The
last period has been quite hectic, with upcoming exams on Thursday
this week. After having flown all week two weeks ago, last week was
packed with theory lectures. With most of
our free time spent with our noses in the textbooks, at least for my
part I have already broken my personal
record on preparatory studies for an exam. Being
satisfied with last week's study progress I have relaxed during the
weekend going to Lund on Saturday meeting a Japanese friend and then
”old friend” Johan who was an exchange student in Sendai at the
same time as me in 2010. Johan then visited me in Ljungbyhed for two
nights and we did some local airplane orientated sightseeing in the
village.
Yesterday,
Monday September 10th, we had a quite special day in school. Divided
into three groups of four students each, we acted officers at
Haverikommisionen (Swedish Accident Investigation Authority) and
performed research on an imagined aircraft accident. It was organized
very well and we got our information by faxes from different
authorities and by making actual phone calls to the emergency
services, the police, witnesses etc. (all played by our teachers).
After four hours of investigation we presented our conclusions as a
final report and listened to the conclusions of the other groups. The
accident in question involved a small four-seat airplane that was
flown by two experienced pilots who both died when they crashed in
the woods outside Nyköping. Quite interesting and instructive!
If
I pass all eight exams on Thursday, I will be able to leave
Ljungbyhed for 1½ week during which I must book and take the
corresponding license theory examination at Transportstyrelsen
(Transport Agency) somewhere in Sweden. If I fail any of the tests, I
will have to stay in Ljungbyhed until next week's Tuesday for
re-examination - then I can leave. When I've passed the
Transportstyrelsen examination, I will be finished with all theory
for my Private Pilot License. If I fail any of the offical
examination parts, I'll have to pay another 570 SEK or so for each
that I have to re-take...
Even
the school has tried to complain to Transportstyrelsen about the
absurdly high examination fees. Out of the 570 SEK I pay for a test
of about 30-60 minutes (depending on subject), the examiner receives
about 250 SEK (according to one of our teachers) per student. Sure,
he is supposed to accept a student that wants to take the exam alone,
for the same price, but when we are up to 12 people in a class that
take 9 exams in one day having one examiner to watch over us, the
salary becomes ridiculous. Who wouldn't want to work one day a month
and earn 27 000 SEK before tax?
Anyway, I
hope I'll do alright! See you in two weeks or so when we've begun
flying again!
Photos:
Söderåsen
national park before dusk.
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