<strong>En</strong> <strong>Voyage</strong> AURIGNY BEHIND THE SCENES TRISTAN MARCHENT ATR FIRST OFFICER & TECH SUPPORT PILOT I’ve been working at Aurigny for nine months and I’m now a First Officer on the ATR fleet. I also worked in Flight Operations before that. Can you tell us when you first wanted to embark on a career as a pilot and the kind of training that is involved? I was at the young age of about 8-9 when I went around to a friend’s house after school and he had a flight simulator on his computer. I was totally fascinated by this and begged my parents to get this game when I got back home. I really enjoyed playing this, but I also was intrigued as to what flying a real aircraft would be like. So, around my 11th or 12th birthday, I was very lucky to receive a trial flying lesson where I went up with an instructor and flew from Gloucester to Wellesbourne and back. As they say, the rest is history! Pilots need to start in small aircraft first and work their way up to bigger aircraft and that’s exactly what I did. You usually start off training for a Private Pilot’s Licence and then move onto your professional flight training ground theory which involves 14 theoretical exams covering everything from Air Law to Principles of Flight, Navigation to Meteorology and more. After that is complete, you can train for a Commercial Pilot's Licence which enables you to be paid for your flying and then you need to learn how to fly in not so great weather and how to fly multi-engine aircraft. All this is single pilot flying so after that you need to learn how to fly as a two-man flight deck team, and once employed with an airline, you need to be trained onto the specific aircraft that you will fly for the airline. Pilots get regular simulator checks every six months, so you are very safe in the skies with us! What are the biggest challenges in your training as a pilot? A big challenge is just the wealth of information we must take onboard, memorise and learn sometimes. The key thing here is finding something that works for you to absorb the amount of information. I also do an office role as part of being a pilot for Aurigny, and I have found challenges with this role too. I am sometimes tasked with editing technical documents which are then distributed to aircraft. However, I make sure I ask for as much advice as possible if I am unsure on anything and check and re-check everything I do. What’s the best thing about being a pilot? What are you most looking forward to? I am most looking forward to flying into some big airports I have always wanted to fly into, such as Manchester, Gatwick and Bristol. I spent my younger years at these airports watching aircraft take-off and land and now to be flying an aircraft like the ones I used to see is incredible. It just shows that dreams can come true and I hope to inspire other people who may be watching aircraft just like I did to try flying! Could you share an amusing tale/anecdote/memory from your time in aviation so far? When I was doing my commercial flight training we were just about to take-off and had to do some normal checks beforehand. I engaged the parking brake and carried out our checks and when finished I tried to disengage the brake... I couldn’t! My instructor and I were both trying to release it but it seemed it had jammed in place. Our engine was still running and aircraft were being blocked behind by us. This of course was really embarrassing but quite funny as this had never happened before. We had to shut down, call some engineers over and get them to release it. After a while, we were eventually on our way. Safe to say, I’ll be a little bit more careful next time! Tell us something people may not know about working for an airline? Flying is a very small part of the job actually. Crews do not just turn up, get onboard, start the engines and take-off, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. A lot of flight preparation goes into each flight and each crew brief together before a day’s duty where they will discuss items such as weather, passenger loads, special requirements and also discuss a safety scenario. Once onboard they make sure the aircraft is fit to fly by checking everything. What do you enjoy most about working in aviation? What’s the best thing about working for Aurigny? The new opportunities it presents. For example, we’ve recently done some charter work on behalf of Loganair with one of our ATR aircraft. Although I have just become a First Officer and won’t be able to fly these charters, you never know what can happen in a year's time. You may be asked to operate a charter to an airfield which is new to you and the challenge of learning how to operate in and out of those airports is great. The best thing about working for Aurigny is the family feel to the company here. You get to fly with people regularly and it’s a real team effort to deliver a great customer service to our passengers. Any advice for budding pilots? Always make contacts in the industry, you never know who you are talking to and who you may meet. Talk to people, get their advice and don’t stop learning. Always keep pushing yourself as some things are easier than originally thought, for example, learning a new procedure. But most of all, enjoy your flying! Always strive for the best you can and take every opportunity that is given to you. 14 <strong>En</strong> <strong>Voyage</strong> | Aurigny’s Magazine
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