Aviation lifestyle blog. Airlines. Training. Travel.
Kellie is learning to fly at Bankstown based Red Baron Flight Training. Len Costa and I had a chat with Kellie regarding her initial research into her flying training and her limited experience thus far. At the time of recording Kellie has accrued 7 hours of basic flight training. Formerly known as Sydney Aerobatic School, [...]
Kellie is learning to fly in Sydney, Australia. She has taken the non-traditional approach by learning to fly with a school that integrates aerobatics into flying lessons from the first lesson. The plane: I am learning in an Alpha A160 which is a lovely little thing to throw around in the skies – and she [...]
One of the challenges you’ll be presented with in your early flight training endeavours is the selection of an appropriate aircraft. Apart from the countless other crucial decisions you’ll have to make such as timing, courses, instructor or flying school – all of which we’ll talk about at some point – there will come a [...]
This week I had lunch with a frustrated private pilot, who is trying to earn her instrument ticket. She had a difficult last flight, and frustration and doubt were apparent. Our conversation went something like this… Karlene: “What happened on your last flight?” Student: “I missed a couple things on my checklist, I’m having a [...]
If you want to apply for the British Airways Future Pilot Program (FPP), you’ll have to be quick. Applications close tomorrow. British Airways plans on recruiting at least 800 new pilots by 2016 via three methods: The cadet program, the Future Pilot Program. Recruitment of qualified pilots from other airlines. A joint initiative with the [...]
The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority has released a draft Civil Advisory Aviation Publication (CAAP) [5.14-2(0)] for Aeroplane Flight Instructor Training. The CAAP should be of interest to any Australian organisation involved in flight instrutor training; or any pilot undertaking training for the initial issues or upgrade of their flight instructor (fixed-wing) qualifications. According to [...]
This was an early discussion recorded for inclusion on the now (semi-retired) FlyingTraining.net. The flight training site was always intended to be a media resource for student pilots but was ‘consolidated’ into flight.org (along with CrewResourceManagement.com) for no other reason than time management purposes. In this audio file, we chat with Karlene Petitt and Ken [...]
Managing a departure with a performance limited takeoff weight can be one of the more challenging tasks that face an Airline Captain today. It all sounds simple enough in theory. Based on the Airport/Runway, Ambient Weather Conditions and Aircraft, a computer will spit out – down to the kilogram – how much weight you’re allowed [...]
As Boeing’s first Fly-By-Wire aircraft (although not necessarily fly-by-wire by the Airbus definition) the 777 introduced a flight control augmentation system that the first fly by wire Airbus aircraft did not – Thrust Assymetry Compensation, or TAC. The basic problem is clear. During an engine failure on a twin wing-mounted engine aircraft there is an [...]
When I arrived at V Australia in 2008 I discovered that what was missing was the institutional knowledge that an established airline develops over time, but never writes down … so I did. Eventually it became the SOP Guide : Practices & Techniques document. This blog series documents the continual growth of this training resource. [...]
One of my first tasks when I arrived at V Australia in early June 2008 was to watch simulator transition training being conducted at our new simulator in Silverwater, Sydney. The students were straight off the street pilots who had come from regional airlines – in most cases it was their first jet, their first [...]
Recently I was asked to write an article for an internal company training newsletter about flying slow. Having finished it I thought I’d replicate it here for others. Note the following article is aimed specifically at the Boeing 777 series aircraft, although the concept is common across all transport category jet aircraft flying slow at [...]
In episode 5 of Flight Podcast we talk with John King of King Schools. Kings Schools has a hand in training over 50% of the pilot population in the United States at some point in their career via a library of over 90 courses that can be completed using interactive DVD’s or online via their [...]
Friend and fellow podcaster Karlene Pettit recently blogged on managing the A330 speed/configuration during approach. I thought it might be interesting to explore the topic on the 777. The point of Karlene’s article is that often the manfacturer’s profile doesn’t comply with the ATC environment we find ourselves in, and the performance characteristics of the [...]
