.........by 'complete', I mean the first three examinations have just been taken which complete the first 'phase' of the course - two more phases to go! God knows whether I'll have to retake any though. I feel 'Principles of Flight' was the hardest. Well, they were ALL difficult, I can't say how I'm feeling about them really.
It's been absolutely ages since I last found a spare moment to post on here. I guess that alone reflects just how busy I have been with everything on this course. I have had many moments where I've questioned absolutely everything and even considered other careers, but I do believe that such thoughts are all part of the overall 'journey' with regard to this career path and that it is human nature to become (sometimes) overwhelmingly irrational when under the most intense heat of stress. This is stress that I cannot say I have ever experienced before - even compared to when I used to occasionally work the insane 0900-2000 shifts in retail, 5 days a week. I cannot say the three years I spent studying for my Degree can compare either. The sheer amount of studying we are expected to undertake for this course is just overwhelming. I have never felt 'on top' of it all yet...but I have been putting a huge degree of effort to try to keep the targets in sight.
I had three exams yesterday; 'Principles of Flight', 'Performance' and 'Aircraft General Knowledge'. I woke up at 0620hrs with a BANG - a text from my course friend, Sohail, reminding me to take my Passport to hand to the invigilator at the start of the first exam. This was the first setback of the day for me. Having had barely four hours sleep and being woken up by this text (my alarm was set for 0700hrs for goodness sake!), reality quickly rushed back to me as I realised my Passport was at home...locked away. Doubting my own thoughts I threw everything out of my desk drawers in a frantic panic whilst thinking that there COULD be a chance that my Passport was hidden in my flying logbook/pilots license or something...but it wasn't! :( I decided that there were probably other people who were in a similar situation to me and luckily I had my driving license in my wallet...which was accepted :).
First exam of the day was Principles of Flight. To be honest, I had approached this exam pretty certain in the knowledge that I was going to find it too hard because I had focused more on studying AGK and Performance intensively over the weekend. I simply wasn't in a position to pass Principles of Flight from the second the paper was presented to me. I have always struggled with getting to grips with the concepts of 'Aircraft Stability' and aerodynamics throughout the first phase of the course and I just knew, deep down in my heart that if I'm unlucky on one exam, it would most likely be PoF.
I wasn't wrong...
As soon as I opened the page and saw the questions I thought "oh great...". Still, I took my time on and answered every single question and double checked my answers. If I am to fail that subject, then I hope it is pretty close to a pass at least, because then I'll know that I'm not as bad at the topic as I thought I was! Anyway, the exam finished and I left feeling indifferent. I was just wanting to get AGK out of the way next.
AGK was much better I think. Although it was still ridiculously difficult to the point that I cannot possibly speculate on whether I have passed/failed, I do feel I understood most of the questions (85 to be precise!). Checking through all 85 of my answers took what felt like an iceage (exam was two hours long) and I left the exam feeling pretty tired and not really feeling like enduring the huge three hour gap until my final exam, Performance.
As expected, Performance was HELL...although I was thankful that we only had five graph questions. Students who have taken recent Performance examinations have felt as though the one hour time limit has been too short because the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) have been throwing in sometimes up to 12 graph questions in one exam! Throughout our study of this subject, our lecturer always used to tell us that we should be aiming to spend a maximum of three minutes per graph question. Realistically, this is never usually the case - sometimes we spend up to five minutes so if you do the math, you can see that the people who had up to 12 questions in their exams could have been spending the entire 60 minutes exam time fighting to get them done! To put it into perspective, there are 34 questions (total) in the Performance exam so getting the graph questions out of the way is crucial. I would show you an example graph question but I won't bore you. Seeing godknowshowmany lines on a page isn't exactly my idea of 'fun' either.
Still, we were LUCKY to have only 5 graph questions and I think I have done ok on those. In the mock examinations, our Performance lecturer also gave us 5 graph questions and being worth 2-3 marks EACH, they were the SOLE REASON why I failed to achieve 80-90%. I simply made silly little mistakes - mistakes I am quite sure I have not made again, thankfully. We'll see anyway. Again, it's a close call. I've either just passed Performance...or come so close. That's how I feel about it! I'm trying to keep a positive head though.
After the exams finished, everyone started asking "how did you find it? What did you put for x, y, z? I think I've done bad/great/wonderful/blahblah" which was seriously irritating. Seriously, what is WRONG with some people? After an exam, I don't particularly feel like finding out from the people who were achieving straight 90's (%) in their mocks that they put x and y as answers and not v and w (like me)! I didn't discuss my answers though, but kept them to myself - just telling them that I found the exams "pretty reasonable!". In order to not look completely antisocial (let's face it, I was tired and wanted to go home...), I joined them for a few drinks. We decided to go to the 'Bavarian Beerhouse' (http://www.bavarian-beerhouse.co.uk/index.php/aboutus/towerhill) located just abeam Tower Hill. If anywhere, I'd have preferred to have found a nice cosy pub (I've never been a beer drinker - never liked it), but I had a whiskey and a few glasses of red which made a nice change. Feeling a little tipsy (yes yes, I'm a self-confessed 'light weight'. I very rarely drink so when I do it always takes me by surprise! Alcohol simply doesn't matter to me, that's all), I left at 1900hrs for the tube home as my friend (probably one of my closest friends now) and 'D' decided to head off too.
I don't know what else to write now so I'll wrap this up. This week I'm not doing much to be honest. I wanted to book a check flight with an instructor but sadly all the slots are taken at my flying club (massive fail). So far I've done absolutely nothing today other than relax in my room, which has been nice in a way...but also a little bit depressing too. After all, when you are alone, the only thing you have for company are your own thoughts. It's been weird not having to study and quite nice too. I think I need to eat something now so I'm going out for the evening. Tomorrow my new running regime will begin. I don't have to worry this week about only running for a limited amount of time because of studying commitments so I can step up the pace a bit. Running is the most wonderful escape - the only time where I feel completely free :)
Do you know what would make me happy? If I had a running partner - someone who can join me - someone to talk to! It gets a bit lonely being confined to a room most nights. I'm going to make a positive move and research Badminton clubs around here. I've not played properly since I couldn't take the opportunity I had presented to me when I was 17. In a way, I've always regretted it.
Until next time. Have a great week.
David
Pursuing a dream: Follow me as I study and train to become a Commercial Pilot.
