As I near the end of my private pilot flight training I have been looking for professional charter flight operators in the South East area which I could be a part of part time. This would enable me to gain the priceless commercial experience of how these operations work. Currently I am a full time computer programmer based at Gatwick but have big ambitions to fly commercially in the near future - I have the enthusiasm to learn lots, fast.
AERO ALLIANCE caught my eye from the monthly edition of Shoreham Airport News November 2009 where I contacted Stuart (Chief Charter Captain) by e-mail to see if I could be a credit to the company by offering all of my current skills in IT/Computer Programming, Poster design and an "unhealthy passion for aviation" to become a part time staff member performing duties where I could, if there was a place for me to fit in.
After some time dreaming on how I could potentially be a part of the AERO ALLIANCE Air Taxi, Passenger Charter Flight and Cargo Charter company I received a phone call from Stuart asking if I could come and meet with the directors of the company (of whom you will have seen blog posts from - Andrew, Stuart, Martyn and Bill). I was very surprised at this opportunity, then after the surprise came the mass of excitement as jobs, tasks and duties flew around my imagination. The interview process was with Stuart who is the Chief Charter Captain, Andy who is a Charter Captain and is also type rated on the Airbus A320, Martyn who is the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) and Bill who is one of the directors who deals with all AERO ALLIANCE IT services including the programming of this blog you're reading! This was hosted at the AERO ALLIANCE head quarters which is based at Shoreham Airport (Brighton City Airport). We discussed how I could benefit the company including my ideas of:
• Computer Programming, helping Bill where I could, including programming some bespoke AERO ALLIANCE Flight Planning software in the future.
• Creating Posters to promote special events and AERO ALLIANCE range of flight charter - from the Business Flight Charter sector, Passenger Flight Charter all the way to Ashes Scattering and Air Ambulance.
• Operations - once I have been shown the SOP's;
- Cleaning the aircraft
- Vacuuming the aircraft
- Refueling
- Checking oil levels
- Making tea
- Help out from the RHS (Right Hand Seat is where the "First Officer Sits", Captain always sits on the left in fixed wing aircraft despite the size) making notes, helping on the radio (I have my radio license) and responding to the Captains commands, performing multi crew operation helping the captain with flaps, undercarriage and writing down brakes off, take off times etc.
At this stage I would just love the opportunity to absorb as much information as I can. At the moment my brain is a dry sponge ready to take in as much as possible, get home and "wring" out the sponge into a word processing document to ready myself for the next challenge!
As we progressed through the interview process Andy and Stuart highlighted some of the work that AERO ALLIANCE performs, these jobs can cover flying customers to Jersey on a business trip, Malaga for a weekend away, Malta for a holiday, Switzerland for a skiing trip, Le Touquet for a golfing day, Paris for lunch; the flexibility of AERO ALLIANCE is virtually unlimited. This really excited me as no one working for the bigger airlines could even experience this much fun, however flying a commercial aircraft single pilot in cloud and airways environments (IFR) is an extremely demanding job, as well as maintaining the crucial engine management tasks on the twin engined Piper aircraft (Piper PA34 Seneca and Piper PA31 Chieftain). I hope to get stuck in and learn how hard this is over the many years to come.
When Andy stated I could sit in the right hand seat to observe, learn and help out become AERO ALLIANCE's Apprentice First Officer this was music to my ears. I could not have wished for anything more (Hang on Mike, you've still not got the job yet!). It was almost like the AERO ALLIANCE team read my mind and told me exactly what I wanted to hear. I was then given a goodies bag including an AERO ALLIANCE Coffee Mug, LED Keyring torch and some leaflets and would hear the results of the interview on the Monday (which was a few days away).
Monday came and I promptly received a phone call from AERO ALLIANCE stating they would like me to come aboard their team as a member of staff as they really liked the way I presented myself and my enthusiasm shone through. I can remember I was speechless on the phone, so grateful for the opportunity, which took a few hours to sink in. Once it did champagne was purchased!