Teddy - B737
1) Tell us what made you want to become a pilot?
I was brought up with aviation. My mother works for Thai Airways International, so to a certain extent, I’ve never not been flying. A few years after being born I had travelled everywhere, from Sydney to London. Sleeping on the floor of a 747, the then workhorse of the Thai Airways fleet. At this young age I was fascinated by the operation of an aircraft: How an aircraft banks (or as I called it then “how an aircraft wing drops”), how it moves whilst on the ground, or how a jet engine starts. Relatively simple queries to have, that were the spawn for what developed into a real academic fascination, an obsession for knowledge, learning, and progression. This is what I describe as the Aviation Learning curve. I never had an interest in the, then or now, ‘glamorous’ life of a pilot. My interest has always been much deeper than that, based around aviation knowledge and understanding, and there was no better way to fuel this learning desire than to become a pilot.
2) Where did you train and describe your experience training there?
I did the Integrated Training course at Oxford Aviation Academy, now ‘CAE Pilot’. The course takes approximately 18 months, broken into three roughly equal stages. Ground School, Foundation Flight Training (CPL training), and advanced flight training (Instrument rating, and Multi-Crew/Jet Orientation training). Each phase taking around 6 months to complete. My experience of training at Oxford is positive. If your aim is to become an airline pilot in the most time efficient way, with the highest quality training, then I recommend Integrated Training.
Whilst in training it is difficult to see what these benefits are, and where they fit into the bigger picture. However, looking back now, I can see how to course was tailored to airline flying, but in a general aviation context. For example, a majority of airlines operate the concept of ‘Flow - Checklist’. This means switch selections, buttons, or any tasks required are completed from memory, and the subsequent task is confirmed by the use of a checklist. Most flying schools use the ‘Read and do’ concept, whereby you literally read the checklist and do what it says. Oxford introduced the first concept, ‘Flow-checklist’, from an early stage, whereby making the transition to airline flying easier. There are other ways they the course is tailored to airline flying, but they would be far too technical to describe in this interview!
3) What aircraft did you fly during your initial training?
During my Foundation Flight Training I flew the Piper Archer (PA28-181) and the Piper Seminole (PA44-181). The Archer is a Low Wing, Single Engine Piston aircraft, with 4 horizontally apposed cylinders, producing around 180 horse power. The Seminole is essentially a “Twin Archer” (an Archer with two engines). This being the main difference, and the T-tail empennage. During my Advanced Flight Training I flew the Piper Seneca V (PA34-220T). Easily my favourite aircraft I have flown to date. The engine is a 6 cylinder, horizontally apposed, fuel injected, beast. It is capable of churning out 220 horse power, and it is Turbocharged, and best of all, you have two of them!
4) What was your hardest part of training?
Deciding when to spend time dwelling on something or when to move on, whether this was in theoretical training or practical training. As practical and relevant as an integrated course may be, there will always be regulatory requirements. These may be things you have to learn or things you have to do. Initially, some of these tasks may be daunting, you might not succeed first time in learning or performing said task. The most difficult part for me was deciding whether or not these particular tasks were relevant to the task at hand, is there any real point dwelling on something you haven’t been particularly successful at? or do you move on, choosing to learn? Having the maturity to decide this is key. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t. I spent a lot of time dwelling on things that don’t need dwelling on. Lesson learnt, understand what you did wrong or what happened, learn from it, move on.
5) What advice would you give to aspiring pilot?
Be patient. Things don’t always happen immediately, whether it’s getting your first airline job, sitting waiting for the weather to improve for your flight, or waiting for that fleet upgrade. If things don’t happen immediately, use the time wisely. Don’t dwell on it, don’t stress about it. The way I see it: Stress is only known to those who are inefficient. Open a book, read about something; Further your academic sphere of influence, be efficient with your time. You don’t get to where you want to be by worrying about getting there per se, you get there through hard work, dedication, with a head that is level enough to see a path to get there!
6) What has been your best moment in the air?
It would be quite easy, and the cliché to answer “My first takeoff” or “My first landing”, so I’ll avoid that, because if those moments aren’t magical for everyone, well, there’s something quite wrong with you.
For me, all the moments where you’re involved in a decision making process, whereby your outcome turns out to be correct for all the right reasons, and you directly influenced it, whether you’re flying in a multi-crew environment or flying solo. It makes all the study and preparation beforehand worth it.
7) What is your favourite destination to fly to?
As a passenger: Bangkok, Thailand (Home)
As a pilot: Tied between Lanzarote (ACE - GCRR), as I used to be based there when I previously worked for Ryanair, and Corfu (CFU - LGKR), just because it’s stunning.
8) What is the biggest misconception that people have about your job?
The whole “Doesn’t the airplane fly itself with the autopilot” has been touched on enough so I’ll avoid that as well.
I think people don’t quite understand how much work is required to become a pilot, don’t be fooled by the short timeline. Whilst you are training, you have the ATPL exams to do, these 14 subjects are well documented, so I’ll leave them out. However, during practical training you will always be reviewing training guides, operating manuals, etc etc, as your aim as a professional pilot should be to achieve the highest possible standard. There is always something you might not know, that is worth researching and knowing. In theory, you could scrape by. For example, the pass mark set by the authorities for ATPL exams is 75%. My radio navigation instructor but this very nicely:
“If you have two pilots at the front of the jet, both got 75%, that’s up to 50% of the information they between the two of them, they should know, but they dont!” - A very valid point, one that should encourage more pilots to achieve the highest possible standard. If all pilots scraped by well, it’s a world I don’t really wish to imagine!
9) Was there something you wish you did prior to starting your flight training that would be beneficial for aspiring pilots to do?
Not to focus on the things that you can’t study for. For example, most integrated schools have an assessment process. This most likely includes a Psychometric Test. I personally felt like I spent far too long preparing for this. Psychometric is defined as: the science of measuring mental capacities and processes.
Im lead to believe you can’t exactly train your “mental capacity” or how to mentally “process” something. It would have been far more beneficial for me to have spent my time preparing my interview technique, reading up on the course itself, or reading how a team exercise works.