Scoot's Cadet Programme

B777-200ER

Embark on a flying career with a vibrant and fun airline! Take off to an exciting career with Scoot Cadet Pilot Programme!

Scoot is NOT your usual airline. We are 'Scoot' for many reasons, not least because we're different. Our brand conveys spontaneity, movement, informality and a touch of quirkiness - all attributes we are well known to be associated with. These attributes will be personified in a unique spirit that encapsulates our values and style. An airline with a different attitude, surrounded by people with 'Scootitude'.

Scoot is partnering the renowned aviation school, Singapore Flying College (SFC) to develop the Scoot Cadet Programme to fill our cadet vacancies. Our cadets will undergo a customised self-funded 18 months training course at SFC. Completion of the course equips you with a Commercial Pilot Licence (Instrument Rating) or 'Frozen' ICAO ATPL. Now, you are one step closer to becoming a Second Officer!

Upon graduation from SFC, you will undertake Scoot's Multi- Crew Coordination, type, base and line training to ensure you are fully equipped with the essential skills and knowledge to fly Scoot's latest wide-body aircraft - the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

So if you have the passion for aviation and the 'Scootitude' DNA in you, we welcome you to journey with us and progress on to fulfilling your aspiration to be a pilot!



Essential Requirements

• Minimally 18 years old (as required by regulations in Air Navigation Order)
• Legally entitled to work in Singapore upon completion of training
• GCE 'A' level, Polytechnic Diploma or Degree. A minimum of 5 Credits in the GCE 'O' level or its equivalent at one sitting. These must include English, Mathematics and a Science subject, preferably Physics.
• Physically and mentally fit
• Qualify for Class 1 unrestricted medical certification as approved by the Civil Aviation Medical Board (CAMB)
• Good visual acuity of at least 6/60 without optical aid, correctable to 6/6 and not colour blind
• Be able to commit to a period of 18 months of consecutive training with no disruption

Desirable Traits

• A keen learner with a strong passion for aviation
• A team player who demonstrates composure, confidence and maturity
• A sense of humour to brighten up the day of everyone around you
• Definitely the 'Scootitude' DNA in you!

What's next?

Submit your interest with us by clicking the "Apply now" icon
More details on Scoot Cadet Pilot Roadshow and the application process will be communicated to shortlisted candidates by 23 July 2015.

SOURCE

New pilot school boosts Singapore's hub status

A NEW pilot school has opened near Changi Airport, boosting Singapore's status as a key training centre in a region where there is growing demand for cockpit crew.

Housed in a six-storey facility at Changi Business Park Crescent, the $95 million Haite Singapore Aviation Training Centre is owned by China-based aerospace firm Haite Group.

Catering mainly to airlines in South-east Asia, it has two flight simulators and aims to add five more over the next five years. With seven simulators, it will be able to provide about 50,000 training hours a year.

Haite Singapore managing director Marc Nadeau expects to secure its first airline customer over the next few days but declined to say which one.

It is the group's first such facility outside China where it currently trains more than 2,000 pilots and flight crew each year for airlines such as Air China, China Eastern and Philippine Airlines.

With airlines buying more aircraft, it is estimated that more than half a million new pilots will be needed globally in the next 20 years.

Four in 10 are expected to be hired by Asian carriers.

Singapore Technologies (ST) Aerospace also has a pilot training arm and in the first quarter of next year, Singapore Airlines and aircraft manufacturer Airbus will open their new pilot school at Seletar Aerospace Park.

Mr Nadeau said: "We have some very big players in the region but each player has its own particular role. We are addressing not just the commercial aviation market but also business aviation and the helicopter segment. This is where we distinguish ourselves. We address all aircraft types and all aircraft segments."

Speaking at the official opening of the facility yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo said Haite is a welcome addition to Singapore's aviation industry, which has more than 100 companies offering a full suite of services, such as aircraft maintenance and repair, parts distribution, and aircraft leasing.

Ms Teo said the firm's presence here "is a testament to Singapore's importance as an aerospace hub for the region and an excellent example of how we can partner Chinese companies to facilitate their international expansion, especially into the growing South- east Asian market".

SOURCE

Week 61: PPL Flight School Week 30 - Completion

Monday
My day started late with my final sim session at 1530hrs. I was left with 3.5hrs and so I entered a very long route into my flight plan flying to many aerodromes and doing all the approaches which were mainly everything I've learnt - NDB, VOR, ILS. Turned on the autopilot during cruising while switching to manual flying during approaches. Even so, I got really bored and tired looking at the G1000 screen.

By the time everything was done, it was already nightfall when I left the school building. At last, I'm finished with all necessary trainings I have to do in Ballarat and the paper work can get started to prepare for my departure back to Singapore.

Lots of things to settle with all the clearance signatures I had to get from a number of key figures in the school, plus tallying all my hours to make sure I didn't fly less than required. Confirmation of my air tickets came on Thursday and I left Australia on Friday noon.

The month of May is the craziest month I had with 23.4hrs of flight and 21hrs of sim hours clocked. I'm glad this rush occured which allowed me to get home by end of the month. I was totally missing the food in Singapore as well as my family and friends. When I touched down in Changi Airport close to 2200hrs, I got greeted by the familiar humid and hot weather, something which I welcome.

It has been a long but fulfilling seven months in Down Under, experiencing Spring, Summer, Autumn and skirting Winter. I left Singapore with zero flight experience under my belt but I returned with 86hrs and armed with a PPL which I'm proud to have achieved. The experience of life abroad is something I'll treasure and remember for the rest of my life.

Now I'm back home, it's time to look forward to the next phase of training in the A320 simulator. It's going to take me another six months; I'm now done with 66% of the whole course and it feels I'm getting closer.

Farewell C172

One last wash before I kiss you goodbye

The morning I left Ballarat was pissing cold

Domestic side of the airport

Meal with a view

Fat bird

CX A333

The bird to bring me home

9V-SKE

Cooked dinner for family for the first time in 30weeks

Week 60: PPL Flight School Week 29 - The Final Flight

Monday
I started off the week with a flight scheduled with an instructor that is known to be the best in the school. I am so looking forward to this day and I wasn't disappointed. Flight was at 1415hrs with pretty gusty strong winds blowing in a relatively headwind direction on the runway.

Not knowing which IF route he wants me to plan, I've planned three different routes and asked him to choose. Surprisingly, he's so nice he actually asked me which one I'd prefer to do. This is the first time an instructor is so flexible to my planning! And so, I chose the one which I will get to try out the real VOR, which coincidentally is also the longest route, fitting my need to clock more hours.

After some amendments to my flight plan, we set off in cloudy conditions, with the occasional sun ray peeking through the clouds. The flight to the destination was long, about 1.3hrs to be exact. Along the way, he taught me how to handle both IFR and VFR traffic radio calls as well as the usual chart briefs and WQADCAPS checks. I had to make inbound radio calls to notify VFR traffic in the vicinity, which was something new to me.

Upon reaching the VOR station, I had a try with it for the first time in real life. There was so much work to do when wind factor is present unlike in the sims. My sector entry and holding pattern was fine, but on descend and turning into final approach, I busted the minimum turn upon turn and was told that it's not the right way to do it.

On missed approached, I tracked back to base in a very long way back, cutting through Melbourne controlled airspace which I had to request for clearance. It was already starting to get dark by now, and there were patches of heavy rain along the way where I was flying through rainy clouds. At the meantime, my instructor was talking to me about the areas I was flying through. The interesting facts as well as the histories.

It was a very enjoyable flight back even though it was a long long way. By the time I was doing a RNAV approach to base, it was so dark that I had to switch on my nav lights. The runway had also lit up and it was wet with an earlier downpour.

My RNAV approach was so spot on that he commented that I was like the auto-pilot. Haha, well I guess the conditions were so good that it was easy to have a neat descend right to the runway. By the time I was tying down the aircraft, it was already nightfall and temperatures have started dropping to below 10'C.

It was a superb flight with an amazingly good instructor.

Night fell by the time everything ended

Tuesday
The weather for the day didn't look good with an approaching cold front. Flight was scheduled at 1400hrs and the ILS wasn't available at the airport that I usually go to. Therefore, I planned a VFR route but flying in an IFR way.

In terms of the route, there was nothing dramatic as I didn't get to try any VOR or ILS or RNAV. However in terms of experience, it was amazingly great. With the impending bad weather coming in, there were lots of broken cumulus clouds in the sky at the altitude I was flying. Other than the clouds, there was actually much sunshine.

For the first time in all my flights so far, I barged through thick cumulus clouds, splashing water droplets onto my windscreen and creating so much turbulence that it gave my altitude and heading maintaining a big test. I was told to lower the IAS to below 105kts as that's the stated maneuver speed right on the plane's firewall.

With the airspeed reduce, I could better control the aircraft within the clouds. That was a unbelievable ride as I even went through thick grey clouds, giving my guts a test as well. Even my instructor was commenting that I was very lucky to get such "good yet bad" weather conditions to test my flying in IFR.

On return, it was the usual RNAV approach and we ended the sortie with a nice short-field landing from me.

Wednesday
Flight was scheduled at 1200hrs but the weather looked terrible since daybreak. The fog simply refused to clear and I had to delay my departure in order to wait it out. Eventually, the weather cleared enough for us to head into the skies.

To make this flight interesting, my instructor took another instructor as pax in the backseat. It was quite an experience with an added weight at the back, making the handling a little bit different. The climbing performance and balance wasn't what I was used to.

It was a short flight due to the delay, and all I did was a quick ILS approach and immediately headed back to base. My instructor was by now very satisfied with my radio calls, though the occasional mistakes were still present. I'm pretty satisfied with my own performance and that greatly boosted my confidence which was in tatters during the first few IF flights.

Thursday
It was my forth consecutive flight in four days, pushing me really hard to clock those hours. Flight was scheduled right at the start of the day at 0830hrs, which means I had to report about two hours earlier. Once again, it was an interesting flight as the aircraft assigned to me comes with autopilot function! And for the first time again, I get to try out this feature while I focused on other factors of flight.

I have to say, AP is such a saving grace when the workload piles up. I could do my radio calls, chart briefs and various checklists without having to worry about my heading and altitude. Everything seemed way easier. However, the AP got disengaged when I was doing an ILS approach, which was quite a challenged when there was a 40kts+ crosswind!! My aircraft literally approached the runway sideways.

It was fun to have tried out the AP function, something which I will be very used to in my A320 simulator training next. The end of this flight also meant that I'm left with my final sortie which will be scheduled for this Sunday.

So you thought my day has ended after an early flight. But no. I had a 2hr sim session in the noon. I was barely refreshed walking into the simulator training room. At certain point of the sim flying, I was close to falling asleep. Though the sim session was rather boring, my instructor sort of tested me on all the things I've learnt so far, as well as teaching me about SID/STAR and arching flying. A good 2hr spent learning new things, and I returned home exhausted.

Great looking weather at 0800hrs

The heavy crosswind became crazy headwind on my return leg

1730hrs, when the birds are all back

Friday
After a hectic Thursday, my Friday was an easy 1hr sim session. Did some VOR sector entry and approach, plus some ILS landing, and that's about it.

The night came and there was a mini send-off celebration for my batch as two of us were ready to return to Singapore the next day. Had some drinks, food and chats. The night ended late, with some snacks as supper in a carpark.

With the instructors at the celebration

Saturday
Another early day for me, a struggle to wake up after the celebrations of the previous night. 8am sim session for three hours. By now, flying the sims was pretty redundant as there's simply nothing much to learn. Having my flight plan keyed into the G1000 system, I set AP on and let it fly itself while I monitor everything. Did some VOR holding and approach and that's it. Spent the rest of my day recuperating and preparing for my final flight the next day.

Fog at 8am

Boring sims with the AP on

Sunday
The day was finally here; my final training flight in Ballarat. I was scheduled with a notoriously fierce instructor which I've never flown before. I was intimidated by him and had to be very careful with my every move.

Surprisingly, he turned out very nice and didn't lose any patience and temper at me. We did a very normal flight, just like any other IF sortie I've done. Sad to say, my radio calls were still not to perfection. He commented on it, but added that radio calls will get better with experience. He also corrected some of my misconceptions about ILS landing with regards to the minima and visual distance. All in all, I really learnt a lot from him.

We returned to base with still quite some time to burn, and so we started doing circuits. He demonstrated a landing on a grass runway, a thing which I never had a chance to do until now! He handed me the controls for the next landing which got me very excited. I had a try at it, but landed way too long and had to go-around instead. That was my only crack at it, a chance gifted by him on my last flight here.

The remaining time were expended with more circuit flying, watching the sun setting in the horizon with every round of circuit I flew. It was a beautiful way to end it all and I landed for one final time at close to 1700hrs. The circuit was very peaceful with me the only one flying.

I admit it was somehow an emotional flight, especially when I cut off the engine in the apron. I'm not sure if I'll ever fly a C172 again or if I'll ever fly solo again. When I closed down the aircraft with the sunset as the backdrop, I could sense a tinge of sadness in my heart. Minute by minute and hour by hour, I've at last completed the full 86hrs required of my training here.

Nice backdrop for my final flight

Last final approach into the sunset

ByeBye, I will miss you.

Craziest week I've had here, which at least one activity per day this whole week. Had this started way earlier, I would have completed my training long ago. That being said, I'm just glad that all my flight training has been done and dusted, and I completed it safely without any mishap. Right now, I'm just left with 3.5hrs of sim which will be completed tomorrow. I can see home, at last.

Week 59: PPL Flight School Week 28

Monday
Another day in the sims, I'm pretty much an expert in the G1000 by now. In a way, the sims have helped me a lot in knowing the system fairly well. I was totally dictating on what to do without much instruction from my instructor. As usual, I planned a normal flight and flew it using the GPS, doing a sector entry and a holding on my destition, ending my session with a few ILS approach landing. After the end of the session, the schedule for the next day was out, and I'm finally planned for my first instrument flight.

CAVOK day, a pity I was flying the sims instead

Tuesday
Flight was scheduled at 1200hrs, report two hours before to get my planning done. The difference with IF nav flying as compared to VFR nav is the need to be in constant contact with an ATC. Thus, the radio frequencies must be jotted down in my plan, along with the ILS/VOR frequencies.

The radio calls were overwhelming, with so much to take care of even before I left base. I managed to make some by reading off a printed guide, but I found myself having trouble to comprehend the quick messages conveyed by the ATC. Being my first IF flight, my instructor was forgiving and made most of the radio calls for me.

There were the usual checklist of CLEAR, Top of Climb, Top of Descend checks, and now there is a new list to carry out.


Weather - Tuned into the ATIS/AWIS to get weather information of the aerodrome
QNH - Setting the correct QNH for approach
Aids -ILS localiser set and tuned, morse code verified
DG/RMI - Heading and tracking all correct
Chart Brief - A full brief of the aerodrome chart
Audio - Morse code of ILS/VOR verified
Pre-landing - Checks aircraft is in landing configuration
Slow Down - Get the aircraft to a comfortable slower speed

There are a lot of things to take note of, on top of keeping your ears alert for the ATC's radar vectors to guide me into the ILS localiser. Eventually, I managed to fly the ILS approach to a good standard in turbulent conditions, made a published missed approach and flew back to base.

On base, did a sector entry and a few holdings to get myself accustomed to flying holdings with wind compensation. Lastly, I did a RNAV approach to base and landed by joining the circuit. It was a good effort for my first IF flight as commented by my instructor, but I knew my trouble was handling the radio calls from the ATC.

Wednesday
I was scheduled for flight at 1800hrs, my second night flight, which was also my second IF flight. Having done my first IF flight the day before with the same instructor, he totally threw me into the deep waters and expected me do handle everything on my own.

I was overwhelmed, made worse by the fact that it was a night flight. I was having trouble doing things properly in the dark and focused a lot on the radio calls which made my flying not up to standard. I couldn't handle the radio calls properly, I missed out my QWADCAPS check, I totally forgo the chart brief, my ILS approach was too high that I should have gone around but I continued descending.

Upon returning to base, I did a sector entry and was poor at my wind compensation for holding pattern flying. The flight ended with a RNAV straight on approach and I landed safely in the dark. It was a really poor flight to my standards. My instructor commented that I was so engrossed on Communicate, I totally neglected Aviate and Navigate. I was tasked to do more radio call practice on my own to better prepare for my next flight.

Before nightfall for my second night flight

Thursday
My third IF flight, scheduled at 1430hrs, this time round with a different instructor whom I've flown with only once. Having done my preparation work for my radio calls, I went for it. Regretfully, I radio calls were still not up to standard and I got lectured for my poor calls. He was very particular with how I worded the calls and was very unhappy with the way I conveyed my messages.

After the first few radio calls, he was fed up and took over all radio calls and left me with just the flying to handle. That moment I felt like a lost man. After all the homework I've done, I'm still not good enough. Luckily my ILS approach was fine and my holding was alright too. I thought he was in no doubt going to fail my flight.

Returned to base via RNAV approach and joined a low level circuit, and landed safely. During the post-flight brief, he printed a list of radio call procedures during departure from base. Thank god he didn't fail my flight and only asked me to polish up on my radio calls. I'm determined to iron out my radio call issue and not screw up again in my next flight.

Sunday
My last ever night flight, scheduled at 1715hrs. Initial plan was flying into Melbourne city for an ILS approach, but due to heavy traffic in the area, the plan was cancelled and I went ahead to the same aerodrome for an ILS appraoch as I've done in my previous three IF flight.

To prevent myself from conveying substandard radio calls again, I suggested my saying the radio call out loud for my instructor to verify before speaking to the ATC. This time round, I nailed it. My departure calls were good, everything went well.

CLEAR checks, QWADCAPS, chart brief and ILS approach were all to standard. Upon return to base, I did a RNAV approach and did five rounds of circuit to complete my hours. As expected, my night landings weren't very nice, the judging of height for the flare was my achilles heel. After my final landing, my instructor said "yea, I believe landing the A320 will be easier than this.". Haha, I certainly hope so!

It was a great flight which boosted my confidence, helped by me flying with a very nice instructor. The end of the flight also meant that I won't be flying the C172 at night anymore, which was kinda sad. I headed for home satisfied with my performance.

My final night flight. I'll miss it.

Pussy lying between my lap and watching TV with me

A great week no doubt, with one day of sim and four flights. I don't think I've ever flown four flights in a week since I've been here. A total of 7.6hrs of flight time was clocked, which is a very good return for one week. This is probably the best week I've had by far. 11.7hrs of flight time and 9.5hrs of sim time left. I'm getting closer.

Week 58: PPL Flight School Week 27

Tuesday
Yet another flight got cancelled on Monday due to the crap weather, it's getting really really frustrating. Good thing that the next day I got planned for a 2hr sim session. Recalling my mistakes in my previous sim, I refined my concept of sector entry and got accustomed to holding as well as landing in ILS.

VOR interception and tracking, plus RNAV approach and keying in the flight plan in the G1000 system. I learned a lot from this lesson on how to fly a true IF flight. It was a good 2hr spent in the sim.

Wednesday
Scheduled for two sim session each lasting for an hour. This time round, I did everything on my own, from flight planning to sector entry to precision approach. Totally getting the hang of it, my instructor didn't even have to teach or correct me anything. It was a good feeling after the session ended.

Thursday
I've never flown so much sims since I came here, and today I'm once again scheduled for another 2hr sim. Running out of things to learn, I requested for a full dry run of an IF flight, along with radio calls simulated by my instructor. It wasn't easy, having to learn a new form of communication with the ATC after being in CTAF aerodromes all these while.

I fumbled, just like how I did when I first tried the radio calls on CTAF. But it wasn't that bad, and it was a good start. I have a clearer picture of how an IF flight will be flown, just waiting for the scheduler to plan me for my flight.

Friday
After a long seven days of not touching the aircraft, I was finally planned for a flight; a very special one. Flight time was 1915hrs, that means no more sunlight. My syllabus included 6hrs of night flight consisting of 2hrs of circuit and 4hrs of instrument navigation flight.

The night was really cold and the winds were rather crazy. There was a cold front approaching and I was so worried that the flight won't go ahead again. Luckily, the weather held up and I took off an hour earlier. It was very hard to adapt to night conditions with such limited light. It was close to pitch dark outside and I had to rely on my instruments as well as the limited lighting on the runway to fly the circuit properly.

The lightings were in such a way that only the perimeters of the runway is lighted. There is no centre line lightings, and that makes it harder to aim for the centre line. I was instead lining up on approach to the papi lights by intuition. The first landing was demonstrated by my instructor, and I was flabbergasted at how high it looked when the flaring was being commenced.

Night flying is definitely full of different sort of challenges. The following circuits were flown by me with some crappy landings due to a combination of rustiness, inexperience as well as the gusty conditions of 33kts headwind. The city lights though limited, were beautiful enough for me to admire while flying.

The amount of focus needed is way more than during the day. It felt great no doubt, with the peace and stars, and I can't wait to fly the remaining 4hrs of night flying.

View of city from 4000ft

It was a cold gusty 10'C night

Definitely wasn't easy in those gusty winds

It was a good week considering the amount of sim hours clocked. That's one less thing to worry about when nearing the end of my 86hrs syllabus flight time. However, I'm still having a massive 19hrs of flight time remaining. Remaining sim time has been greatly reduced to 12.5hrs.

Week 57: PPL Flight School Week 26

Wednesday
Flight got cancelled on Tuesday due to thunderstorm in the area. As winter creeps in, the cold fronts are really a pain in the butt. Their arrival always render all flights planned as useless. Nobody gets to fly the whole day, or a few days.

So I started my week with a 2-hour sim session doing sector entry for holding pattern. It was quite a shocker to me as the mass brief was back in February and even then I had trouble grasping the whole concept of it. After a short recap with my instructor, I managed to understand the whole idea of it and went ahead with the flying in the sim.

It wasn't easy, flying and reading off the charts. Eveything happens very quickly and I found myself quite overwhelmed for the first few sector entries. By the end of the lesson, I was still a little unsure of how things are done, which made me kind of unhappy. I went back home and consulted some of my batch mates. With their patient teaching, I managed to clear up my doubts, which was quite a relief for me. Hopefully I can do better the next time round.

Thursday
Finally, a flight that went ahead after five days of not flying. The weather is getting really cold, even at 1400hrs which my flight was scheduled at. It was a normal IF flight with me under the hood while doing a simple navigation using the G1000 flight plan system.

I was be taught on how to set things up for an IF navigational flight, the things I need to check, what to look out for and how to do things correctly. Under the hood, I flew to two checkpoints using the navaids. At the final checkpoint before returning to base, I did some ADF interception Inbound and Outbound, as well as some holding.

ADF is way harder to gauage than VOR as the needle is constantly moving, at times confusing me on which is the correct direction to turn. I had to try a few times to do it correctly, and that drew out some comments from my instructor on my lack of preparation. It's not good to hear that.

The holdings were done in non-perfect conditions unlike in the sims. In real life, I had to counter winds to fly the holding pattern correctly. It wasn't easy, even if you know what to do. 1sec/kt increase or decrease per minute of holding. For tailwind, decrease the timing and for headwind, otherwise.

It was a good learning flight, and it is not as easy as the simulator I've been flying.

Saturday
My flight on Friday was cancelled again due to weather, my second one in the week. It's simply too frustrating to see my hours creeping so damn slowly after passing my PPL test. Flying once per week is just way too slow in progression.

Early morning at 0900hrs, I was schedule for a short 1-hour sim doing some ADF/VOR interception and tracking. It wasn't something new to me, but I guess I can always use the session to hone my skills on how accurately I can fly towards the navaids.

The one hour passed by fairly quickly and that summed up my week on a low note.

Sim session is useful in getting to know how to use the G1000

Praying for the weather to stay reasonable 

It's been 26 weeks, effectively marking my stay here at half a year mark. I believe it will be another six weeks before I can finish up my remaining hours.

Week 56: PPL Flight School Week 25 - PPL Flight Test

Tuesday
D-Day is here, I was scheduled to be the first to fly with the very fierce principal for my PPL flight test. I wasn't scared or nervous, I just wanted to get it over and done with. My preparation for the flight started the day before. Things I did include checking the aircraft for any problem, doing my loading sheet, studying on the licence requirements/privileges/currency, mental flying and making sure all necessary documents were prepared.

My flight was scheduled at 0900hrs and I reported two hours beforehand to get myself ready. I wasn't very optimistic of being able to go up there for my flight test with some heavy downpour which was forecasted to last for the whole day.

After some briefing with the principal, I was told to stay around and wait for any weather improvement. Luckily, there was a slight period of zero precipitation and he instructed me to get ready for circuit flying at least. So I wasted no time and headed for the plane. Trying my best to do everything correctly and efficiently wasn't enough as I still get scolded for some other reasons. To make things worse, the moment I entered the runway for take-off, the heavy rain came and I could barely see what was ahead of me. That caused me to be distracted and my short-field take-off speeds were all incorrect, resulting in a lecture from the principal.

First landing was poor with some bouncing but I managed to get it under control. The wet runway didn't make things any better. Short-field landing, flapless landing, go-around, low level circuit, normal landing, EFATO and glide landing were all carried out.

By the end of it, the northern training area showed some glimpse of sunlight and we continued ahead to test me on area work. Steep turns were fine, stalling was a total disaster as the plane simply refused to stall and I lost about 300ft of height with my nose pitched to maximum. There was something very weird with the plane. Noticing that on the clean stall, I simulated a stall for incipient stall and forgot to apply full power on recovery. Yea, that stunt got me screamed at and I heard no end of it till I returned to the apron.

Slow cruise was next and I had to maintain 75kts in clean configuration, plus turning while maintain height.  Next was PFL which was also done to standard, but I hesitated a while while choosing my landing field and got scolded again haha. And finally, instrument flying with unusual attitude recovery. It was done with no trouble and I was instructed to head back to base right after. After the few unusual attitude recoveries, I got kinda disoriented after removing my hood. Thankfully I didn't screw up and was able to get us back to base safely.

Final part of my test ended with another glide approach landing, and that was done sweetly with no issue on my landing. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as the principal took over control and flew one circuit himself. Back at the flight centre, I was tasked to recall all mistakes I've committed in the test and why did those happen.

It wasn't the best flying performance from me, but it was also the worst conditions I've flown in. Nevertheless, it was a very good experience and he eventually passed me. I was so glad that it ended and I couldn't wait to grab a good meal as a reward for myself!!

Celebratory drink at night!

The strip of paper clipped to my yoke as reminder of the elements of my test

For the first time in almost 7months, I got to eat my favourite sashimi!! It was heavenly.... 

Thursday
After my whirlwind flight on Tuesday, I'm left with my final 0.8hrs of solo time left. Had a good break on Wednesday to digest the fact that I've passed my flight test, and I was raring to go again. Sadly, with just so little hours left, I could only do a few rounds of circuit flying, something I would consider as a "lap of honour" to celebrate my little goal achieved.

Flight was scheduled at 0930hrs, with the weather not looking good at all once day broke. It was raining when I was travelling to airport. All of the solo flights planned for the morning were cancelled. Good thing that my aircraft won't be used by another student till noon time and my flight will only be a short one.

And so I waited for the cold front to travel past, the clouds to clear and finally see the sunlight. Eventually, the conditions became good enough for my short solo flight and I took the plane up on a wet runway at 1030hrs. It was a very peaceful flight with me the only one flying in the circuit. There was a fair bit of crosswind and I made use of the chance to hone my crosswind landing technique.

To my surprise, I was actually getting the hang of it but my lack of experience showed when I couldn't replicate the same beauty of it in every landing. Time flies when I'm enjoying myself as I had to make a full-stop after four rounds, signalling the end of my solo flying, probably my last ever solo in my career.

The very moment I touched down, memories came flashing back on how far I've come. My first solo on 23rd Jan happened with aplomb till this day 24th Apr when it finished with so much peace. Within these three months, 16hrs of solo time were painstakingly clocked, but it felt like only yesterday I was the greenhorn flying my first solo.

I'm happy yet sad that this is the end of solo flying. Happy because I survived this phase of flying as there is no denying that flying alone with such low experience has its huge risks. I'm also sad that perhaps I will never fly alone again and the enjoyment along with it will end here.

Nevertheless, I'm glad it's done and I can look forward to a more crucial stage of training in the weeks ahead.

Finally I get some good weather condition after waiting for 3hrs

Dinner 240414. You don't get any wings for passing the PPL test, so I made do with a different kinda wings

Friday
My last flight of the week was sort of boring as it was a further revision on previous lessons. Took off at 1530hrs with lots of bush fires around the training area. Visibility was poor but my lesson was on Instruments flying, which means I was flying blind under the hood. Boring nautical miles were covered with me doing the T-Scan on my G1000 screen.

Along the way, my instructor did some violent unusual attitudes for me to recover followed by a demonstration of negative-G dive. I could barely take the dive and panicked for a stop after the plane lost about 400ft within a few seconds. Yeah, I feel like a pussy for being so lousy. However, I was close to throwing up by then and if I pressed on, I'll probably need the sick bag.

The lesson ended with some circuit flying, finishing off with a short-field landing which I executed to such beauty that it received compliments from my instructor. And when I went into the flight centre after tying down the aircraft, another instructor gave me the thumbs up for that landing too. Haha, I won't deny that it felt great.

A crazy week I've had with me achieving my PPL and completing my solo flying. There's still 23hrs of flight time remaining for me. Another six weeks to be spent here I reckon. It can't get any sooner.

This blue sky was soon covered with smoke from bush burning

Week 55: PPL Flight School Week 24

Monday
After the last minute flight I had the day before, I get scheduled for my third solo nav flight today. I have kind of ran out of places to fly to. Or rather, interesting places that are worth the time. So, I chose two airfields have never been to, one of which is at the edge of my map.

Along the way, I got to fly past the Grampians mountain range. Having been there before on ground, it was quite a sight to view it from 4500ft in the air, and it took way faster to get there by air. It was a pretty good day with fairly blue skies, making the view out of my cockpit even better.

Flying to the edge of my map did give me some sort of special feel in which that any further ahead I go, I will be lost. What's there beyond the map? What are the beautiful features that I will not have the chance to explore? Questions lingered in my mind as I circled overhead the airfield and made a u-turn back to base. It was a fulfilling flight as I got to go where I wanted to and I'm left with 2.5hrs of solo nav time to have my last chance of exploration.

The airfield on the edge of my map 

Grampians

Some mountains I was flying over

Clear blue sky

30 degrees AoB

Back on the ground safely with the sun setting

Moon in the evening twilight

Tuesday
One hour of sim session in the middle of the day. My instructor was a very experienced and knowledgeable pilot in instruments flying and I was very eager to learn from him. After deciding on flying instrument approach, he briefed me very patiently on how it is done firstly on paper, then proceeding on to a demonstration on the sims.

Put the plane on autopilot,  he set everything up and ran through every aspect of the approach with me. from holding to timing to height to descending. This was probably the most enriching sim session I've had. I'm glad that I was able to understand and absorb whatever he taught me, asking him as many questions as I could. Hopefully I'll get to fly the real thing with him when the time comes.

Simulator

Fog at 0645hrs on Wednesday

Can barely find my plane. Tough luck, flight cancelled.

Thursday
The prelude to D-Day is here. I was planned for my Pre-PPL Test assurance flight at 1300hrs. This sortie is one which will test how good you are at whatever you've learnt so far, excluding the navigation part. It consists of circuit flying and area flying.

I started the flight with circuit flying. Taking off with the short-field take-off technique, I applied full power with brakes depressed and released them upon hitting full engine RPM. Applying some slight back pressure on my yoke, I let the aircraft lift off about 50kts, climbing at 62kts for 200ft before adopting 74kts and retracting my flaps at 300ft AGL.

That wasn't so tough, the tougher part came with the short-field landing. I had to be around 62kts when over the threshold, which wasn't an easy speed to maintain especially when I had slight crosswind hitting me. With the lower speed means I lose more control over my plane and it's way tougher to land in crosswind conditions. Nevertheless, I did alright and had a safe landing. Next was flapless landing which wasn't as tough. Then came the normal landing with crosswind technique, which wasn't so beautiful, but we headed for the training area anyway.

Climbing to 5000ft and heading west, I ran through the things that needed to be done. First, I had to do steep turns at 45 degrees angle of bank while maintaining my height within +/- 100ft. Perhaps the weather conditions were good that day, I managed to keep to the tolerance.

Next came the stalling - clean and incipient. Had to do the HASELL checks first before I commenced with the practice. With clean stall, I put the engine to idle and try to maintain my height by applying back pressure. Slowly the stall warning horn came on. After such a long time of not doing it, I had forgotten the great amount of force needed to stall the plane. Ended up my stalls weren't that great. With incipient stall, I set up the plane in approach configuration at 75kts with 20degrees flaps. Once I heard the stall warning come on, I pitch down the aircraft.

Next on was IF practice which I had to fly under the hood. Did a climbing turn as well as a normal Rate-1 turn. It wasn't that tough, managed to get through it without any issues. Finally came the PFL, a thing which I always can't get it done efficiently. My first PFL wasn't good as I selected a field with sheeps and I was way too high to land on it. Upon seeing my mistake of not flying a usual circuit width with regards to the field I've selected, my instructor pointed it out and asked me to try again. This time round, I heeded his advice and managed to do a better PFL.

With that, we headed back to base and did more circuit flying to further sharpen my landings. Eventually, I landed and my instructor was satisfied with my flying and graded me ready for the PPL test, to be held next week with my flight school's principal. I guess I'd have lots of revise and prepare these few days before the D-Day arrives.

Before I got into the plane

Am I ready??