American Ground School Finished

Today I have come to the end of the mandatory week of American ground school that is scheduled in the first week of the Phoenix phase. I cannot wait to start flying this week, my first flight I believe to be on Wednesday, with a 2 hour briefing with my instructor, Martha, tomorrow.

The weather is looking rather sketchy this week so I have everything crossed that it holds out enough so I can get my first flight done and get the ball rolling on that front!

However, for the time being, I'm just going to relax by the pool and try to comprehend just how lucky I am! This is the life!

Click on images below to open in full size

Sorry for the MASSIVE break in blogging...

Well, here we go again on the blog. I feel as though I should fill the people who don't know why I haven't been blogging in, on why I haven't.

I failed my Flight Planning exam on the first attempt, by one mark and had to take approximately 2 month break inbetween failing and re sitting. Anyway, I have since completed my re-sit and scored 92% in the second attempt, meaning that I was able to fly out to Goodyear in Phoenix, Arizona to start my primary flight training.

I arrived yesterday at about 18:30 Arizona time, with a headache that had migrated with me from the UK and made the flight awful. I was very very tired, however as soon as I met up with all my course mates who came out in July, I just forgot all about how tired I was and started settling in. I eventually got to sleep at approximately 00:30 local time (8:30am) meaning I had been awake for almost 30 hours, however, it worked out and I conveniently woke up 2 minutes before my alarm was due to go off.

We had groundschool today, which consisted of a number of different briefs on state laws, the local area, tour of all the facilities and do's and don'ts of the campus and a class photo (AP323). We are going to the AME (Aero Medical Examiner) to gain our FAA Class 1 medical certificates tomorrow and then back into ground school after lunch for more briefs on a number of things, of which I don't know what yet.

Anyway, it's been a gorgeous day here in PHX, 37 degrees celsius and a clear sky which made for a gorgeous sunset.

I will keep this up to date as much as I can and I cannot wait to start flying!!!

School Finals Done, Time For JAA Exams

So the school finals exams have been and gone and I achieved an average of 85% in them. I have been studying for the upcoming JAAs which start this Monday (4th) and run until Thursday.
I've been using all resources possible to secure a hopefully, great average to take out of ground school and allow me to jet off to Arizona on the 25th!

I'll keep you posted

Sam

END OF LESSONS!

Well folks, the time has arrived whereby AP321 have no more ground school lessons!
We had a great final day, going over some final tips and tricky questions regarding Gen Nav and all of us had made some sort of effort to accessorise the uniform, or come in in fancy dress!

Click on the picture for a bigger version!

Part of me is going to miss the togetherness of ground school, however, we are at the beginning of the end before the biggest and best stage of the course, USA primary flight training.
Standing in the way of me and Arizona are 14 exams, 7 in School Finals 2 (starting next Tuesday) and 7 in JAAs commencing the first week in July. Then, if all the exams go well, I will be jetting out of Heathrow on the 25th to Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport to start my four months out there living the high life... literally!

Now, better get on with some revision as unfortunately the exams determine whether I go to the USA or not!

Sam

Test 2

Hello all,

I thought I should just update you on how my latest exams, (Test 2s) went. I achieved an 82% average overall, which I am very happy with at this stage. Phase two is very front heavy and very intense, meaning that most of the phase is taught in the first period between the start of P2 right up to test 2s, of which we had 13 days to go through approximately 70% of  the syllabus due to the numerous bank holidays and other delays that we encountered.

Phase two exams seem very hit and miss, you need to take a lot of time over each question and it's very easy to go wrong. I think this is down to the fact that there is a lot more working out and methodologies to remember, rather than just regurgitating facts and figures.

Anyway, next up are School Final 2 exams in mid June, which are just as important if not as important as the final JAA exams which I will be taking at the start of July. These will take a lot of preparation and hard work, so can't leave it too long before I get started on the long working hours and little sleep regime again!

Off to London tonight to stay in Paddington, as I am going to the U.S Embassy to have a nice little interview with the American representatives and hopefully have my application to live and train out in Arizona for four months (59 days to go) accepted and receive a visa!

I am so ready to start flying and ground school is getting very tiring at the minute, however, can't lose my focus or rest on the back of my previous exam results as there is still a lot to learn and a lot of hard work ahead in these next few weeks, which, pardon the pun, will fly by.

"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail"


Speak soon
Sam


-- Well done to all of AP322 on their impressive JAA results, now for phase two!!! --

I am sorry to leave you in suspense for the past two weeks…  I am really pleased to tell you that I achieved an average of 93% across the 7 modules in my JAA Phase 1 exams, which was the same as the mark I got in my school finals.  This was fairly representative of AP321 as a whole who all did remarkably well.

So it is back to ground school for the second phase and after all the recent bank holidays, these 5 day weeks are a shock to the system. I am revising around the clock with hardly time to feed myself or draw breath because test 2s start on Thursday 19^th. I didn’t think it was possible but this 2^nd phase seems even more intensive than Phase 1. There is a lot to learn and you can view the Phase 2 subjects on this OAA link under the 'Ground Training' drop down menu. I am so busy I have had to forego a trip to the Radio 1 Big Weekend this Sunday.  I am sure my best mate will have a great time and tell me all about it when he gets home :-(  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed to be missing out but it is a small price to pay…

I will update you on my Test 2 results in the not too distant future, I am not expecting as high as 90% however, I'll give it the best attempt I can give!

Speak soon,

Sam

Results Today! (27th April)

So, we didn't receive our results on the proposed date as the Civil Aviation Authority and their technology had a fall out and we have since been pondering when we will be obtaining our long awaited marks.

Well it seems as though they will be available today (27th) and I look forward to seeing how I got on.

AP321 started phase 2 today after a two week break and already I can tell it's going to be a very intense learning and memory game! I am sure it will test us harder than anything so far, so there's no better time to grab the bull by the horns and get stuck in again!

I shall keep you posted on results and go into greater detail regarding phase 2 and how it differs from phase 1, in the next post.

Sam :)