ATPL Theoretical Knowledge – What is the Point
Is the content and delivery of the current EASA ATPL Theoretical Knowledge syllabus fit for purpose? It is a question asked by almost any student professional pilot commencing ‘ground school’ and faced with the daunting task of assimilating several thousand pages of knowledge across 14 subjects never before studied, and passing 14 written tests with a minimum 75% pass mark, all in as little as six months. It is probably true to say...
Correction or Crash?
Gill Fowkes, manager of customer and partner school relations at Bristol Ground School, offers an insight into the current pilot recruitment market. There are several indicators that the pilot recruitment market in Europe may have reached a peak, but is this just a temporary setback or the start of a downturn? During the last few years, airlines have been recruiting at an unprecedented rate and industry conferences and forums have...
Aer Lingus Leads Europe in Female Pilot Numbers
A survey by the International Society of Women Airline Pilots (IWSAP)has highlighted the widely varying percentages of female airline pilots between regions and individual airlines. Overall the picture appears to be one of slow progress: 116 airlines provided data for the survey, revealing that out of a total pilot population (for these airlines) of just over 185,000 pilots, around 9,400 were female, making an overall percentage just...
Tayside Graduates Swell Ranks of Professional Female Pilots
Two Dundee-based pilots, Rachel Foyle and Kerrin Dutton, are flying the flag for females in aviation, after successfully completing their flight training at Tayside Aviation. Joining Loganair as First Officer, Rachel will be the first student on the BSc Professional Pilot Aviation Practice course at Tayside Aviation to fly Loganair’s ‘Embraer’ jet. Rachel could be on course to become a Captain in just two years. Neil Hughes,...
Teaching Helicopter Trial Lessons
During the helicopter instructor course, you get a lot of advice on how to teach each lesson of the PPL(H) course. The novice instructor practises constantly, usually being given a lesson, then having to give it back…and I never got over the weird feeling engendered by pretending to teach basics such as straight and level flying to a 30,000 hour instructor! But you do this for every lesson. Every lesson, that is, except...
Professional Pilot Flight Training – what does the future hold?
Peter Moxham, one of the most influential figures in UK flight training, takes a look at the challenges currently facing the UK professional pilot training industry and what can be done about them. I am unable to recall any time when so many issues face the UK Professional Pilot flight training world – we live in a time of great technological change with new requirements hitting the street every week and a more unstable political...
