MCC check tomorrow, home in 48 hours!

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone is in the best of health and happiness!! So, tomorrow afternoon, I have my final check for the MCC course. It shouldn't be too difficult I guess. My final sessions on the A320 went pretty well so I'm hoping for the best tomorrow. Anyway, wish me luck!!

This check also brings me to the end of my long time abroad. Yes I'm finally heading back home for good on Tuesday evening.  I'm looking forward to it obviously and now, I'm not actually counting days anymore... I'm counting hours!!  It's so close!  I can't actually beleive that, in 48 hours, I will be back home with my family.  I've been away for nineteen whole months, so going back does feel a bit "too good to be true!"  But it's true and I can't wait for it!  I can't wait to see my family once again, especially my parents, and that cute little nephew of mine, whom I missed so much.  I'm also looking forward to see all my friends again, hang out with them, and have a couple of beers!  Yes peeps... soon!

Looking back at the past nineteen months, sometimes I find it hard to beleive I went through all this.  It wasn't easy at all, especially being away from home, from your closest ones.  I also saw some changes, which may have made it more diffcult.  Sometimes, it might have also been, too hard too hard to handle, perhaps.  But, I'm lucky enough to have had some very close people supporting me through all this.  First and foremost, my family, my parents;  without their continuous support, I wouldn't have made this.  They were my constant support, in every sense.  Thanks a real lot!  All my family... thanks for all words of courage.  All my dear friends, thanks for your support and interest!  All my colleagues here, thanks to you too for struggling alongside throughout the past months.  Also, all my instructors at school, who did their utmost to teach me this great art of flying!!  Thanks everyone!!  They were nineteen tough months, nineteen months of hard work, maybe stressful at times.  But I also had my good times, and I'm sure I'm going to miss those.  I also saw quite some changes going as well... but well, at the end of the day, I saw that major change I worked hard for... I learnt how to fly and became a licensed pilot!!  In a few months time, I'm about to set on a great career... being an airline pilot!

Anyways, I'm off.  I need to get a good rest before my check tomorrow.  This might be my last post from Belgium.  It sounds strange I must say, that whatever I'm doing here, I'm all the time thinking "this might be the last time doing this here!"  But anyways, I'm back home in around 48 hours, and I'm so looking forward!  See you fellow friends and family... see you soon Malta!!

Take care everyone!!

And the A320 takes off!!

And the A320 finally got an even step closer... this week I started my Full Flight Simulator sessions on the Airbus A320. Stepping into the simulator for the first time was something I will never forget. It is true that it is a simulator, but inside, it's a real thing! It's an A320 cockpit! And once you experience one session, it feels even more real. Below is a photo of me in the A320 simulator, today before "flying" from Charleroi Airport to Ostende Airport. Oh that seat is fantastic!! (Thanks to Andre for the photo, and for being a great flightmate!)

I had my first session in the simulator last Tuesday. It was supposed to be a "fixed base" session in which the simulator stays stationary, so you do not really "feel" anything. However, we were told that if the session was done with full motion, we could better understand what we're doing, especially during landings. And guess what, I did feel what I was doing... haha!! So yes, I took off from runway 25R in Brussels Airport and flew straight out. Flying the A320 is different. Being a 'fly-by-wire' aircraft, it doesn't behave like a conventional aircraft, which at first feels ackward, but starts feeling better once you get the hang of it. It's actually much easier to fly, as long as you know how the aircraft behaves. Anyway, my flight continued by turning back to 'Bruno VOR' for an approach on runway 25R, with a manual landing... my first simulator landing on the A320. I felt a bit anxious, but anyway, it's a simulator no?! I descended down to the runway and guess what... the first one WAS a hard one! Oh what a bang! Well, there's always the first time, but by the end of the session the landings were improving. It doesn't seem that difficult to land, and as long as you do a 'textbook' landing, you can get a really smooth one, but it takes practice. Well, overall, for a first time, it wasn't too bad at all!

Today I had my second session. I did a flight from Charleroi to Ostende. It already feels just like the real airline stuff, with procedures to do, and always being a two-men crew, taking it in turns to act as 'Pilot-Flying' and 'Pilot Monitoring'. Today's session went pretty well. Procedures were great and aircraft handling was pretty good as well. I also did some steep turns, and also tried to stall the aircraft, but guess what, it's an A320, and it says "No, you won't stall me!" So I could witness a bit the protections which the A320 has to avoid stalls and other ackward situations. Landings were a bit better as well today. First two weren't quite smooth, but much less harder than last time! But my last one was my best one so far I guess, which was a good way to end my session :-) Oh touching the runway smoothly feels so great... just like one of my instructors used to tell me "nice and smooth!!" ;-) Well anyway, I can summarise my simulator sessions so far in a couple of words... I'm enjoying it! And I just can't wait for the day when I step into a real cockpit and fly a real A320... a couple of months to go... but it will come!

Anyways, I'm soon heading to bed. Tomorrow I've got another session and I have to wake up early so better get a good rest! Tomorrow we should be having a demo of an engine failure during takeoff... should be interesting! Oh and by the way, my training is coming close to the end, and within less than two weeks I'll be back Malta... back home! I'm counting out the days!! Oh the future looks great!!

See ya soon boys and girls!!!

MCC kick off!!

Hello there!!
So my MCC course (Multi Crew Co-ordination) is going pretty well, and fast! I finished all the CRM (Crew Resource Managment) briefings and also had the technical briefings on the A320. Oh it's a nice little bird, and I can't wait to be flying it! On Thursday, I started the FMGS Trainer sessions. FMGS stands for "Flight Management & Guidance System" and its basically the whole system in which you would enter the route of the flight, and which guides the aircraft along the pre-programmed lateral and vertical flight paths. It's interesting, especially now that we are introduced to the multi-crew concept. It feels closer to "the real thing" so to speak! I have my last FMGS Trainer session on Monday and on Tuesday I have my first session in the simulator. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm so close to the Airbus cockpit now! Here's a picture of the my future "office!!" Thanks to airliners.net and the photographer, as always!

Last week I also made a flight in a Cessna 172 to get my SEP rating (Single Engine Piston). Oh that was fun!! That Cessna is a nice little bird to fly, and it feels much more like an aircraft than the Diamonds I flew during my flight training! It was great! This is the aircrat I flew on, OO-WIU. Thanks again to the photographer and airliners.net

Anyways, I'm done writing for today! I should continue going through the A320 procedures, as I need to prepare myself for the simulator sessions! Oh I can't wait for it!! And more than that, I can't wait for the real thing... stepping into a real A320 cockpit for the first time! And that's coming pretty soon!! :-)

Till next time!! Take care everyone!!

And... CPL IR ME rated!!!

So... finally... after ten whole months of ground school... eight whole months of flight training... I finally made it!! I am now a fully licenced commercial pilot with instrument and multi-engine rating!! I had my final checkride to get my instrument rating (IR) last week and I passed!! I'm very happy about that of course, and realising that I now have what I've been working so hard for during the past months, it's great!!

I haven't written anything here since I had my previous checride before leaving Arizona! Yes, apparently this blog is doomed to being updated only once in a while! Apologies again for the delay! Lots and lots of stuff happened since then. I left Arizona and came back to Belgium. Oh that was a day of mixed emotions. I was happy to move forward and get closer to home, but I new I was going to miss Arizona and my great time there... my instructors, my American friends there, all the good times, and the amazing last week of celebrating and partying... but unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and that had to be one of them. I arrived back in Belgium on the 30th of June (yes... time flies!!) after what seemed a never ending flight. (PS I'm definately not going to miss the "school" as such... well I guess that's easy to realise why!)

Fortunately, I had some free time when I was back in Belgium, so... what does a person who has been seven months away from his home country do? Go back there!! And that's exactly what I did. I went down to Malta the same week. I was so happy so see my parents again at the airport! I also saw my nephew... oh he's growing up so fast, and he is now quite chatty and talks all the time! Oh I had missed him so much and was glad to see him again. I had also missed my family and finally, I was back home. I also met a couple of friends while there and enjoyed some nights out with them too. Thanks peeps for a warm welcome! Unfortunately, that stay was only four days long; a short, but much needed break. The next week, I was back in Belgium.

I started flying again here a week after that. Unfortunately, things did not go as smooth as I wished they would. I found flying here quite different from Arizona and I had to get used to the new airspace, new instructor, and also, new methods of flying in a few hours, which I immeaitely felt they were not enough. But anyway, after some struggles, I managed to get to the day of my checkride, and I'm now very glad to have obtained my licence! The checkride was quite good, and I think it was my best flights from all the flights I did here in Belgium. I remember, back in the airport restaurant in Antwerp, I met one of the school instructors and ater congratulating me for my achievement he said... "You passed your check but it is not over. This is only the beginning. It is over only on the day when you last step down from the aircraft, the day you retire." Wise words I must say, and I'll try to carry that though with me throughout my career.

So having passed that checkride, I now have the required licence to be considered a commercial (instrument multi-engine) pilot. Lots of words and letters, which mean a lot, and nothing at the same time! But I've worked hard for them and I'm glad. And here I would like to thank all the people who have helped me get to this point; my flight instructors, both in Arizona and here in Belgium, who taught me how to fly; all my friends who have supported me throughout the my training; and finally, last but not least, my dear family, especially my parents, who gave me their utmost to help me get here, and who were constantly supportive with all means! Thanks a lot!

This week I started the very final phase of my flight training abroad; the Multi Crew Co-operation course (MCC). Since I'll be flying the Airbus A320, I'm obviously doing it on this aircraft. So far I had some CBT (computer based training) sessions which were quite interesting. Today I started the CRM (crew resource management) course which is also quite interesting. Next week I should have some briefings about the A320 and then starts the fun part; simulator training, and thus the first time I'll be handling a "bigger" aircraft, only in a simulator of course, for now!! The MCC course should be finished by the end of the month so at the beginning of September I should be back to my beloved Malta! I can't wait to be back there, with my friends and family... and looking forward to a great career!!

Anyway, I'm off for today. Tomorrow, it's CRM again!! Take care everyone, and to my friends and family in Malta... see you soon!!