Well there goes another week. The heavy workload has started coming at a ridiculous pace and is needing a lot more hours of notice at night.
We have started gas turbine engines, so the big commercial high by-pass engines, turboprop etc and also started looking at autoflight (autopilot, autoland, autothrottle et al). All very interesting stuff, however, a lot to learn whilst retaining the past knowledge from before our first tests.
I forgot to mention that a week or so ago I obtained the role of class representative and have been carrying out a register each day, checking for class mail at reception and basically being a spokesperson for the class of AP321 as a whole, which may I add, I love. Within the mail this week were Bucks New University student cards, which means DISCOUNT! ;D
I am helping out on the skills assessment area of the school tomorrow at the open day and once again helping out during the presentations. I always look forward to the open days as they're great fun to answer everyones' questions and really help provide a deeper knowledge and understanding for potential future attendees of OAA. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
As for the above, it's been a fairly good week, the class were groggy to start on Monday after the week off however, thawed out a bit towards the middle of Tuesday!
Weekend plans:
Saturday: Open day then back home for ironing (yes, your eyes do not deceive you) and a night of Gas Turbines and Meteorology.
Sunday: Instruments, Human Performance and AC Electrics and an early night!!!
Speak soon
Sam
Friday, 18 February 2011
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Apologies
Good morning readers,
I would like to apologise for the drought of blogging that has taken place over the last three weeks or so. This however, can be justified by the sheer workload and preparation for test 1s.
Regarding test 1s, I achieved a 75% average which I am rather happy with as it was nowhere near the worst grade in the class and also allows me to make a target of 90% average for School Finals. School Finals are again OAA regulated exams and will be taking place at the end of March, they will cover a much larger range of topics, infact the whole of the stage one syllabus and will be approximately 10 days before the biggies, the JAR exams (Civil Aviation Authority regulated exams).
We will now be given access to the Oxford question bank called Oxcel. This is an online site for Oxford students, post test 1s full of JAR style questions, so we can do question after question all day everyday if we wanted, but I think that would lead to insanity, so I probably won't go for such an intense approach. This is already helping as I know where I fell down on my test 1 exams, so I have been looking over these areas on Oxcel and cementing answers I was unsure of into my head and learning the theory behind these answers as I go.
It was a great relief to have the first exams done and all passed. All of the course members came round to our house the night of results, for Dominos pizza (27 pizzas!!) and the celebrations continued until late.
We have been lucky this week and have been given a week out of ground school after test 1s, which no other course gets. This is because our group started early in December and the intakes are usually towards the end of each month, so we needed to be staggered, it's been fantastic! It has allowed me to catch up on my sleep, catch up on my work and also given me a chance to go up to Carlisle to visit my girlfriend this weekend. This being said, I cannot wait to get stuck in again and just tick off each day, the closer and closer the 321 get to Arizona the better.
Now I haven't got exams until the end of March, I will update this more often!
Hope you're all well and by all means post comments underneath here, I'll return them as soon as I can
Speak soon
Sam
I would like to apologise for the drought of blogging that has taken place over the last three weeks or so. This however, can be justified by the sheer workload and preparation for test 1s.
Regarding test 1s, I achieved a 75% average which I am rather happy with as it was nowhere near the worst grade in the class and also allows me to make a target of 90% average for School Finals. School Finals are again OAA regulated exams and will be taking place at the end of March, they will cover a much larger range of topics, infact the whole of the stage one syllabus and will be approximately 10 days before the biggies, the JAR exams (Civil Aviation Authority regulated exams).
We will now be given access to the Oxford question bank called Oxcel. This is an online site for Oxford students, post test 1s full of JAR style questions, so we can do question after question all day everyday if we wanted, but I think that would lead to insanity, so I probably won't go for such an intense approach. This is already helping as I know where I fell down on my test 1 exams, so I have been looking over these areas on Oxcel and cementing answers I was unsure of into my head and learning the theory behind these answers as I go.
It was a great relief to have the first exams done and all passed. All of the course members came round to our house the night of results, for Dominos pizza (27 pizzas!!) and the celebrations continued until late.
We have been lucky this week and have been given a week out of ground school after test 1s, which no other course gets. This is because our group started early in December and the intakes are usually towards the end of each month, so we needed to be staggered, it's been fantastic! It has allowed me to catch up on my sleep, catch up on my work and also given me a chance to go up to Carlisle to visit my girlfriend this weekend. This being said, I cannot wait to get stuck in again and just tick off each day, the closer and closer the 321 get to Arizona the better.
Now I haven't got exams until the end of March, I will update this more often!
Hope you're all well and by all means post comments underneath here, I'll return them as soon as I can
Speak soon
Sam
Friday, 14 January 2011
Three Weeks to Test 1s
So this time in three weeks, I will have my first exam results. Scary really seeing as it feels as though we have only been at OAA for a matter of minutes. I guess it indicates the speed at which learning is expected and I cannot tell you how much work there is after each day to go home and really gather a true understanding of everything. Whether it be how a component works, why it may be there, what if it fails, how is it powered... the syllabus volume within the timeframe we have is extremely intense. However, I am starting to fall in love with the content and being knowledgable on topics I have always wanted to be disgustingly knowledgable about.
Well last night was AP321's official welcome from OAA which coincided with the monthly happy hour (loads of free beer, wine and food) which was fantastic. Both groundschool and advanced flight training stage courses were invited and it gave us all a chance to ask questions and network with these 'further down the line' courses, seeking advice and highlights we should be aware of. Groundschool apparently isn't anyone's favourite, whereas flying for three hours a day and spending the rest round a pool in Arizona heat is up there.. I really can't see why...
Well we had our fair share of freebies and being intelligent and charming pilots that we all are becoming, we were able to re stock the fridge with beverages courtesy of OAA.
I was also able to have an informative and lengthy conversation with Anthony Petteford, who is the Managing Director of this fine establishment that I attend, about graduation and job vacancies that are forecasted for spring 2012 aswell as the updating of OAA's fleet. He is a very friendly, approachable and down to Earth guy, despite his authority and credibility, which somewhat surprised me. He assured me that if I don't get multiple job offers, he would be curious as to why, which sounds hopeful! It's a very, very promising time for aviation and a certain British Airways are on the hunt for new recruits in the years 2011 and 2012, work hard, play hard and fly hard and I could be landed with my dream airline coming out of training. But let's not run before we can walk eh? It's only little over a year before I will be training on those monsters of the sky though, so I've got to keep the lookout for trends of recruitment across all the major and notorious airlines who favour low houred pilots.
Tomorrow is OAA's first open day of the year and muggins here has been landed with a position in the presentations with the aforementioned MD and assigned to a classroom for Q&As from aspiring candidates for entry to OAA. Which, I really am looking forward to, as I was in exactly their position last year and know how jealous I was of the guys I spoke to who were in the school, so I can't wait to give advice, opinions and hopefully in some way motivate the visitors whether they be young or older people to go for it as it is certainly the best decision I have ever made. However, ask my parents that same question with regards to finance... ;)
Lots of work to do over the weekend to keep me busy and out of trouble, I will update the blog in relation to how the open day went and what's ahead next week.
I seem to be chatty, you can certainly tell it's Friday.
Sam
Well last night was AP321's official welcome from OAA which coincided with the monthly happy hour (loads of free beer, wine and food) which was fantastic. Both groundschool and advanced flight training stage courses were invited and it gave us all a chance to ask questions and network with these 'further down the line' courses, seeking advice and highlights we should be aware of. Groundschool apparently isn't anyone's favourite, whereas flying for three hours a day and spending the rest round a pool in Arizona heat is up there.. I really can't see why...
Well we had our fair share of freebies and being intelligent and charming pilots that we all are becoming, we were able to re stock the fridge with beverages courtesy of OAA.
I was also able to have an informative and lengthy conversation with Anthony Petteford, who is the Managing Director of this fine establishment that I attend, about graduation and job vacancies that are forecasted for spring 2012 aswell as the updating of OAA's fleet. He is a very friendly, approachable and down to Earth guy, despite his authority and credibility, which somewhat surprised me. He assured me that if I don't get multiple job offers, he would be curious as to why, which sounds hopeful! It's a very, very promising time for aviation and a certain British Airways are on the hunt for new recruits in the years 2011 and 2012, work hard, play hard and fly hard and I could be landed with my dream airline coming out of training. But let's not run before we can walk eh? It's only little over a year before I will be training on those monsters of the sky though, so I've got to keep the lookout for trends of recruitment across all the major and notorious airlines who favour low houred pilots.
Tomorrow is OAA's first open day of the year and muggins here has been landed with a position in the presentations with the aforementioned MD and assigned to a classroom for Q&As from aspiring candidates for entry to OAA. Which, I really am looking forward to, as I was in exactly their position last year and know how jealous I was of the guys I spoke to who were in the school, so I can't wait to give advice, opinions and hopefully in some way motivate the visitors whether they be young or older people to go for it as it is certainly the best decision I have ever made. However, ask my parents that same question with regards to finance... ;)
Lots of work to do over the weekend to keep me busy and out of trouble, I will update the blog in relation to how the open day went and what's ahead next week.
I seem to be chatty, you can certainly tell it's Friday.
Sam
Books, check, Stationery, check, energy supplements, check.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Happy New Year
Well we have been back at GS for a week now and its good to get back into it! Everyone came back in good spirits and it was great to see everyone again. We had four days of lessons as Monday was obviously a bank holiday.
The week absolutely flew past and it was Friday once again, in The Black Horse with all the course having a few well deserved beverages.
A pretty unremarkable week, however, having looked at next week's timetable with triple Theory of Flight on both Thursday and Friday, I think I will need to stock up on Red Bull as there may be times during any three of the lessons my eyes will feel increasingly heavy.
Sam
Happy Birthday Jun (Mr AP321)
The week absolutely flew past and it was Friday once again, in The Black Horse with all the course having a few well deserved beverages.
A pretty unremarkable week, however, having looked at next week's timetable with triple Theory of Flight on both Thursday and Friday, I think I will need to stock up on Red Bull as there may be times during any three of the lessons my eyes will feel increasingly heavy.
Sam
Happy Birthday Jun (Mr AP321)
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Christmas :D
Today is my last day of Oxford Aviation before Christmas, well it should have been had the snow not dumped all 14 inches of itself all over Oxfordshire.
I came home on Monday (it is now Thursday) after hearing that all GS classes had been cancelled as not only students but instructors couldn't make it into the airport and it would have been highly unlikely that many people could get in, therefore completely time inefficient to teach these few and not the class as a whole. As we are the latest course to arrive at OAA, we were the lowest priority as we have no exams until the end of January and so were told just to make it home safely and we'll catch up on lost time in the new year.
I felt that the disruption was dealt with very professionally and sensibly by OAA and it was very nice of them to allow us an extended scope for celebrating Christmas! However, there is no escaping it fully, as AP321 has been introduced to CBT (computer based training) and can access the lessons, tests and homework from any computer in the world, so I don't think "Sorry sir, the dog ate my keyboard" would go down well if the work wasn't done either, however, it would only hinder the persons own progress if they chose to ignore it.
I had a mostly pain-free trip home and despite numerous and lengthy delays at Oxford and Birmingham New Street train station it was, so good to come back to my own bed again! Home certainly is where the heart is...
I would like to wish everyone reading and all of my fantastic new friends and coursemates at OAA the happiest of Christmases and a safe and prosperous new year!
Sam
I came home on Monday (it is now Thursday) after hearing that all GS classes had been cancelled as not only students but instructors couldn't make it into the airport and it would have been highly unlikely that many people could get in, therefore completely time inefficient to teach these few and not the class as a whole. As we are the latest course to arrive at OAA, we were the lowest priority as we have no exams until the end of January and so were told just to make it home safely and we'll catch up on lost time in the new year.
I felt that the disruption was dealt with very professionally and sensibly by OAA and it was very nice of them to allow us an extended scope for celebrating Christmas! However, there is no escaping it fully, as AP321 has been introduced to CBT (computer based training) and can access the lessons, tests and homework from any computer in the world, so I don't think "Sorry sir, the dog ate my keyboard" would go down well if the work wasn't done either, however, it would only hinder the persons own progress if they chose to ignore it.
I had a mostly pain-free trip home and despite numerous and lengthy delays at Oxford and Birmingham New Street train station it was, so good to come back to my own bed again! Home certainly is where the heart is...
I would like to wish everyone reading and all of my fantastic new friends and coursemates at OAA the happiest of Christmases and a safe and prosperous new year!
Sam
Friday, 17 December 2010
1/27 Weeks of Ground School Done
So the week has finished and the sun has set on the first week of GS for the 321. Infact, I cannot believe it has been a week! It has gone so, so quickly, however, I can physically feel my head is heavier with knowledge. Whether it relates to Meteorology, DC electrics, Aircraft Systems, Instruments etc, one week in GS packs a definite academic punch.
I have been trying to get myself into a routine whereby, I do my day at OAA, come home and have an hour to relax a bit and have some grub and then study from about 18:30-22:30, by which stage, I am most certainly ready to sleep to recharge my batteries for another day. I think this is the only way to maximise and make sure you digest all you can from the books in this early stage to get the basic understandings of the vital elements of each subject and their topics, so these basics can be built upon in later lessons.
Today was what is known as POETS day ( I don't know if that is a course thing or a general OAA term for Friday). Basically it means, 'P!5s Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday' so it seems the instructors are fairly chilled out on the final day of the week. Our Theory of Flight instructor was also off ill today so two of our periods were cancelled and we had it as private study. Which, was beneficial as I had planned on a night off tonight, so I utilised my free periods to the maximum by studying ToF and Human Performance.
The 321 will be heavily featured in The Black Horse tonight, sporting many decorations in the liquid form and singing modern day chart carols out in Oxford tonight.
A funny and successful week,
A night well deserved by everyone in the 321 :D
I have been trying to get myself into a routine whereby, I do my day at OAA, come home and have an hour to relax a bit and have some grub and then study from about 18:30-22:30, by which stage, I am most certainly ready to sleep to recharge my batteries for another day. I think this is the only way to maximise and make sure you digest all you can from the books in this early stage to get the basic understandings of the vital elements of each subject and their topics, so these basics can be built upon in later lessons.
Today was what is known as POETS day ( I don't know if that is a course thing or a general OAA term for Friday). Basically it means, 'P!5s Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday' so it seems the instructors are fairly chilled out on the final day of the week. Our Theory of Flight instructor was also off ill today so two of our periods were cancelled and we had it as private study. Which, was beneficial as I had planned on a night off tonight, so I utilised my free periods to the maximum by studying ToF and Human Performance.
The 321 will be heavily featured in The Black Horse tonight, sporting many decorations in the liquid form and singing modern day chart carols out in Oxford tonight.
A funny and successful week,
A night well deserved by everyone in the 321 :D
Monday, 13 December 2010
Just a Spot of Light Reading
Today was the 321's first official day of ground school (GS) which involved us meeting at the lounge area in the Academy at 0845, then followed by a presentation introducing us to the course and outlining what we had ahead of us and also what is expected from both OAA and Airlines in the way of results to exams, both in GS and the practical flight exams in the latter stages of the course. We then had two GS lessons in the afternoon, Piston Engines (PE) and Human Performance and Limitations (HPL). I feel my blog will slowly and surely fill with acronyms...
We were also issued with our CRP-5 flight computers which was all rather exciting and something I had been looking forward to!
We were taken to our classroom, which will be unchanged for each subject for the first six weeks or so I believe, by Pete Pitcher (Chief Ground Instructor or CGI) who is a fantastically British ex-military man and was very funny and settled whatever apprehension I had about the following six months. "Whoever says they like or enjoy GS, quite frankly, is a pervert" was one of many.
We then had lunch until 1415 which was followed by a lesson on PE with Mr Terry Hulmes, which basically involved Newton's Law's, Boyle's Law, Combined Gas Law etc. So mainly physics and will definitely require some reciting and absorption. This was then followed by a lesson on HPL, with Mr Dave Hind, again, like Terry and Pete, he was ex-military and like the other two, funny and very engaging.
I can already sense that due to the fast pace of even our first lessons, this is going to be one hectic and intense first six months, but being back learning again, learning something I have dreamed of learning all my life, is absolute bliss.
Oh and this is what I meant about a spot of light reading, I have six months to cover it...
We were also issued with our CRP-5 flight computers which was all rather exciting and something I had been looking forward to!
We were taken to our classroom, which will be unchanged for each subject for the first six weeks or so I believe, by Pete Pitcher (Chief Ground Instructor or CGI) who is a fantastically British ex-military man and was very funny and settled whatever apprehension I had about the following six months. "Whoever says they like or enjoy GS, quite frankly, is a pervert" was one of many.
We then had lunch until 1415 which was followed by a lesson on PE with Mr Terry Hulmes, which basically involved Newton's Law's, Boyle's Law, Combined Gas Law etc. So mainly physics and will definitely require some reciting and absorption. This was then followed by a lesson on HPL, with Mr Dave Hind, again, like Terry and Pete, he was ex-military and like the other two, funny and very engaging.
I can already sense that due to the fast pace of even our first lessons, this is going to be one hectic and intense first six months, but being back learning again, learning something I have dreamed of learning all my life, is absolute bliss.
Oh and this is what I meant about a spot of light reading, I have six months to cover it...
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