Hello again!
I can’t quite believe it has been two months since my last update. The course is going so quickly, and all of CP110/EZMPL01 have been extremely busy. We have passed some huge milestones in the past few weeks, as at the time of my last update we were still a few weeks away from sitting our Module 1 mock exams. Two months on however, and we have completed our final EASA exams, received our results and are at the end of our fourth week of Module 2 ground school.
So, where do I start?!
The exam period began late September with three days worth of mock exams, beginning a mere four days after finishing lessons for Air Law. For those who do not know, module 1 at CTC consists of the following subjects:
- Aircraft General Knowledge (Engines, Electrics and Systems)
- Principles of Flight
- Instrumentation
- Meteorology
- Air Law
- VFR Communications
- IFR Communications
As I’ve mentioned previously, the subjects are varied and cover a huge amount of theory. Personally, I found Principles of Flight and Meteorology to be the hardest of the seven due to the sheer volume of new concepts we had to get our heads around.
The few days we had before mock exams were intense to say the least, with everyone putting in long days of revision. The mocks were spread over three days and passed by extremely quickly, and thankfully I did better than I expected with all of my results exceeding my expectations. There was still a lot of work to be done though, and we then had a week and a half to revise before the final EASA exams. At first, this seemed like a long time, and the very reason why our mocks were scheduled so soon after the end of lessons was to give us the greatest amount of time before finals, but the 7am alarm on exam day was soon upon us.
EASA treated us to a 9am start with our Principles of Flight exam followed closely by Aircraft General Knowledge, with us getting home by mid-afternoon where the revision for the next day began instantly. We had Instruments the following morning, Meteorology on the Wednesday afternoon, finished off with Air Law, VFR and IFR communications on the Thursday. That week was full of very late nights of revision, and by the end of the last exam we were all shattered. Fortunately, we then had four days free to chill out and get away from our desks, so the majority of the CP opted to return home and visit family for the first time since leaving in late July. I decided to return home on the Thursday evening, and after a four hour drive I was home with my feet up with a well deserved drink in hand. It was so nice to be home, but there was also excitement of the prospect of returning to CTC to begin the final phase of ground school.
After a relaxing weekend seeing family and friends, we were back into the thick of it by Tuesday morning with the first of nine days of General Navigation lessons. Module two is known for being a lot more hands on and methodical than Module 1, which consists of a lot of memorisation of facts and figures. We are now four weeks in and have already completed General Navigation, Mass and Balance and Performance, and with these new subjects came some new equipment for us to get used to…
The new equipment consists of the Jeppesen Manual and the CAA CAP manuals (used for Flight Planning, Performance and Mass and Balance). We are also now using our Pooleys CRP-5 Flight Computers for the module two subjects, which consist of:
- General Navigation
- Mass and Balance
- Performance
- Flight Planning
- Human Performance
- Radio Navigation
- Operational Procedures
So far, I have found General Navigation to be the most challenging subject as there are a lot of different concepts and methods to grasp whilst also getting used to using basic mathematics (trigonometry and angles) plus a number of new formulas. The subject includes work on charts, plotting, flight logs, time and distance, the solar system and a lot of CRP-5 work including conversions and navigation tasks. Mass and Balance is a bit more simplistic and includes a lot of basic Mechanics, however the exam is very short so accuracy is key. Performance (lovingly known as Principles of Flight 2…) has proved to be another complex subject, with a lot of graph work as well as some more advanced ‘Principles of Flight’ style questions to do with the various stages of flight.
After two weeks of module 2 ground school, we received our results from the CAA via email. After an extremely tense wait, I was thrilled to find out that I’d passed all seven exams first time and averaged much higher than my personal target! The results across CP110/EZMPL01 were fantastic, but with only five weeks until the end of ground school the work is yet again building up and it’ll soon be time to do it all over again. Our next round of mock exams begin in mid December, with our EASA finals scheduled for the beginning of January. All being well, we should then be off to New Zealand at the end of January to begin the core flying phase of our course. Whilst in New Zealand, we will be flying CTC’s Cessna 172 fleet for around five months before returning to the UK to complete the final six months at CTC in the A320 full motion simulator prior to moving onto the aircraft itself at EasyJet. We will also have modules taught by EasyJet training pilots, as well as a two day trip to the Luton base in October next year – it is so exciting to think of what lies ahead when we have finished ground school!
Just before I sign off, I’d just like to say a couple of other things…
- Firstly, CP110/EZMPL01 are taking part in Movember and although there is more chance of me growing a second head than a decent mo, many of my course mates are more talented in the facial hair department, so there should be some fantastic mo’s on display! It’s all for a great cause, and you can check out our Mo Space at the following link: http://uk.movember.com/team/1298389
- Finally, I’d just like to say a huge thanks to my family and friends for their continued support. The interest in the blog has also been overwhelming, with nearly 9000 views already! It’s great to see so many people interested, I just hope that my ramblings prove useful in some way. Thank you. As ever, you can contact me using the mail icon on the left sidebar of this page
Speak to you soon!
- CTC Uniform
Above Ground Level 