The journey is complete

Just over two years since I first published this blog, it is time to draw it to a close. After over 27000 page views (amazing - thank you all so much!), I have just been signed off on my line check to fly as a first officer for British Airways. The last three months have been the most enjoyable and the most challenging of the entire two years and while this title says the journey is complete, I only mean that in the sense of the formal training - the development of a pilot goes on throughout the whole career so I don't think you can ever truly say it's complete.

After the type rating, I started at BA with a three week induction course, covering all the basic admin, training for the safety equipment and procedures, some extra sim sessions and then base training. After that it was on to the line with training captains, and initially a safety pilot, flying passengers all over Europe. That concluded last week for me and my first 'regular' flight was yesterday to Larnaca in Cyprus.

Safety training was a mixture of fun and sobering reality checks. We learned all about the equipment we have on board to keep everyone safe as well as the procedures for the very rare occasion when anything goes wrong. 

Serious stuff but actually quite fun in this context!

The sims just tidied up a few loose ends from the type rating and consolidated the BA procedures (or SOPs). Then it was on to base training where we take an empty A320 to a quiet airfield and for the one and only time in our lives, fly circuits for practice in take off and landing. This is led by the most experienced captains on the fleet, the Training Standards Captains (TSCs) who have nerves (and the rest) of steel as we inexperienced trainees drive a £30m aircraft towards a real piece of tarmac at 130mph. 

My fellow trainees in front of our first real A320

The classic posing picture

So after base training I had my first ever flight to Venice with a terrific training captain who guided me tirelessly through the job in the real world. No matter now well prepared you are, the first day is a blur of activity and, though progress is quick, the amount to pick up in the first few weeks is simply vast. The challenge is hugely invigorating though and I felt myself settling into the right hand seat very well. On some of the longer sectors, in between tasks, there was a chance to take a picture of some of the truly stunning sights from the flight deck window. Here are a few of my personal highlights:

Central Spain on the way back from Malaga 

A fabulous view of the Alps

The southern French coast with Nice in the centre

The sunset on one of my first trips

On the way to Cyprus last night

So that's it from me really - once again thanks to all of you for reading the blog. I hope it has been informative to those wanting to pursue a career in aviation and interesting to those who just love flying! I've certainly enjoyed writing it and sharing the journey. Here's one final picture that just about unites the two pictures that began the whole blog two years ago!