WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT One pilot recalls the difficulty of training to be a pilot while holding down a full-time job By Dale Mudie, nextGen Steering Group Chair I’d do extra hours of studying. It made me feel physically sick at times, and it was fatiguing, especially when I thought about the task I was undertaking. Once the exams were over, I had about four weeks to complete the remaining 20 hours of flying. Securing this time off didn’t come without its challenges – my employer denied my requests for unpaid leave and a career break. Being very strict with my timeline, I was left with two options: remain in employment to the detriment of my plan, or leave the police force. After ensuring I had enough finances to tide me over for a few months once my training was complete, I chose the latter. I went to Dublin for 10 days to complete an MCC/JOC course and, at the end of all that, I was about two to three weeks ahead of schedule. By the time I reached the end of my initial timeline, I had several job offers on the table and a handful of invitations to assessments. The hardest part in all of this was maintaining my other commitments, such as family life, socialising with friends, and keeping myself fit. I continually repeated to myself: “Short-term sacrifice, long-term gain.” In summary, I’d recommend setting timescales and sticking to them, because – without these – even the most disciplined individual will start to wander. Structure your training to work for your circumstances – and don’t be scared to be selfish. Embarking on pilot training is no mean feat, regardless of which route you choose. It is an all-consuming journey that, at times, will leave you questioning why you started in the first place. Some need to remain in full-time employment while undertaking their training – and finding a way to manage their workload takes careful planning. After coming home from a 10- or 12-hour shift at work, the last thing I wanted to do was open the books and study. By doing so, however, I took myself from pounding the beat as a police officer to flying for my dream company within four years. But it wasn’t an easy journey, by any stretch of the imagination. It took me two years to gain my private pilot’s licence (PPL) because of several factors that were out of my control. I’m one of those people who can always find something better to do than study, and the only way I maintained discipline was to set myself strict timescales. This allowed me to structure my training and to better predict the industry when I planned to qualify. I wrote down all the courses I would have to complete to achieve my frozen airline transport pilot’s licence (fATPL). I then wrote down a rough cost and timescale for each element, and where I’d like to complete it. This allowed me to research my training options, finances and timescales further, to create an idealistic timeline for my training. With this plan in mind, I quickly got on with studying for, and sitting, the ATPL theory exams. For a solid nine months, I committed four hours a day to studying. I structured my days off to take advantage of the better weather for flying and, on non-flying days, TAILWIND