A New Moderator - Who Is He?

[scroggs]

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, Other Peeps and WWW. And the small child lurking in the corner. You may have noticed a new moniker appear next to WWW's in the top left corner of the Wannabes page. Equally, you may not have. In any case, it's there, and I am he. You'll be delighted to know that WWW has been forced, kicking and screaming, to undergo the rigours of training on the Boeing 737-300 for his new employer, and so is unable to fulfil his duties to you lot. Accordingly, our Lord Danny, or Capt Pprune, has asked me to step in temporarily.
Unlike yer man WWW, I left the Wannabe period of life more than a few years ago, so I'm going to need your help. I want to know what's going on out there in Wannabe land, where you're training (and how you feel about your school), who you've applied to, how you've got on. I want to hear not just from the guys and girls at the PPL to CPL (or frozen ATPL) stage, but also the peeps going from commuters to regionals, regionals to IT, and IT to majors. Not forgetting military to civilian. While we are primarily a UK-based facility, I want to know how it's done in the rest of the world. Give me a clue, so I can pass on the info when I'm asked.
To fill you in on my background, I'm a B747 SFO at Virgin Atlantic. I came there from 22 years in the RAF where I spent most of my time on the C130, in tactical, refuelling and strategic roles. I also spent 5 years as a QFI and CFI on a University Air Squadron, which involved primary interviews for the RAF, so I'm aware of the trials and tribulations of the trainee pilot. Way back, I spent a very short time trying to learn to be a fighter pilot on Hawks and Hunters. Fortunately for me, I saw the light and asked to transfer to heavies - so here I am, still alive and here to (hopefully) help you!
Please keep it coming - it's great to read your contributions. If you have a question you specifically think I may be able to answer - e-mail me. I won't bite!
Lastly, the very best of luck to all of you. Don't forget Wannabes when you've succeeded - come back and tell us how you did it!

Cheers, y'all.
scroggs

[This message has been edited by scroggs (edited 21 January 2001).]

[Flypuppy]

Welcome to the playpen Scroggs! Hope you don't have too many nervous breakdowns while you are here.

I guess you know about the changes that are the JAA requirements. They have made the rocky road to a CPL even more rocky and boulder strewn ;) not to mention more expensive. Thats what makes life as a wannabe soo much fun though (NOT). I am sure there are other more enlightened than I that can pass on the info you seek. Have fun!!

[Dizzy]

I don't think I'm worthy of even speaking to you with your experience, but seeing as I am cheeky:
Welcome Aboard!
My learned colleagues comments about JAR are seconded!

[scroggs]

Hey, in this place I'm a learner! In any case, there's no place for big egos in aviation - you can learn from others of far less experience than yourself. Believe me, I know that well, and have the bruises on my ego to prove it!
As for JAAs, yes, I am aware that they have brought many problems on our Wannabes. However, I'm not familiar with the details. I'd be very happy to have you fill me in on this thread....

[kopbhoy2]

Hello scroggs, welcome aboard!

We can be a noisy bunch at times, no real problem to you though! ;)

[Dizzy]

JAR, mmmmm where shall I start?
Cost? Class one medical pre JAR - £250
Class one medical JAR - £400
I thought the JAR intentions were to consolidate and bring cost down.
I could go on forever but here is not the place and I have some serious studying to do!!!
I'll let someone else tell you about the exams saga?

[HomerSimpson]

Welcome Scroggs!

I am sure you have been around this forum for some time hiding in the shadows. As WWW is busy for a while, hopefully your wealth of experience will help many of us wannabes get to where we want to be. Questions at the ready!!!!

Homer ;)

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Duff, Duff, that Wonderful stuff. Ummmmm Doughnuts

[scroggs]

Yes, you're right. I've been posting on Pprune, including Wannabes, for over 3 years now. Obviously, I've contributed where I've felt my experience gives me something to offer, which is why my appearances have been fairly rare! You'll find plenty by me about Virgin, CVs, and a few other topics, but absolutely nothing about PPLs, CPLs and similar things. That's why I want to read from you guys what your problems are - and this is all stuff that we can add to the store of knowledge for our Mentoring Scheme, which is hopefully fairly close to seeing the light of day, and in which I will be involved.
Perhaps most importantly, what I'd like to see is the full stories of those who have recently succeeded in getting their first real airline job - both to encourage the others, and to see the various ways in which it can be done. It's up to you guys.....

[monkeyboy]

Welcome aboard, scroggs!
I sat on a Herc pilot's knee once whilst my Dad was jumping out of the side door with a duvet cover strapped to his back at 800/1000 feet. It could have been you! :)

[Perfect PFL]

Welcome to the wannabes. :)

Any chance of Virgin starting a sponsorship scheme soon, please :)

I hope you will be able to help us wannabes who have not quite made it yet. I'm still in a couple of schemes at the moment, so fingers crossed.

It would be good to hear the views of people who have been successful in getting sponsorship over the past year or two, and any tips from them.

[scroggs]

Perfect,
Virgin did try a limited sponsorship scheme a couple of years back. The successful candidates (there were 4, I think) became Second Officers (cruise pilots) on the A340, with the possibility of becoming full blown FOs on the A320 after a certain number of hours. The experiment has not been repeated. My own speculation about why not is that a) we get plenty of applications from people with the necessary 2500+ hours on jets and b) the cost savings were not significant. I wouldn't expect it to happen again any time soon, but you never know.....
So, the help I can offer is, for the moment, restricted to the information we can gather here on Wannabes - so keep it coming. Once the Mentor scheme is closer to realisation, I hope we can offer more practical help.
Now I'm off to New York until Thursday, so be good while I'm gone, boys and girls!! :)

[VFE]

More experience and advice on hand now for us wannabes - fantastic!

Glad you're here Scroggs.

Now I shall go away and think of some questions.....!

BTW, I am at the pre - intergrated stage. Just scraping the dosh together. Got a few hours towards my PPL but not much.

Best wishes, VFE.

[scroggs]

Back from JFK, so best behaviour now, boys and girls!

[hasell]

Hi Scroggs, This mentor scheme sounds like a great idea.
I'm a self improver, currently only have 16 hrs towards my PPL and the RHS of a shiny big jet seem a long way of. However encouragement and good advice from someone like yourself is most welcome...
Incidently what what your response be to a PPruner aboard your flight requesting a jumpseat ??

[scroggs]

Hasell,
if any Wannabe made himself known to me, he or she would be very welcome to visit the flight deck. As you'll see from my profile, I'm not a commander with VS yet, so there may be a veto from the LHS, but it's unlikely. As I've said elsewhere, there are legitimate reasons why it might not be possible - but if you don't ask, you don't get!
As a generalisation, PPLs (and those on the way) who show a polite interest (and don't try and take over!) will usually get either a t/o or landing jump seat in my aeroplane.

[hasell]

Excellent and thankyou Scroggs -just what a wannabee like me wanted to hear.

[scroggs]

Hello Peeps,
just got back from Orlando. On the way outbound, a young chap with 20 or so hours made polite inquiries about the job while visiting the flight deck, and was rewarded with a jump seat for the approach into MCO - so, it does happen!
You lot have been busy while I've been away - I've got a lot of reading to do. Hope you've been good...!

[Hot&Heavy]

Scroggs,

could you perhaps tell us some more about the mentoring scheme? eg. structure, how it works, how you match up mentors with wannabees etc etc, who's involved and when (with the most educated guess possible) it is likely to come to fruition?

Cheers, H&H

[scroggs]

Actually, no I can't! I'm not running the scheme, I'm just one of those who've offered to help out in whatever way we can. I know a lot of work is going on at the moment with respect to the Pprune Fund, the mentoring scheme, and pre-Pprune Bash seminars for Wannabes. As and when concrete proposals are agreed and published, you guys will be among the first to know (I hope I'll know slightly before you...!), and I hope that we will be able to offer a few of you (selected by ability, promise and determination) some serious help toward your chosen career.And offer many more peeps lots of advice and encouragement!
Please, wait just a little longer and be patient. InFinRetirement will announce the next stage just as soon as he can!

[Buggs]

Welcome Scroggs,

In response to your earlier request on PPL info, I'll add my niggle about the new JAA license. I gained my PPL last October and applied for my license from the CAA. I was happy to find out that the cost of application had gone down by around 50 quid but mortified to find out that I would have to pay an extra £60 annually to keep it current! Under the old rules you only had to stump up a one off sum for £206. Being 22, I can see that the CAA is going to make a tidy profit out of me and being in the final year of University, money is not something I have much of!!

Cheers,
Buggs