Hi all, found myself on this site today replying to some messages, during the footy breaks of THE VERY LAST ADELAIDE GAME AT AAMI STADIUM
Anyways, on a positive note, hit a pretty big milestone a week ago so thought I would share it in this section.
CPL finally complete!.......Well I say finally as it feels a long time coming, but in reality I only started flying last year so I can't complain.
I certainly have Bob Tait, Rich, and others on this site to thank for the theory side of CPL, so a big thank you to you all, honestly the 'Bob Tait Community' is a cut above the rest for CPL studies.
So where am I now? Well after starting flying a little over a year ago, I finally have my shiny new CPL, and still loving every second spent in the air. I completed my CPL training and conducted my flight test in a beautiful machine, the Duchess, every second was a blast.
I have my MECIR all booked in to start in a month’s time, where I will finally fly a 'Real Airplane', the Baron, words can't describe how much I'm looking forward to that.
I have all ATPL subjects complete apart from one, if you've studied ATPL's you could take a pretty good educated guess which one, so far I have had one attempt at it, and achieved my first subject fail, certainly put me down for a couple days as I was just one away from knocking them all off first attempt, but hey, it wasn't a big surprise really, I dread the second attempt coming up as I really feel I studied it to the max the first time round and still to no prevail, but can only keep trying I guess.
So after this last hellish exam and a successful MECIR flight test, I will begin my serious job searching. I have started talking to a couple people but don't want to do any serious applying until I'm ready to work (Would hate to get a phone call and have to reply 'Sorry not right now')
For any current or inspiring CPL students, I highly recommend getting as much into your 200 hours as you can, while making sure you achieve the 100 PIC hours at the same time. This is the advice I had, so I followed it, and will never look back. Sure some factors come purely into a matter of budget, but mostly it is hours you are going to have to pay for anyway, so buy hours wisely, get some endorsements (MPC, retract, tailwheel), and aerobatics rating etc. and if you can jump in a light twin, do it, log some multi. I was lucky as here in Adelaide, our cheapest twin available is really not that much more than a single of a decent quality, and it's always much more impressive when you arrive at an airport to pick up a friend in a twin
What would I have done different? Well I would have liked a NVFR or even my MECIR as part of my 200 hours, but the way I went about it only just gave me my 100 PIC anyway, so in retrospect it would have just ran me over the 200 hours if completing more ratings requiring dual training.
Over 70 hours of that 100 PIC was in the beautiful Duchess, where she took me to Sydney for a week, then back to Adelaide, a couple of Moorabbin stays, a fly in to the Avalon East ALA for the Avalon 2013 Air Show, and even a Hobart trip, which was the most incredible scenery to fly into ever, particularly while the mountain tops peak through a SCT cloud base at 3500’; It sure was an assuring feeling to be in a twin, let me tell you. These highlights have not only been the major flying aspects in my life to date, but the major highlights in my life in general, and as a whole, completely life changing!
Where will I be? Flying! So long as I'm flying I'm happy. My goals are charter, scenic, possible low flying, and ultimately, just maybe fulfilling that boyhood dream of airlines. But for now my sights are set on a complete set of ATPL exams and a fresh MECIR.
I will continue to visit this site as I have since I learned about it, and will answer any questions thrown at me, and am sure to continue asking them also. Especially if the question is when can I start
Well if you've taken the time to read all of this, thank you, and happy flying. See you in the skies!
