How to be a pilot?
Everything startet with Florida Flyers, the best flight school in USA, in 2010. At this time it was a pretty small fight school, with just a couple of planes, because Rainer had just started his business there. I had a very good time during my training and remember till today the tiny little head office of the school located on the US1. We refueled the planes ourself and got the credit card of the owner for doing it.
Why did you choose Florida Flyers Flight School USA?
I did some research on the internet looking for flight schools offering PPL-training (PPL = privat pilot license) within the USA. I recognized Florida Flyers due to a friend of mine and i read many positive reviews on the web. The support of the school was -even in this early days- excellent! I got the chance before i had to decide for the contract to talk on the phone with former students from Germany, which gave me detailed information about the training which i could expect. Especially the fact, that i could start with the theoretical part and studying at home was a great advantage for me, because i was full time working as a Sales Manager at this time.
When did you start your PPL Pilot Training?
I started the actual flight training at Florida Flyers Flight Academy in Februar 2010 in St. Augustine. I can’t say it often enough: „There is nothing better than flying in Florida!“ It ist just awesome! The best weather to fly almost 12 months a year and no fees for handling/landing at the airports. After crossing the atlantic as a passenger i landed into Jacksonville, FL where my flight instructor was already waiting for me. A couple of minutes later i received my first flight training and i flew this beautiful PA-28 back to St. Augustine. After a long time just studying the theory at home i was impressed to see where this training is now getting me too. The training-schedule was very professionell but also tide! Within just a couple of days and around 10 training hours later i was doing my first solo flight. To depart and land even a small plane like this but without any help from an instructor in the plane for the first time is one of things as pilot, you will remember for the rest of your life! I finished the PPL-training in just three weeks and flew back to Germany a
s a passenger as proud as i could.
How things continued thereafter?
Many books quote: „A privat pilot license is a license to learn“ and this is exactly what it is. Back in Germany I did a familiarization flight for the german airspace and chartered a Cessna C172 for couple of hours thereafter. Flying the plane now within german airspace, was in generell pretty much the same but i started to miss the „always flyable weather“ in Florida and i couldn’t get used to pay expensive landing fees and excessive charter rates for the planes. Due to this reasons i planned to get back to St. Augustine very soon and did some aviator holidays.
What training have u done thereafter?
Before you can start your training to a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) you need a minimum of 150 hours total flying time with at least 100h as Pilot in Command. Due to the just mentioned „always good weather“ above and the way cheaper charter prices it makes definitely sense to do this hours in Florida as well. While my co-students in Germany flew around „Düsseldorf“ and „Munich“ in bad weather conditions and paid a fortune for there handling/landing fees there i was flying in best weather to pretty much every airport in the sunshine state and came around beautiful destinations like St. Petersburg, Miami, Keys and Bahamas.
Pilot_dr Instagram at Florida Flight School for FAA and EASA Training USA
A year later i came back to Florida Flyers Flight Academy and did my PPL-IR (IR = Instrument-rating). A PPL gives you the right to operate as pilot in command on small piston engine aircrafts within „good“ weather conditions. When you have a low ceiling of the clouds, fog or a reduced visibility as a PPL-Pilot you are may limited and can not depart into this weather. While during the instrument rating you learn how to fly and handle your aircraft in this weather conditions like this. My further training and the conversion to EASA CPL i was doing with a flight school in Greece, because Florida-Flyers was growing very fast but at this time not able to provide this service, what they do today. The conversion between different Aviation Authorities like the American FAA and the European EASA is always a big issue. If you get the chance always choose a school, that’s offering the „full-service package“, because there is a lot of paperwork to do. Let the flight school do that for you.
How did u become an airline Pilot?
After the competition of your commercial training at Florida Flyers Flight Academy you are now in possession of a so called: „ATPL (frozen). With this certificate you are able to apply for a First Officer Job with an airline. The aviation market is fluctuating a lot! For Example in 2014 there was absolutely no demand for „First Officers“. Today 2020 the demand for them is huge! Due to this reasons i was not able to find a Job in 2014 and started to work as a Flight Instructor. In the beginning of 2016 my dream became true and i got the chance to begin the type rating and started to work for „Air Berlin“.
What is a Type Rating?
In addition to your pilot certificate you have to do a type-rating for the specific commercial aircraft you want to fly. This training is to be done in the full-flight and on the actual aircraft under supervision as well. Beside the actual flying you learn a lot about „standard-operational-procedures“ called SOPs here and as well the „non-normal“ procedures (for example what to do with a damaged engine or if you get a decompression in your cabin).
What happened then with your career?
After 2 years of short haul flying for Air Berlin i changed my employer and started to work for subsidiary company of Lufthansa. I did a new type-rating on the Boeing 777 and started to fly freight on worldwide long haul flights. With the new year nowa life dream of mine becomes true because I passed the assessment for „Emirates“ Airline in 2019 and i will immigrate to Dubai soon. With Emirates i will fly passengers on the Boeing 777 to over 160 destinations on all continents around the world.
Some piece of advice?
A friend of mine told me once: „if you want to fly, you need the courage to leave the ground“. That’s absolutely true! I left a good payed job as a Sales Manager behind and got with 80.000 Euro into debt to follow my dream. Looking back now this was the best decision i ever did! In my opinion its the best thing just to stop talking about things you may want to do someday,… Stop talking and just start to do things!