out of the way.

Tough times. Tough choices.

ozwegian — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:40:53 +0000

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, and once again the airline industry is on its way out of the depression. However, the amount of students at the flight school has been somewhat declining, currently reducing the flying to a minimum. Thoughts have shifted from staying on the last months to in fact packing up early. The current situation makes it unprofitable to hang around for a few more flight hours, and the money seems better invested in a European flight instructor rating, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time anyway. My mind is not entirely made up yet, as I do still have some opportunities for work, but a choice must be made in due time. Currently I’m looking at around 600 hours of total time, whereof around 30 are multiengine. Hopefully that should give me a good foundation to build on once I get home.

Commercial Multiengine Airplane

ozwegian — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:27:26 +0000

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 Norway to complete my education. Here’s a photo of what kind of aircraft I can legally fly at this point.

Cruising home for holidays

ozwegian — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:06:39 +0000

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. This time around the priority at home will be getting some major dental work done, which should incapacitate me for a while. On the bright side; I’m going home! After three weeks in the fatherland I should be ready to embark on yet another six month stretch of instructing at Pelican Airways. Afterwards it’s all about completing my education in Norway.

The Few. The Proud. The Pelicans.

ozwegian — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:04:54 +0000

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. Army commercials.

Here are download links to both high-resolution videos:

The Pelicans
NAIA Strong

An integrated effort

ozwegian — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:05:06 +0000

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 and had my training folder signed-off as complete for the U.S. phase, about 30 minutes before the NEIA representative left the country for a two month period. So far it has been unclear where we stand, but we hope that the programme is still in effect for the Norwegian phase so we may complete it upon our return.

Life in Florida is quite alright and the flying hours are steadily rolling in. We are many instructors but not too many students at the moment. That should improve as the year progresses.

My birthday is upcoming and the thought of turning 24 is quite daunting. Time seems to be going very fast, but I should have a few more years before my old age pension comes through. In the mean time, I’m enjoying flying and gaining experience. Being a flight instructor is a very educational job, and every flight comes with its own challenges.

Some friends and I headed up to Merrit Island in March to watch the space shuttle Discovery launch on the STS-119 mission to the International Space Station. I made a little video from the event and posted it on YouTube.

From instructed to instructor

ozwegian — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:04:09 +0000

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 went. For me it involved visiting friends in California, mainly Shadab, who was working over there at the time. I had a few days in San Diego and Los Angeles, then visited San Francisco for a day, and continued my journey homeward to spend the holidays with family and friends. Along the way I got to see Atlanta Hartsfield Airport from the air, had a great flight with AirTran Airways, enjoyed seeing the hills of California, experienced the Air and Space Museum in San Diego, saw the city of Los Angeles, visited Hollywood and Beverly Hills, jumped on a B757 up to the San Francisco Bay Area where I got to experience all my preplanned destinations, including Nob Hill, Lombard Street and the Golden Gate bridge, finally heading back to Norway. The flight eastwards and across the Atlantic took me via Houston, Texas and then over to Amsterdam before the jump up to Oslo. What struck me at San Francisco airport was how distant the city felt from the rest of civilization. Obviously, California being the main centre of urban civilization on that part of the continent, and thereby being quite seperated from the East Coast and the thriving northeastern parts of the U.S., it probably isn’t a completely unfounded notion.

Christmas in Norway was dominated by, what by now seems like extreme cold. The contrast to Florida’s palms could not have been more clearly made. During the holidays I caught up with family and friends, and on the very last day of my stay the snow finally started falling. The morning I left it came tumbling down, and it seems to have stayed, and even turned into a static layer over Oslo which is being replentished by more snow every day. I met Lars, one of my classmates, at Oslo Airport. We caught the same plane over to Frankfurt am Main, where we split up. He went to meet our classmate Sean for the flight over to Atlanta – I headed for my flight over to Miami. At the gate I was upgraded to Business Class, and thoroughly enjoyed the half-a-day of luxurious service that followed on the Lufthansa B747 that took me across the pond.

During January I completed my instrument instructor add-on for the initial Certified Flight Instructor certificate. The examiner told me he was impressed by my flying, but wanted to bust me on what he regarded as a part of an instrument approach procedure that I had forgotten to do. After some discussion and finally refering to the book, he agreed that in fact I had done what I was supposed to do, and that in fact he was unaware of a detail’s significance which led him to believe that I had made a mistake. It all made the feeling of accomplishment more profound. I felt that it weighed up for what I regarded as a less than optimal performance on the initial flight instructor checkride. A little while later I talked to Capt. Fensome on aquiring work at Pelican Airways, and only a couple of days later I put on my epaulets and started my career as a flight instructor.

Shadab, and another classmate, Øyvind, decided to make the drive back across the continent and down to Pelican to also start working here, as their employer over in California was not providing them with students. They arrived only a few days after they set out from San Diego and are now instructing here as well.

Currently I’m working on my multi-engine rating, which will complete my training programme (although I may opt to also do the multi-engine instructor add-on). Things look bright!