Road to the Right Seat 10 – New Students
2.1k views | By Bob Geuens | Last updated on June 19, 2022
This post is part of the story series Road to the Right Seat.
We've all had a crazy childhood dream and mine was becoming an airline pilot. Many young people who aspire a flying career are unaware of the content of flight training and the preparations which are needed. On November 23rd, 2015 I started my ATPL(A) training. Time to realize my childhood dream. I'd like to take you along on an adventure and I'll happily answer all your questions on the way. Let's do this!
View all stories in this seriesMarch 29, 2016 – A few weeks ago I was contacted by our training manager to ask if I’d like to welcome the new promotion. They had their introduction day on Friday and I was there to give them the ‘student-to-student’ briefing. Welcome, Promotion 38!
It may have been my last week of holiday before going to the United States, but I have to admit that I had quite a nice day at school! The new promotion (counting 29 people!) was split into small groups after which my colleagues and I gave them a tour around the school.
Once the tour was over we sat down together for lunch, giving them the chance to ask some of their questions. Everyone seems to be very active and awake at the moment, but that will change soon enough.
After lunch was over it was time for the ‘student-to-student’ briefing. I told them more about what to expect from the training, the social aspect, the exams, instructors and so on. After the presentation they were able to ask all the questions they still had, making it quite an informative day for the new promotion!
The students from promotion 38 come from all over the world, but most of them are Belgian, French and Italian. Promotion 35, class of March 2015, exists of only 5 students.
The reason why the class of March 2016 is fully booked it because the school has done a roadshow throughout Europe to promote their training. Their main focus was France, Portugal and Italy which seems quite obvious when looking at the new promotion!
Today they started phase 1, the one we just finished. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to their progress!
A tragic event
Last week I was standing in the departure hall of Brussels Airport with a big smile on my face. Now the hall is in ruins and people have lost their lives because of an absurd act of violence. The attacks of March 22, 2016, at Brussels Airport show that we can be very proud of our little country, but that terrorism is a threat to all of us.
If you have any further questions about my training, feel free to leave a comment below. See you next week!
Cover picture: FlightLevel.be
This post is part of the story series Road to the Right Seat.
We've all had a crazy childhood dream and mine was becoming an airline pilot. Many young people who aspire a flying career are unaware of the content of flight training and the preparations which are needed. On November 23rd, 2015 I started my ATPL(A) training. Time to realize my childhood dream. I'd like to take you along on an adventure and I'll happily answer all your questions on the way. Let's do this!
View all stories in this seriesPrevious post in this series:
2.2k views | By bob
Next post in this series:
2.1k views | By bob
Related articles worth reading
Getting Your Private Pilot License – How Much Does it Cost?
Learning to fly isn’t cheap – unfortunately. If you want to belong to the happy few who have...
Getting Your Private Pilot License – Checkride Preparations
To be completed soon!
Getting Your Private Pilot License – Checkride Day!
March 31st. Checkride Day. The past 9,5 months I have been working towards this moment. The written test...
Getting Your Private Pilot License – The Written Test
After all the studying, it was finally time to take the PPL(A) written test. As I explained in...
Getting Your Private Pilot License – 150 NM Solo Cross-Country
The past few weekends were filled with nothing but fog, low clouds and rain. Not the kind of weather I...
About the author
Bob Geuens
Hello there! My name is Bob Geuens and I'm a 22-year old pilot from Belgium. I'm currently flying the B737-7/8/900 for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, based in Amsterdam. Feel free to read all about my road to the right seat in the 'Series' section of the website. Happy landings and blue skies!
