Here’s my story…

As I was working shifts in Johnson & Johnson I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. One day sitting at home I picked up a local newspaper and saw an ad for a flying lesson in the classifieds, my mind started to wander.. I picked up my mobile and gave the school a call. They booked me in at seven o clock on the following Sunday morning. I took it easy that weekend in anticipation of my first flight ever, as it was July the weather was great, we were good to go. I arrived at the school ready and on time where I met my instructor, at first you just don’t know what to expect, one thing was for sure tho looking back, the following hour was about to change my whole life. We went flying vfr in the local area, the instructor took off the aircraft after which he gave controls to me. I was able to bank the plane, slow down, speed up and climb and descend. I flew the actual approach down to a safe altitude where the instructor took over and landed it. That was it, I wanted nothing else but to be able to do it myself. I went home in quite a good mood and imagined to myself that this could be the way I could possibly feel on the way home from work every day. I immediately started researching private pilot’s license, commercial pilot’s license, ATPLs and multi engine instrument rating, things I still didn’t fully comprehend. A couple of months passed and I was busy organising how I could attain these licenses for the smallest amount of money and the shortest possible timeframe. I checked all the schools in Ireland and the UK having already ruled out going abroad where the standard of training is lower.

In January 2008 I started the Private pilot’s license full time in Atlantic. I decided to do it full time to save on time and to get back to earning money as quick as possible. I was able to pick my own hours and had no problems in cancelling or swapping slots if something came up. I completed the PPL groundschool at the same time where I passed all exams on the first attempt. Seven months flew by and I was ready for my first flight test. It’s natural to be nervous at this time but there are always other students, instructors and even airline pilots around the school to give you advice. I passed the flight test and the sense of achievement that came with this was just amazing. I was now able to take friends and family up on my own. I felt like I was getting somewhere, before I got too carried away I was hit with a delivery of 14 big books. The ever feared 14 ATPL subjects were looming. I started studying for them in late 2008 and they took me six months. As we had groundschool lessons every day on every subject there was always help at hand. Without this help I don’t think I could have achieved the 95% average score I received across the board. I also passed all exams on the first attempt. During this time I was building hours and confidence all the time getting closer to the magic number of 100 hours pilot in command required to move to the next license. I had decided to do half my hours in Ireland and the other half in Florida. I wanted to get more experience and see what aviation was like over there, I also used it as an excuse for a well deserved holiday. I spent one month there in which I flew 40 hours in total to bring me to the 100 hour pic mark. I saw lots of airports and some different techniques in how they fly over there. I had a really good experience but I was glad I had stuck to doing my training in Ireland.

Now things were about to get serious, I was facing into the multi engine work, the commercial pilot license and the multi instrument rating. These were the last things standing between me and seat in a commercial jet transporting passengers. I completed the multi engine piston and commercial pilot license course in the following three months.

I passed the CPL on the first attempt thanks to the wonderful instructors I had, they really want to see you progress and get to the next stage, they go beyond the requirements of their job and take it to a personal level. This training was key in my success. If I thought I felt good after passing the PPL, I can’t explain how I felt when the commercial license came in the door at home. I was now able to use all the skills I learned to fly aircraft commercially. This bought me to the final rating, the instrument rating. To me it was the hardest rating to attain, but I knew the structures and instructors were in place at Atlantic. The first time pass rate was extremely high due to these factors. The next fifty hours were tough both physically and mentally. By the time I was three quarters of the way through the course things really started to come together and confidence was high with the flight test looming. I was signed off to sit the test and i sent the papers away to the IAA. A couple of days later the examiner phoned me and we set a date. The day was coming that I had been waiting so long for. I had received the very best of training and was confident I would do well, my mindset was right going into the test. I completed the test which was a gruelling hour and a half, we taxied back to the ramp and parked up when he told me well done you’ve passed the test. I didn’t know what to say! I was almost lost for words. When I got home and settled down and had gone through all the well done texts and phone calls I realised what I had just achieved in the previous eighteen months. In one year and 6 months I got myself to the point where I was ready to act as first officer in a commercial jet.

The one thing that stood in my way was the multi-crew co-operation course (MCC). It’s basically a one week course in a simulator where you learn the importance of crew resources and managing emergencies as part of a team. I researched the MCC schools in Ireland and the UK narrowing it down to Pathfinders Aviation services in Dublin. It had the best name and I knew past graduates who said it helped them greatly in preparing for their first airline interview. I travelled to Dublin for my final week, completed the course and thoroughly enjoyed it. I now had all the credentials to apply to the world’s biggest airlines... in which I did. I recently was called for interview with Ryanair. It was now I had to focus and utilise all the skills and techniques I was taught in the preceding two years. As I came from such a good training background I went to the assessment with a level of confidence. I wanted to show them what I had learned and the skills I had acquired. All went well on the day and I was pleased with my performance. I returned to Ireland and finally could relax, there is a mountain of work involved in preparing for the interview. The following days I sat by my phone in anticipation of it ringing... After a few days the call came I heard those all important words... I was offered a first officers position with Ryanair.

Best of luck to all who are starting their training in 2010.

John