Final Line Check 🛫
- Connor Raven
- Apr 22, 2019
- 5 min read
Welcome back everyone,
Since my last post after base training, I soon after completed 8 sectors of supernumeraries on the jump seat and then a further 50 sectors operating in the right hand seat, collectively known as line training. It's been a busy & tiring couple of months with lots to take in, but as of this weekend, my training is officially complete!
- Supernumaries
So, as mentioned in my last blog post I had a number of Supernumary or jumpseat flights to look forward to before I got to fly myself. These couple of days were great as it allowed me to join a crew on an operating flight and see how things are done for real without having to worry about being the one at the controls! My first day of supernumeraries took me down to Barcelona and Dortmund in Western Germany. It was a great day out and the crew really made me feel at home... of course not forgetting how amazing the views were, particularly while taking off from Luton seeing London covered in a blanket of fog and the odd skyscraper here and there peering through!
The supernumeraries also gave me the opportunity to ask questions, which I certainly did, while I was also able to practice setting up the cockpit for departure and doing the walk around.
Unfortunately however, the jumpseat isn’t the most comfortable so after 8 sectors I was gladly able move into the right hand seat and operate my first flight at the controls.
- Line training
Fortunately, day 1 of line training for me was a Barcelona/Dortmund which I’d been exposed to the week earlier while on the jumpseat. The day started nice and early at about 3am... Something I'm slowly starting to get used to! After a 40 minute drive or so I arrived at the staff car park and caught the bus to the crew room. I checked in at the crew room and printed the days flight plans. It then started to feel very real indeed! Soon after, my Captain and safety pilot arrived. Due to my inexperience, for my first 12 sectors a safety pilot would join us on the jumpseat just incase they needed to step in; this also gave us a period of time to get a few mandatory discussion items signed off as well, such as pilot incapacitation and emergency descents for instance.
After reviewing the days flight plans & weather, we met up with the rest of the crew and made our way through security and out to the aircraft. I can still remember walking up the steps to the aircraft, and opening the door of the shiny 6 month old jet ready for my first flight. Once I was in, I began my preparations and before I knew it, the 186 passengers were onboard and ready to go!
Being my very first day, the Captain decided to start us off and fly us down to Barcelona, but allowing me take over from the top of descent. My memory of that first flight, from the top of descent to landing was abit of a blur as everything happened so quickly! However, I can clearly remember the feeling of disconnecting the autopilot on the final approach. It felt heavy, quite sluggish to handle... Something I'm still getting to used to with heavy A320's. But it felt great and 186 people sat metres behind me were oblivious to the fact it was my first day and first landing with passengers.
And it wasn't a bad one either. Once we were down we made our way to the parking stand, I completed the paper work and went to say goodbye to the passengers. I still remember the surprised and confused looks on people's faces when they realised I was their pilot. I even got a few well done's so someone must have let it slip it was my first day haha!
After the passengers were all off, we had 25 minutes or so to get ready for our return flight back to Luton, and I would be flying the whole sector this time. Again the rest of the day was a bit of a blur, but around 12 sectors later, the safety pilot was released and I started operating as a normal crew member, albeit for the first 50 sectors I could only fly with training Captains. After 2 months of flying around Europe it was time for my ACC competency check and final line check.
My ACC (aircraft competency check) was a normal flight where the Training Captain would assess my manual flying skills as well automation management and general aptitude. The flight itself went relatively smoothly, although the approach into Malaga was a little turbulent which resulted in us having to capture the ILS glideslope from above. This isn't the end of the world but being a check flight, I would have preferred not to have had to do it. Anyhow, I managed it well and although the landing was a little firm the Captain was happy with my performance. I then acted as pilot monitoring on the way back and once we'd arrived back in Luton, he informed me I'd passed my ACC and was ready for my line check.
The line check is slightly different, but for me the more daunting of the the two check flights. Again, it's a normal flight, however instead of flying with a Training Captain, I flew with a normal Captain while the Training Captain sat on the jumpseat and observed. The Line Check, in essence, is a check flight to make sure I can operate without the aid of a trainer.
My Line Check was on the morning of Friday 19th April and was a nice Geneva and back meaning I'd be home just after lunch. Perfect! The flight went well, I flew 2 approaches and landed us back in to Luton due to the tailwind down in Geneva. I was very happy with how the flights had gone with two of my best descents and one of my best landings so far. I was even more chuffed when the Training Captain informed me I'd passed the Line Check! However there was little time celebrate as I was straight in with a Lisbon/Paris the following day and then a late night Alicante yesterday... we landed back into Luton at 2am this morning and it was quite a hard landing from me... not my best, but hey ho!
So that's it, my (formal) training is now complete. Exactly 2 years and a day after I started my groundschool up in Coventry, and what a journey it's been. 6 months in Coventry completing my 14 ATPL theory exams, 6 months in New Zealand learning to fly, 2 in Bournemouth and 6 more in Southampton learning to fly the airbus. And not forgetting the last 2 months of line training out of Luton and Edinburgh.
So where have I actually flown to since I've started I hear you ask: Well here's the list so far and couple of interesting places I've got coming up in the next few weeks:
- Amsterdam - Barcelona - Dortmund - Edinburgh - Geneva - Hamburg - Inverness - Lyon - Marseille - Malaga
- Milan - Nantes - Nice - Paris - Seville - Valencia - Venice
Interesting upcoming destinations:
- Rhodes - Tenerife - Paphos - Rome
So that's it, after years of dreaming, here I am... today's post will most likely be my last, so I just wanted to say thank you for reading my blogs, I hope you've found my journey an interesting one and if you're wanting to start training yourself, I hope I've been able to help you somewhat.
Although my blog posts may have come to an end, I'll still be contactable through the 'contact me' page or other social media sites that are linked. As always, feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions.
Thank you for reading,
Connor Raven
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