Originally Posted by
Genghis the Engineer
I'd just like to endorse this.
Experienced pilots have planned hundreds upon hundreds of flights that didn't happen. Due weather, due scheduling, due tech problems, you name it. We generally don't have a record of them, but we learned from every occasion we checked the met, NOTAMs, tech records, weight and balance - and a dozen other things. Take every planning exercise seriously, and you'll learn from every planning exercise. Then when the aviation gods smile on you and you end up starting the engine(s), you've rehearsed all this so many times in your mind it all goes very smoothly.
I recall as a young professional being there in ops at before first take-off every morning I was able, routinely when I didn't have a flight booked but often did manage to grab a back seat, and learned from every such opportunity. Throughout my life there are trips, from cross countries to test flights that I planned, sometimes actively trained for, that didn't happen - and I learned from every occasion. When you're there in uniform in ops first thing every morning, it becomes normal and expected, as does the regularity of your flying because "oh yes, she's here, instructor X has a spare slot as does aircraft Y this afternoon, put them all together". Won't happen every day, but she still needs to be there so it happens at-all. And it will steadily get easier.
It won't all turn around in a week, but if she shows the determination and professionalism to make her own luck, it'll all come together. If she gives up because it's not solving itself in the first week then, bluntly, she's not Captain material. And nobody's going to recruit a co-pilot, or an instructor, who isn't Captain material.
G
I’ll endorse this endorsement - my old flying school is sadly long gone, but I was the student who was always there, helping with ops, sometimes helping new students with ATPL questions etc, reading in the library and eventually yes I ended up doing things like taxiing tech aircraft round from the hangar when they’d been gone tech or been in for check…(not sure that would be allowed any more but ho-hum). That isn’t in any way to suggest that your daughter should not be treated as a (very highly paying) customer and that she shouldn’t expect the product she was sold by the marketing material: this thread should be referenced on the “integrated vs modular” hamsterwheel.
Here is the thing: your daughter will eventually be one in thousands of wet CPL holders with an MEIR and dreams of big jets. Beyond having a solid ATPL average and first time/first series passes, which is what will get you through the first sift of CVs (sorry but for that most part that is the reality) she will need to think about what makes her stand out from other candidates and, indeed, what she will talk about at interview when asked about how she dealt with/deals with adversity... The course she is enrolled in is a huge investment and she should seize on every opportunity to immerse herself in aviation/ops that provides.
A lot of aviation is hanging around/faffing; not just standbys (home and airport) but waiting for slot times, tech delays, you name it. Airport standby is a sore one as I have recently spent hours on it and not been called once, having to basically sit and
gossip and watch top gear read the FCOM from cover to cover
.
Final point: plan a flight, chair fly it, use a procedural trainer, whatever…. Get those flows fluid (have the ATO’s manuals and AFM to read through too!), get that RT up to CAP413 standard and she will have so much more capacity free for the actual flying that she will be able to make the most of the fantastic opportunity you have afforded her.
I wish her the very best of luck, hopefully all comes good.
Edited to add: during her first type rating, she should expect a LOT of her work to be self study, including learning SOPs with her sim partner sat in a hotel room. This will be the reality of the rest of her career - you’re expected to do a lot of reading and studying in your spare time and to digest a lot of information, not just about the aircraft but procedures, changes to plates and the like and it isn’t spoon fed; no crew meals loaded? Who do you speak to? What does OMA say? When I went from Boeing to Airbus I spent ages in my study at home sitting there learning flows and changes on a “cardboard bomber” because that meant time in the sim or during line training time wasn’t spent on teaching me stuff I already needed to know… and that means a course completed in minimum footprint and that is what airlines want.
STF