Hi all, it is Brona here again for the second installment of my cadet blog. You can read my first blog post here. Since my last update, I finished my final five hours of solo flight training in Waterford and have headed back to Cork for PPL exam.
During the solo flights on sunny days, I had a chance to admire the nature of this beautiful country, including sights such as Hook Head. it is incredible to look out of the small window of the aircraft and see buildings, fields and people. That gave me the motivation I needed to study for my upcoming exams.
I stayed focused while studying all 9 PPL subjects to be well prepared for the exams. Getting a good understanding of the type and style of the questions in each exam was invaluable for me.
The PPL exams were held over a Monday and Tuesday. I passed five exams on Monday and the remaining four exams on Tuesday. Passing all exams first time allows me to continue my training and move onto the next stage of the course which is the ATPL’s.
The ATPL start with five weeks of ground school. In just five short weeks we covered Aircraft General Knowledge, Instruments, Operational Procedures and Air Law. At the end of the first module, we have mock exams. All integrated students must pass at least three out of four subjects.
Currently I’m at week five of ground school and the days of my mock exams approaching a little bit too fast! Thankfully, after the mock exam we will have extra week of preparation in academy to be ready for IAA official exams.
The first five weeks of ATPL has been the most challenging part of the course so far but it is very interesting. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained in such a short period of time but a good attitude to hard work will (hopefully) pay off with a great result.
