Hi there,

Once again, it has been a while since the last post! In fact, it is more than 4 months ago! So what I'll try to do now is to give you a small but effective summary! :-)

In fact, we have finished all of our courses in Belgium! We will leave to Arizona (to do our practical training on the Da20, Da40 and Da42) on thursday, the 18th of june, which is in 2 days. If you ever want to go to the USA as a student pilot, you can expect a lot of paperwork!

As for the theoretical part, we've been through some stressfull weeks! In our last two weeks at SFA, we had 7 theoretical tests and 5 simulator missions left. Anyway, everybody who starts to study at SFA, is aware of the fact that those 2 weeks will come someday. In the end, all of us have survived, and what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, right!?

Unfortunately I have failed 1 of the 36 tests (perfo), with 72% which is 3% below the passmark (75%). This was the 2nd perfo test, and I am quite sure that this was not because of a lack of knowledge but rather because of a bad day! Luckily I had 92% on my 1st perfo test and my 3rd perfo test was a 100% one, so not a problem at all in the end!

Afterwards we could start to prepare for the official exams at the BCAA (Belgian Civil Aviation Authority). We were told that the BCAA exams are more easy than the tests we had to do at SFA, so we could finish them with a really low stresslevel. For the moment the A part of prom 11 (in which I am in) has finished all of their exams without any retake! Great! isn't it?



As usually the 2nd part of this post is about the practical part. We have finished all of our FNPT-II missions as well (Da42). I believe everybody of our promotion (A+B) has passed the famous Mission20 (checkride) at this moment. That means I have passed it as well! The many hours of studying have helped me a lot to finish the simulator sessions with green missions only. The FNPT-II training includes a lot of instrument flying (17 out of 20 missions) like (non-)precision approach, circling approaches, holdings, interceptions, etc etc..

Observationflights! Indeed, it is something we love to do! In the mean time I was able to do 3 observationflights:
- JetairFly: Malaga
- Thomas Cook Airlines: Santa Cruz de la Palma + Funchal
- Jetairfly: Djerba + Malaga
On all flights I had a lot of fun, and I was taught a lot of new things by the crew! You can find a picture below. We were waiting for a backtrack in Santa Cruz de la Palma after the landing traffic in the Thomas Cook Airlines A320.



We had as well the ability to do 3 simulatorsessions on a 'bigger' airplane! 2 sessions on the AVRO RJ, and 1 session on the B738. The sessions were not meant to practice our piloting skills, but rather to show us different aircraft systems etc. But yep, all of us could (try) to land the jet as well! (Did you know that the engines of the avro have a centrifugal compressor and not an axial compressor?). You can see me on the picture and I've uploaded the video of my attempt to put the avro on the ground safely.





This will be it for the moment. I'll be uploading and blogging much more in the next few months to keep my hometown up to date while I am trying to fly in the USA! Tomorrow I'll pack some more bags and the day after tomorrow we will catch our airplane to 'holidayflyingcamp' Mesa! In the weekend I'll put some pictures online from our first few days in the USA. The picture below is taken from the controltower at Brussels Airport, and the Brussels Airlines A320-picture is taken from 'The Quick' at the terminals.

Dennis

Dear readers,

There is a lot to tell this time! First, SFA decided that we will not fly on the archer in the States, but on the diamond 20 (below)! The advantage of this is that the change over to IFR (diamond 42) is more easy. However, this has got some disadvantages as well, for example 30 hours of backseating are lost.



As for the integrated practical part, we have finished our last BFC (Basic Flying Course) session. In this last session (actually it was a checkride) we had to show what we had learned during the BFC-course. In our promotion, 14 people passed the check (I am one of them), and 2 people still have to do an extra session before they can do the check. Since that we have finished BFC, I started studying for the FNPT2 simulator (The diamond twin star simulator). Studying for these simulatorsessions is big fun, and when I say this I am very serious (finally some "real" flying!). The first session for us can be expected in approximately 2 weeks, but studying the pitch-power table, flows, checklists, manoeuvres, .. requires some time. Besides the large amount of information, it is important that you don't only know all this stuff, but you have to "master" it! And to do so, it is important to repeat it over and over again, day after day, between the studying for the theoretical part. Below you can find some pictures of the diamond 42, the simulator (on the whiteboard) and the studying for it. The picture of the simulator in my room, is used to study the flows etc.







The theory course is still going fast as well. Up to now we have had approximately 1/4 of our checks, while we are halfway our training in Belgium (Offcourse this is logic, first receive course, then make the test). The results in our promotion seem to be very good (that's what they tell us), my average result on the checks is 95% for the moment, and there are 3 people whose results are a bit higher.

The last part of this post will be about observation flights. In the mean time, I did one observation flight (Jetairfly) with destination Malaga. It was a really nice flight on the Boeing 737-500 (below you can find a picture, but not of the -500). The APU (auxiliary power unit) was out of service that day, so we had to follow certain procedures. For example, for the startup of engine1, we had to obtain compressed air (instead of using bleed air from the APU, if I am correct) from an external source, some kind of truck, of which I don't remember the name anymore. After starting engine1, we could use the bleed air from engine1 to startup engine2. Unfortunately for you guys, I didn't make any pictures. Sorry! :-). The reason for this is, well actually I just didn't take the time for it. For the moment I am waiting for the confirmation of the next observation flight with Thomas Cook. I really want to do this one because it has a lot of legs, and a very nice destination (Brussels - Tenerife - Ostend - Liege - Brussels)! If it gets approved, it will be (offcourse) on the A320.





So, I guess this will be it for today. Excuse me if my english is not very proper (I know, everyone says this) but I didn't really take too much time for it this time.

By the way, it is not prohibited to post something in the shoutbox! :-)

More next time!

Dennis

Hi guys,

Again, it has been a while since the last post! Week 9 has already begun, things are going fast and there is not much time left to post messages every week!

In the mean time we have started Basic Flying Course (BFC), in which we, as the name says, learn the very basics of flying! What we have learned up to now (session 2/6) are different step techniques (pitch-power table), and different eye scan techniques! Instructors tell us that this is one of the reasons why SFA should be one of the better FTO's, because it is the only FTO in which students receive this course (Other FTO's tell students to look at the basic T, but not HOW to look at it and how to work with it!). The sessions find place on a relatively small Piper Archer simulator.



And yes, where many of you have been waiting for, I had booked an observation flight as well! But, indeed, but, 3 days on advance it got cancelled! Too bad, because it would have been a very nice 3-leg observation flight (At least that's what I think). It would have been on the Fokker 50 from VLM, from Antwerp to Manchester, from Manchester to London City (steep approach!) and from London City back to Antwerp. For the moment I am waiting for the schedule of december, before I book a new one. By that time I should have my drivers licence as well, which can be very useful since public transport isn't that good in the early morning!



Before I forget to tell you, next friday (21/11) there will be some fresh blood in the SFA buildings, SFA promotion 12 is having it's welcome briefing!

Well, this is going to be it for this time!

Dennis