The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators has just announced that Mrs Phylis Somers, benefactor of the Guild's 'J N Somers Scholarship', will fund another scholarship.
Mrs Somers generously instigated the scholarship in 1999 in memory of her husband, the late J N ‘Nat’ Somers, who was a Test Pilot and a
member of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators from 1946.
The J N Somers Scholarship is for a fully-funded frozen ATPL and IR,
and includes a JOC/MCC module.
The selection process will be carried out this year, and the lucky winner will begin training in Spring 2009.
Extract from an article about the 2007 Somers Scholarship:
Nearly a hundred applicants complied with the scholarship’s entry requirements, from which 20 were invited to sit the Morrisby psychometric tests at City University, London. The performance of six of these candidates was considered exceptional, meriting a new top rating of A Plus. The three men and three women, all in their twenties, later took the Guild’s practical pilot aptitude tests at the Officers and Aircrew Selection Centre at RAF Cranwell before being interviewed by a Guild selection board consisting of Past Masters Rod Fulton and Dick Felix and Liveryman David Lewis who established the candidates’ motivation and suitability for a career in aviation.
Captain Felix says: “We are conscious of how big a moment this is for the candidates and we try to put them at ease and give them every opportunity to express themselves. Whether they succeed or fail, our decision is likely to be a turning point in their lives, so we take our duties very seriously. We all come from flying training backgrounds ourselves and have many years of experience in pilot selection, so we know what we are looking for. And that ‘certain something’ can be apparent from the moment a person enters the room.
“While this year we had six outstanding candidates to interview, if we didn’t believe that any of them had reached the required standard, we would say so. It happened when the 2005 Somers Scholarship was not awarded for that reason.
“Once we have made our choice and the new scholar goes off to train, we watch their progress to see how they are getting on. It is especially rewarding to note that all the Somers Scholars who have completed their training have quickly secured successful flying jobs with airlines. I know they are extremely grateful, as we are, to Mrs Phyllis Somers for this privileged start to their professional flying careers.”
Full details and a downloadable application form will be posted on the Guild's website very soon: GAPAN
Good Luck.
.