Pilots are returning from furlough, but they haven’t been idle. Frequent retesting and training has ensured they are ready to fly
OUR ANONYMOUS PILOT REVEALS THE SECRETS OF THE COCKPIT
Because of the pandemic, many pilots will not have flown a real aircraft for a considerable time. When they do, they will rely both on their initial training, and subsequent flight simulator hours. The sophistication and realism of these simulators is such that the authorities allow them to be used for both for training and keeping our skills up to date, but if you are wondering about those skills in general, it might be of interest to take you through the process of becoming a pilot and then, once qualified, what you do to stay current.
There are three routes into flying a commercial aircraft: self-sponsored, airline sponsored or from the military. The licence we aspire to is an Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL), and if self-funding it will set you back far in excess of US$100,000. Many years ago I was fortunate enough to be accepted by the British Airways cadet pilot scheme, and this fully funded my training with the obligation at the end to accept a job with BA if it had a vacancy. Such a scheme does not exist today and when such places are offered now, which is rare, it is usually part-sponsorship and a sacrifice in salary to pay the remaining costs over a number of years. As you can imagine competition for these places is fierce!
NOVICE TO FIRST OFFICER
The training itself is carried out at an approved flying college; in my case it was BAe Flying College at Prestwick in Scotland. The course was residential and took 18 months, consisting of flying single-engine and twin-engined light aircraft as well as an intensive ground school course. After passing flying and written exam tests I left with my commercial licence. Even though I had a commercial licence, I now had to learn to fly the aircraft that BA assigned me for my first job as a pilot, which involved learning all the technical details of the aircraft you are to fly. This was followed by training in the simulator and then learning to fly that particular type of aircraft and how to deal with system failures and handling emergencies. This next stage takes two to four months. Another subject you have to learn is something called ‘standard operating procedures’ which detail how we operate so that we know what each other is doing and when. Finally, the time comes when you fly as a fully qualified first officer. The captain sits in the left seat and the first officer in the right. The stripes on their jacket or shoulder indicate rank, so four st
