Q1. When did you start your aviation career?
I started my aviation journey in 2017 where I pursued a bachelor’s degree in Air Transport with Commercial Pilot Training. Here, I was able to study an undergraduate in aviation whilst starting my flight training as a modular student. Unfortunately, I dealt with delays from Brexit and Covid, so it meant that I finished my training in 2022, after pursuing a master’s in aviation law.
Q2. What made you choose to pursue a career in the Aviation industry?
Aviation has always been an exciting avenue to me as a child, whether it was being in awe of the big commercial aircraft soaring out of Heathrow, or walking through the airport and being amazed at the vast size of operation needed for just one flight. As I got older and I understood more, my love for aviation deepened and I caught the bug where I knew that I wanted to be a part of this amazing industry.
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Q3. Give us an overview of what you did on an average day in your role?
I work on a fixed roster pattern of 5/4 which means I have 5 days working and 4 days off each week. These alternate on earlies and lates each week, with some standby days on the 5 days.
On a typical early day, I will wake up at around 4am, download my flight plans and have a quick glance at the weather/routes for the day to give me an idea of what the flights will look like. I’ll get myself dressed and make my first coffee to take with me on the drive to the airport. Once I’m at the airport and through security, I’ll usually grab another coffee and wait for my crew at the reporting area. Here, I’ll have a detailed look at the flights, decide on a fuel figure with the captain and prepopulate the iPad with everything that we need. Once all the crew have arrived, we will brief them on the day and what to expect. Once we’re at the aircraft, if I am PM (Pilot Monitoring), I will speak to the fueller and do the walkaround. If I am PF (Pilot Flying), I will do the preflight checks and set the aircraft up ready to go. Once we have both completed our respective tasks, we will complete our briefings on the departure and the relevant checklists.
Once all passengers are boarded and the final paperwork is completed, we will pushback and be on our way to our destination!
After we have landed into our destination, we will complete the final bits of paperwork for that flight and then we will switch roles – so whoever was PF will now become PM and then we will do the exact same for our return journey back home.
Usually on a 2-sector day on earlies, I’ll be back home for lunchtime and have plenty of time to go to the gym/have the rest of the day to do other things.
Flying on lates follows a similar day, but we start in the afternoon and finish later at night instead.
Q4. What did you most love about your job/aviation?
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I love that every day is a completely different day, regardless of whether I have flown to that same destination hundreds of times. Typically, we fly with different crew, so we get to meet lots of people, and we become a team for the day. Even if the destination is somewhere we have been before, the views we get to see everyday are something that you can never get tired of - especially when it’s at sunset/sunrise!
Q5. What are your goals for the future?
As well as being a pilot, my current company allows us to take on additional roles such as in the training department, which is something that I would love to do one day. I would also like to eventually progress to a captain once I have the necessary experience to do so!
