Should I go to University before flight training? A few weeks ago, I got asked the questions, “Should I go to university before flight training?” This is a very common question among aspiring pilots, and it’s not the easiest question to answer. It’s an important life question for many, and for good reason! A standard university degree takes a long time – longer than flight training. It also costs a lot of money – usually not as much as flight training though. Before you can answer the question of going to university before going to flight school, you need to ask yourself a different question ..read more

Do I need to lose weight? A question that I’ve been asked before and seen asked many times is, “Do I need to lose weight?” Or, “Do I need to lose weight to become a pilot?” Now this post brings a touch of personal feelings to me. The reason for this is down to a single visit to the doctor just a few years ago. Here’s something about me that I don’t necessarily want to share, but need to as it’s part of the story… I'm a snorer! I never used to be a snorer. When I was young, fit and healthy, I never used to make a peep while sleeping. This seemed to change and gradually get worse as time w ..read more

Thrust Set...V1, Rotate - What are Takeoff V Speeds? What are Takeoff V Speeds? Why and how do pilots use them? Have you ever heard what happens inside a flight deck during the takeoff roll? If you haven’t then you’d be interested to know that there’s a lot that happens before the aircraft gets airborne. Most of the call-outs are related to the aircrafts V Speeds, and they are really important.  In this post, I’m going to answer the questions, “What are these V Speeds and why are they so important? Let’s get to it! V1, Vr (Rotate) and V2 What is the Takeoff phase? So the takeoff phas ..read more

Going back to work… Big deal! I’m going back to work. It’s been a while. Coronavirus is still out there. People are still dying of it. People are still terrified of it. Am I worried? No. It’s been a while Its now been almost 3 months since I was furloughed from work. I’ve been an airline pilot now for over a decade, and this is by far the worst situation I have ever seen the aviation industry face. During this past three months, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried. I’ve been up, down, left and right. The whole situation has been insanely stressful at times, yet at other times, immeasurably magical. With ..read more

Still in that tunnel What do you do when you hear some interesting news and you just don’t know what to do with it? You call your mum? Speak to your spouse? Have a conversation with the wall? Well for me, I stick it here on my blog. Let’s face it, this lock down is sending some of us loopy, but there may be some light at the end of this very, very long tunnel. It’s already been over a month since this furlough malarkey began. Actually, I say “malarkey”, but I am extremely grateful for the job retention scheme that the government announced back in April, as it has meant that my company hasn’t h ..read more

Are electric planes the future of aviation? Are electric aircraft the future of aviation? In this post, I’m going to go through some of the possibilities of the future of aviation. I’m going to talk about electrification, it’s limitations and it’s advantages. I’m also going to talk about technologies that are being developed now that will help in transforming the skies. Where are we now? Aviation as we know it is 117 years old. Considering how advance planes are now, this number isn’t that big. From the Wright Flyer back in 1903, to today’s Airbus A350, we have come leaps and bounds in airc ..read more

Cruise This is a pilot’s story. The entire departure had been smooth and uneventful. The Airbus A320 had just reached it’s cruise level of thirty-six thousand feet. The systems had been checked and all that was left to do now was perform an initial fuel report.  BEE BEE BEE BEE BEE! The cockpit door’s alerting system was warning Cap and Luke, the captain and first officer, that someone wanted to enter the flight deck. Cap looked over his shoulder at the view screen and confirmed the identity of the person outside. It was the cabin manager, holding two white boxes. Dinner time. Cap twi ..read more

What is the effect of Coronavirus on aviation? So unless you’re a hermit, I’m sure you’re all aware of what’s happening in the world right now. Coronavirus is all anyone’s talking about. I’ve been wondering, what is the effect of Coronavirus on aviation? Let’s find out. What is Coronavirus? Coronavirus is actually a family of virus’, not one single virus. The specific virus that’s ravaging our world at the moment is SARS-CoV2. This stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. But from here on out, to keep things simple, let’s just continue to call it Coronav ..read more

What happens during aircraft system failures? I wanted to talk about something that has happened to me in the past before. Do you know what happens if we have aircraft system failures? No? Well let me talk about it for a moment or two. I’m sure you’ve heard it said before. Flying is statistically the safest method of travelling. Here’s some boring stats stuff for you. In 2018, there were 160 recorded incidents, of which 13 were fatal. This accounted for the deaths of 534 people. Even more staggering, is that in 2017 there were no fatal passenger jet crashes at all. The only fatalit ..read more

What is a day in the life of a commercial pilot like? – Part 2 So in part one of this two part series, I asked the question, ‘What is a day in the life of a commercial pilot like?’ In part one, I covered what happens in the day in the life of a pilot, from check-in, all the way through to take-off and climbing up to our cruise altitude. In this post, I will cover everything from cruise, through to landing, shutdown and check-out. Cruise The views from the cruise… never gets boring The cruise is the more relaxed part of the flight in a day in the life of a commercial ..read more