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Introduction,
I have always dreamed of flying since I was three years old, my grandpa would tell me stories of when he was up in the air flying, he used to tell me about all the old equipment he used to use and how it had changed over the years, while most would be bored, I was fascinated. Then I started to dream of flying aircraft just like him. Anytime we flew somewhere whether it was just flying down to Auckland on a small Dash-8 Q300 (aka the Q-300) or flying in a Boeing 737 to fly to somewhere like Fiji, that moment the plane took off I had a huge smile on my face, I loved it, and I wanted to fly too. I want to be an airline pilot. But flying any aircraft is no easy task, especially flying an aircraft with more than one engine. To get ahead of others that would be also going into this career I will start working on my skills, my qualities and my qualifications early, this will help me get ahead of other applicants and it will show my future employers how passionate and hard I can work. An example of working hard would be how much pilots have to do before, before, during and after take-off. Pilots are supposed to check the overall condition of the aircraft before and after every flight to make sure there is no damage. Ensure that the aircraft is balanced and below its maximum weight limit. Verify that the fuel tank is adequate and that weather conditions are acceptable. Prepare and submit flight plans to air traffic control. Communicate with air traffic control over the aircraft’s radio system. Operate and control aircraft along planned routes and during takeoffs and landings. Monitor engines, fuel consumption, and other aircraft systems during flight. Respond to changing conditions, such as weather events and emergencies. Navigate the aircraft across the country or ocean by using cockpit instruments and visual references, greet passengers and assist them if necessary.
Great things about the job and Challenges,
Being an Airline Pilot would be amazing, it would be my dream job, the hours would be very flexible, you will get to meet so many new people, you get travel discounts, and you will get to see so many new and amazing places, you have a very large salary, I will get to do what I love, and of course, you just can’t beat the view. However, as much of an amazing job as this sounds like, it is quite hard to get to, not only would you need to get NCEA level 3 in English, Maths, and Physics, but you would also need to train for around 5 years to get all your qualifications you will need like your Multi-Engine Rating, Instrument Rating, -so you can fly above the clouds- and you will need your CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence), and learn to fly the airliner itself.
Qualifications, Pay, and Benefits,
To reach my dream of flying airliners for companies like Air NZ and Quantis for a living I will need a lot of qualifications. To start off I will need to get my PPL (Private Pilots Licence) before I can start training for anything else, to get my PPL I will need to study six theory subjects, those include: Human Factors, Air Law, Meteorology, Navigation, Flight Radio Telephony and General Aircraft Technical Knowledge. I will also need to complete an ICAO English Proficiency Assessment and have an absolute minimum of 40 hours of flight time in my logbook, -60 hours is recommended- pass a flying skills test, pass a Class 1 medical exam and spend 50 hours of covering the CAANZ PPL Syllabus. Then to get my CPL I will need to satisfy the Civil Aviation Authority's fit and proper person requirements, for example, by showing that I don’t have any serious convictions, pass the ADAPT pre-pilot test, this includes multi-tasking, Cognitive Reasoning, Co-ordination and Fixed Wing/Flight Test. I will also need a Flight Instructor Rating (C Category), a MEIR (Multi-Engine Instrument Rating), and around 150 hours of flight time in my log book. It will cost a lot to become an airline pilot but the pay will definitely be worth it because even if you are flying Air New Zealand’s smallest two aircraft, the Q300 and ATR-72, your starter salary is around $80k a year and up to $150k a year until you move up to larger aircraft, an international A380 Captan can earn up to $300k a year! This can be shown by Careers.govt and my graph below. The benefits of being a pilot are quite nice to say the least, you get cheaper flights to places, that's if your flying with the company you work for, new pilots have a minimum of 12 days off per month, an average pilot gets 15 days off a month and a senior pilot can enjoy up to 20 days off a month. The pilot's family is also able to fly free or at heavily discounted rates if he is the one flying.
The Qualities Required,
The two qualities I have chosen are essential to being an airline pilot, Commitment and Resilience. Commitment will be key in getting all my qualifications I will need to fly small and big aircraft from a Dash-8 Q300 to an Airbus A-380, I will need the commitment to study late for all of the exams that I will have, I will need to commit myself to get NCEA level 3 grades on English, Math and Physics, and I will need it to keep on learning even when I don’t understand something, and I will need the commitment to study for hours and practice on a simulator to learn and remember all the controls of the aircraft. This also ties into my second quality Resilience. You have to be resilient if you are going to be a pilot as your job, your gonna need resilience when things get tough as you get into the harder areas of learning, but if you don’t give up and pass the training, studying, learning and testing, it will be very rewarding. You have to have the resilience to complete the things you need to do to do what you want and love, or you won’t be successful. As my expert from SunAir (Trent Rose) said during our call “You gotta stick with it”.
The Competencies Required,
Just like I have two qualities I will need I also have two competencies that I will need. Communication and Critical Thinking can be invaluable to a pilot because without the ability to communicate properly, how is an airline captain going to communicate with his co-pilot what he is going to do, or how is he going to communicate to his crew that he needs something done? How is he going to communicate with the aircraft control tower to see which runway he can land on or if it is safe to land? Communication is an extremely important competency for a pilot to have, and so is critical thinking. Critical Thinking can also nearly be equally important to a pilot, if pilots did not have critical thinking there would be a lot more aircraft crashes in the world, because with critical thinking pilots can evaluate their situation and improvise what to do if there was a system failure, engine failure, or hydraulics failure on their aircraft and they will be able to make the best decision on what to do to save the aircraft and the people inside.
Career plan,
What deliberate acts I need to do in Y10,
One of the deliberate acts that I am currently doing is that I have joined ATC, (Air Training Corp) I have been in it since the 28th of January 2021 so that would be 1 year and 7 months at the time of writing this. I have also joined the Young Eagles program at the Tauranga Aero Club (TAC), so far I have flown three times with them with them and am going up in a glider soon as well. Deliberate acts that I am going to do or currently trying to would be getting a small job, then I can save up much faster for a PC to make a flight simulator rig to help me train, once I have that sorted out I can start saving for flying lesions to get my PPL. At school, I will be working very hard on my Math, English and writing; I will also be doing an Electronics class in terms 3&4. Unfortunately, because I am still too young to get my PPL and don’t really have the money to pay for flight lessons I wouldn’t really be able to get any qualifications in year 10. However I can work on my qualities and competencies, I can work on committing myself to schoolwork, and doing my best. When I asked my expert what qualities he would be looking for if he was hiring, he said he would be looking for communication skills, and the ability to multi-task is also very important, an example he gave me of using these was “When you're flying around NZ you gotta fly the aircraft but you also gotta think of how much fuel you got, how much fuel do you need, how efficient the engines are being, monitoring systems, looking at engine systems, all while communicating with your other pilot.”
What deliberate acts I need to do in Senior School,
I will need to work very hard to get NCEA level 3 in English, Maths, and Physics, I will also be going for centurion (getting all my NCEA credits). But appart from that, everything else I will need to do is outside of school. I will be working towards flying my first solo flight, gaining my PPL, continuing to study aviation laws, getting my driver's licence, and getting a part-time job to save for a flight school/university, an ideal job would be one in customer service because that would show on my resume that I can deal and interact with customers and clients. An ideal airline training school would have to be The International Aviation Academy of New Zealand or simply (IAANZ), because it is New Zealand’s only professional pilot training centre in a major International Aviation Environment. This is all a lot to do so I will need to be very resilient and not give up, I will need to keep working hard and if I stay committed I will plough through the work, get excellent grades and continue on my chosen career path. Being resilient and committed will help a lot.
Conclusion,
Becoming an Airline Pilot is hard, very hard, but that is why being committed and resilience is so important, that is also why I am planning ahead for my career, to make sure that I am prepared for what is to come because I really want my dream job to be my future job. To help ensure I get this job I will need to be a pilot that stands out to employers. I will need to have good structural awareness, good leadership and teamwork skills, good communication skills, problem-solving and decision-making skills, and pretty good knowledge of aircraft and flying, as well as being good at manual control of the aircraft. I will continue to learn all of these as I grow. The reason I love flying so much can only be best described by my favorite quote, “Sometimes, flying feels too God-like to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see.” – Charles A. Lindbergh. And to those who also want to be pilots or aviators when whether is be for a job or for fun, remember this, “A ‘good’ landing is one from which you can walk away. A ‘great’ landing is one after which you can use the plane again.”
Bibliography:
U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Massey University's Bachelor of Aviation
New Zealand Diploma in Aviation
Documentary: Life of a Student Pilot
Aero Guard Flight Training Center
AeroStar Training Services LLC
ATP: How to
ATP: Pilot Career Program
Link to Google Doc Report: LINK
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