The wait is almost over!

I returned from New Zealand a year ago!

* The moment both I and many of you thought would never come. A pass in my CPL (2nd Series) *

Let's all stop for a moment and ask one question - where on earth has the last year gone?!

It's absolutely crazy to think that I returned home from New Zealand a year ago - on my Mum's birthday - the 17th November 2017. It's safe to say a lot has happened in that time too: My beautiful cousin Harry was born, I turned 24, I passed my Instrument Rating, completed AQC, held the most expensive piece of paper I have ever owned in the form of my licence, went on to secure a job at easyJet, visited Mexico for the first time and last but by no means least, met my incredible partner :-)

I'll tell you what else has happened though, I've learnt that nothing tests my patience more than the need to be patient. I'm obviously saying that lightheartedly as I can be very patient when I need to be, it's simply that on this occasion that patience is linked to waiting for my dream job. In some respects I guess you could say I've waited 24 years so what's a few more months - right?! Well, it's actually tougher than that. When you've been through the highs and lows of training - and my goodness weren't there lows - to then secure that incredible first job only to be told you need to sit tight until a space becomes free for your type rating, well... I can only compare my feeling to that of an eager child confronted with a wrapped present at Christmas. I've wanted to do nothing but fly a jet since being a young boy sat on Microsoft Flight Simulator for hours on end. I'm closer now than I've ever been and as the days go on you certainly find yourself itching more and more and more. What compounds this feeling is the positive envy I feel towards my peers now doing the job. Those I trained with out in New Zealand whose job it is to fly passengers around Europe on the daily make me even more excited. This greater excitement makes the wait even more unbearable. 

While the main negative to waiting is a delay to the start of my career, the huge benefit is financial. In starting employment in the field of my degree just one week after graduating, I have managed to save a rather substantial sum of money. With BBVA not wanting any payments until 31st December this year I've been able to put away £700 a month. At the end of this month that'll equate to £4,900 which will be of great help when it comes to funding accommodation during my type rating, paying back BBVA during the same period, paying for my re-location to my allocated base and lastly paying for any deposits and first few months of rent to the landlord of wherever I eventually call "home". I've also been able to pay back my student overdraft from my time in university which is a nice weight of my shoulders. It's all swings and roundabouts I suppose!

I will be returning to the classroom in January...

* Taken during ATPL Groundschool (Sep 2016) when I took a sneak peak inside the then unknown future office. *

* My future steed - the Airbus A320 family *

Exactly 366 days after my return from New Zealand and once again around my Mum's birthday I received some great news!!!

My A320 type rating is to commence in January.  

There are two potential start dates but which of those I'm on is yet to be determined. I'll find all of the nitty gritty detail within the coming weeks and hopefully my base allocation won't be too far off either! It's great to finally have some sort of timeline to work to and based on the type rating and inductions of previous courses a start date of mid-January would mean I'll fly my first Airbus in late March/early April. A start date towards the end of January would mean mid-April at a guess but regardless it'll be just in time for the start of the summer season. It's all becoming very real now and I'll now be counting down the days.

I'm sure many of you who have followed this blog for some time will be as happy as I am to hear this news. I hope those of you currently going through the selection process for the Generation easyJet training program go on to smash it and one day join me in the skies within your own Orange Airbus.

I'll be back once i've any more exciting news. Maybe my base allocation etc.. who knows! Keep your fingers crossed they give me Bristol :-) 

Until next time,

All the best,

George.