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Blue skies!

Sorry for the generally very low update frequency, maybe I'll post more often onwards.

Since last time I've mainly been busy with theory studies in three subjects: Operational procedures, Mass & balance and Instrumentation. Split into two occasions I've passed all three exams at both school and for the Transport Agency. Now we only have four subjects left, two of which we will study in September and the last two of which we'll finish in January – this means most of the rest of the summer and the fall will be dedicated to flying and simulator lessons.

The phase of the practical training we're in now is IFR – instrument flying, as opposed to VFR – visual flying. In general IFR is about flying no matter the weather, and while private flying is almost exclusively VFR, commercial flying is almost exclusively IFR. Needless to say, it's a very important part to learn for all pilots who wants to fly in an airline. This far we've had a few simulator lessons, and while it's challenging to stabilize speed, height and direction without seeing anything through the windows, it's pretty fun.

With my own private pilot's license I've flown a few times with the flight club's PA-28, with both family and friends, it's really nice to be able to take a plane whenever I want and just go anywhere!

On Tuesday this week (June 4th) it had been one full year since we started at TFHS, the time has really passed by so fast! And while we were supposed to know which airline and which type of aircraft to fly during our internships in 2014 from the very first day, we still couldn't more than guess exactly one year later. But then, at 06:31 this morning (June 5th) we suddenly got a mail from our Chief Ground Instructor that it was finally to be unveiled for us two hours (!!) later at school. Luckily someone among us woke up early, saw the mail and could spread the message to the rest of the class.

So, starting around March next year we will first go on a two weeks company course at Norwegian Air Shuttle, then learn to fly a Boeing 737 in a full motion flight simulator for around two months including a final practical exam. Then we will board a real Boeing 737-800 without passengers and do 12 touch-and-go landings (landing and immediately taking off without stopping) at one occasion, after which we are certified to fly as first officers with passengers for Norwegian. After some months working as pilots we will write our graduation thesis and then graduate having got our MPL certificates and hopefully continue working for Norwegian if they hire us.

The Boeing 737 is the most common airliner in the world with over 7500 aircrafts produced. It was originally built in 1967 but the -800 version with modern instruments was introduced in 1997. The 737-800 has a maximum of 189 seats and can take-off weighing up to 80 tons. It has two engines, a maximum altitude of 12500 m and a cruise speed of 828 km/h.