Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Tuesday blues
We began learning General Navigation this week, and what we learned amazed me. about the shape of the earth, the way we navigate with different charts and different diagrams, how the chart is made etc. sometimes I wonder how would a Man make this sorts of chart, or rather, invent these works of art. for accuracy and navigation purposes.
I realised I, as someone who wanted to be a pilot for this long, do not know much about the world map. ask me about types and where oceans are, what and where some countries are, I do not know. sometimes, I feel ashamed for not knowing these general knowledge. I blame myself for not taking my education seriously when I was younger, ahh. those youthful days, being carefree, constantly standing outside classrooms, being sent to the discipline mistress. who would have thought I would end up here, studying the hardest I can, working the best I could to succeed in my dream job? Never once have I put in this much effort to any work in my entire life. haha. funny how life works.
I wonder, what would happened if I had stayed in Singapore for my education? or even, stayed in Liverpool till my degree is over? would I be different? judging from the many things I have learnt thus far, I hope I can be a better Man, and by that, it means letting go of things that are weighing you down, and things that are not meant to be.
1:05 AM
Friday, May 09, 2014
Long Weekend break
So apparently we finished 3 subjects and is given a long break to catch up with CBT and our own revision. the standard rate of studying is about 300 - 400 questions daily, with notes writing (or if u have super human power, u can memorize everything, good for you) or some form of memorizing, IE screenshots.
We are currently done with Operational procedures, Mass and Balance and RNAV. seems like they are a breeze, and Ops is somewhat an easier version of Airlaw.
I realised, there's only these few things to do in Clearways (while ground school of cause, NZ is such an awesome place to travel or do a road trip! ) there's a really run down gym, football is weekly but I don't play that kind of sport, Touch rugby is more common now, and I am pretty glad it is, probably once every 3 -4 days?
there are a few cats as house pets here, obviously, cadets come and go, thus, they switch homes time to time, sleeping in your room etc, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE CAT FOOD. haha. well, I caught 2 baby hedgehogs once, but it got so stinky I let them go after awhile.
All in all, 8 MORE WEEKS BEFORE FIRST FLIGHT!
2:47 AM
Monday, May 05, 2014
In the midst
Now that the excitement is gone, I start to realise, the stress taking over. the magnitude of workload given, the non stop work to clear 14 subjects in a mere 6 months, I start to ponder on my happy go lucky self in Liverpool today while at work. I didn't expect myself to be upset in the morning when I got to school and my stuff got shifted to a lone seat beside my actual seat by a friend of mine. It was just a small prank, but I felt irritated by his actions. then again, I stepped back and wonder, is my short temper back again?
I realised, its the work taking a toll on me, somehow, a small part of me thinks I have to catch up, and pull up my average. 90% isn't good enough when others are scoring 93s, the competitive side of me take over but as usual, since young, I wasn't good in studying. But it was good to prove my A math teacher wrong, " you cannot do maths, some people are destine to be an arts person. you are one of them" and wala, A for A levels on H2 maths, and 100% for every test in uni. But this, is a whole new ball game. as you can see, my course isn't as bonded as other course batches. we are split into 4 groups! with just a mere 6 of us. can u believe that? C is a social butterfly, S and L, T and R and theres me with the HK guys. I don't blame them. everyone has their own comfort zone, but what about working as a team? I despise myself for blaming them for not working as a team on the earlier months, but who am I to complain when I am one of the contributing factor too? I decided to work on it once more. The Qatar group will be a team. I suggested a dinner get together on Thursday, hope it will work.
Back to studies, Although it is stressful, I am actually glad to take up this challenge. Because this is entirely different. In school, you do as you are told, with no direction, no aim, no goal but to score As for your parents to be proud. But at CTC, you don't have to be told anything. The common aim is to be a pilot, to fly. to take flight. No questions asked. everyone strives to do their best. Even with the subtle complains by everyone or the laughter and fronts people placed in front of everybody. We all know god damn well, "I am stressed"
but I will do it. and look back, 2 years time with 3 strips on my shoulders and know it is all worth it. The skies, the clouds. I can wait for the next 7 subjects to be over, to grab the control stick once again. to do radio calls, to do checks, to fly, to see, to navigate.
Throughout these 4 months, I could see myself change quite significantly, being clean, neat, presentable, trying to make sure my voice isn't as loud as before, watching what to say and what not to, working together (still trying my best to bond QA05) and planning for the future.
I am still worried about my eyes, my condition seems interesting, to be able to control both eyes separately, to view 2 different image if I want to, it feels cool. but that got me an initial fail during my class 1 at Gatwick. Pray for the best. I hope, 200k doesn't go down the drain just because of this.
meanwhile, I gotta thank P, she changed me quite a bit, telling me off on my habits and what nots, although she gave me so much problems in CTC, a
roller coaster ride I must say. Even though I know, ultimately, shit is going to happen. But I guess, when it does, this time. I will walk away. as I did for the
first.
in a totally unrelated subject, im sorry D. for not being the man I used to be, and for not being the man you want me to be.
-Min
11:38 PM
Friday, May 02, 2014
Module 1 pass!
I got my results 2 days ago, pretty anxious when the instructors told us that our results are out, but they added "dont worry, everyone passed" a huge relief to my anxiety to Principles of Flight paper. My favourite subject which i found out i got 3/8 of the allowed errors after the examinations. luckily, those were the only 3 questions i got wrong for the paper #asian. the best part of it was that i won a bet with Phoebe, she is gonna be my maid for a week. and the bet? she thought i would fail a subject. haha. in a way, she gave me some positivity during the times i dread for my results. thank you phoebe............for being my maid. hah.
the past few days were alright, currently learning Mass and Balance of the aircraft, and Operations module about the rules and regulations of the a/c, the control zone etc. i am pretty shocked once again on the depth of accuracy, precision and safety measurements being placed on the a/c and the airspace we are going to fly in, with all the safety measures and implementations, it is highly improbable that any accident would happen. (10^-9 - figure taken from AGK ) hahaha. but then again, accidents still happen. such is the way of life. nothing is impossible, even with such a low probability.
this module, we are learning Mass and Balance, Area Navigation, Operations, General Navigation, Flight planning, Human Factors, Performance. So far, the first three seems feasible, but the harder ones are the last 4 topics. better buck up with studying while i can before workload takes over!
currently, our standard working is till thursday, before taking a break until saturday to restart our work engine.
another aspect i like about the DragonAir batch, they stick as a team, work as a team, help each other as a team, everything is never about I, it is about US. something Qatar lacks. with all the individualism in this team. its pretty tough to crack through everyone's wall. with some people getting on my nerves lately with their actions, i kinda gave up on trying to build camaradarie amongst us.
Focus.
Focus on passing and be a pilot.
that's the main priority.
to fly.
to touch the sky.
5:41 AM