Three Year Anniversary Blues?
Hello Folks,
It's very strange being back here. It's been so long that I've had to re-register, couldn't for the life of me remember my old username and password. Nice new look though, WWW, like what you've done with the place.
It's a quiet afternoon, and I'm feeling nostalgic. Just thought it might be interesting to get a bit of feedback from all you wannabes on my little tale of "woe", and maybe it will squash forever some of the persistant "BA to start pilot sponsorship again imminently" rumours I still keep hearing from my aviator buddies.
Three years ago last weekend, 1st September 2001, I signed a training contract with BA under the older CEP. It had taken a long time to get there, several trips to The Rivers at Cranebank, a most thorough prod-and-poke at BA OH at Gatwick & CAA House,
and even a little fact finding trip to OATS at Kidlington. So to actually have a signed contract (training would start later that year) there in front of me was fab , life's dream etc, and it was up till then the best day of my life. To cap it all, that night england beat germany 5-1 in munich, and I won £10 on the lottery. Luck was going my way.
Then, just a few (10) days later came that awful Tuesday afternoon where the world changed. Like everyone I know, I watched those events live on TV, and knew in the pit of my stomach that as those towers fell, so did my training contract. I guess decency required I should be grateful I wasn't there and sure, I felt sorry for the victims. But I was affected too. Those around me tried to reassure me that "a big company like BA keeps it's contracts" and that sort of pat-on-the-back thing, and I remember a lot of grin-and-bear it posts on PPrune at the time, but such events were right there in the "force majeure" section of the contract, I knew I was stuffed. Sure enough, a "suspension" notice arrived quickly, then a "not till the end of the financial year" then I got an invite to some place called the Concorde Centre (rather like a members club, with a huge bar as I remember)where we all sat round a table and were told that this was the end of the line, but that BA was still committed to the CEP idea in principle. There were some very broken, crushed people in that room. I have a couple of friends in BA management, who to their credit, would always give me honest answers, however grim, and I knew that "committed in principle" translated as "not now, not next year, not for the foreseeable, and maybe not ever".
Part of me hoped things would change, but afghanistan, and the early rumblings about Iraq from the white house made me realise a career in the cockpit was out of my reach. No way could I self sponsor, not a chance. My Mum's a single parent, I'd just finsihed my first degree, and whilst we aren't poor, we are not exactly loaded. I would have to re-evaluate.
So I did, and after a short while doing temp jobs and office work ("aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!") I applied successfully to Nottingham's new graduate medical school. I am now about to start the second year of a 4 year fast track medical course , and I am loving it, though it's mind bendingly hard at times. Quite fancy cardiac surgery at the moment, but who knows? Being close to EMA means on a clear day like today you see lots of aircraft, and of course your mind wonders "what if?"
Yet everything I hear from my BA buddies is black, dark news. Be in no doubt, friends, the idea of corporate-paid ab intio training is deader than concorde. BA is not going to enter into that kind of risk or expense, and considers BA CEP to be the sort of decadent luxury associated with the hangover of nationalisation. There's more chance of Ryanair flying LHR-Auckland. Its gone, people. Give it up. Let go.
At weekends and holidays, I fly when I can, even if it's only gliders or, hell, hang-gliders. I still get the rush from being up there, and maybe there is something satisfyingly pure about a glider compared to a 747-400 after all. Its at those airfields I hear these ridiculous BA CEP resurrection rumours. I'm still in touch with a couple of people who had contracts like me back in 09/01. All of them have given up, moved on, and woken up. They might still fly as a hobby and might, like me, still tingle when they see a aircraft over head or step on one on the way to a summer holiday, but the dream is over. Mr Atta and his buddies jumped all over it.
So that's my little story, and I guess I'll leave it to you whether it has a happy ending or not. Look forward to reading your posts in reply, and please, please, if ever you bump into me at a little airfield as I clamber from my Piper, don't start talking to me about BA's new pilot programme. Or you might be needing one of my senior colleagues, sharpish!
Ta Ta,
ArranDreamer.