Flight School Directory

I’ve wanted to be a pilot ever since I was four years old. In September 2004 I joined the inaugural BEng Aircraft Engineering with Pilot Studies degree at Salford University. Every Friday we would take a minibus to the RavenAir flying school at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, where we learnt to fly in the PA-38 Piper Tomahawk.

By the end of year 2 I had over 30 hours flying the Tomahawk. During my final year I began applying to Flight Training Academies. I applied to CTC and after passing the selection I was offered a place on the integrated training course. I graduated in July 2007 with a 2:1 in Aircraft Engineering with Pilot Studies (BEng). Three weeks later I was on a plane to Hamilton, New Zealand – within a year four more Salford graduates had joined the same programme.

We spent a total of 14 months in Hamilton, broken up by a couple of weeks back in the UK to sit our first set of ATPL examinations. Whilst in NZ I completed the single engine flying phase on the Cessna 172, before moving on to the shiny Diamond DA-42 Twinstar, complete with “glass cockpit” for the Multi Engine phase. New Zealand was an amazing experience, and by the time we left we were like one big family sharing some unforgettable memories.

Upon returning to the UK I sat the second set of ATPL exams, before completing my Instrument Rating on the DA-42 at CTC’s Bournemouth Training Centre.
In May 2009 we did our Airline Qualification Course on the Boeing 737-300, down in Southampton at CTC’s Nursling Training Centre. Ten months later, with the offer of a job flying the Airbus with easyJet, I returned to Nursling for the Airbus Type Rating.

I started with easyJet in May 2010, and after a week spent at their Training Academy in Luton, jumping down escape slides, fighting fires and swimming lengths wearing life jackets I was ready for my Base Training. Four of us reported at easyJet Gatwick at 0800, for a pre-flight briefing before boarding an empty A319 and flying up to Doncaster Airport. Once there it was over to us; we were each given an hour flying “Touch and go” circuits in order to hone our Take Off and Landing skills. That was the first time I ever flew a jet (apart from in a simulator) and a day none of us will ever forget!

Two weeks later I began Line Training, based at Liverpool. When you first start you are given a certain number of sectors to fly with a Training Captain, all of whom are very helpful and do a great job in preparing you for “flying the line”. Once the training sectors are complete, I had an Aircraft Competency Check, followed by a Final Line Check- a flight flown with a regular “Line Captain” whilst being assessed by a Training Captain sat on the jumpseat. When I passed, I was cleared “to the line”, meaning I can now fly with anyone. However the training and learning certainly don’t stop there; I am still learning and developing new skills every day.
I absolutely love my job and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. After doing my first ever solo flight at Liverpool Airport in May 2006, there is a great sense of achievement to be back there four years later flying a 60-tonne jet!