Now that all my training is complete it's time to look for a job. Unfortunately I couldn't have picked a worse time to graduate from Pilot college as we are currently experiencing one of the worse downturns in the world economy. Usually when the economy is not performing the aviation industry follows suit. However I decided not to dwell on that fact too long and completed my CV with some direction from PTC and Simtech. The most important thing in generating a Pilot CV is to keep it short and sweet. A chief Pilot probably goes through thousands of CVs each year and the last thing he wants is a 3 page essay about your life. You can always expand on it if you are offered an interview.

Monday 25th May 2009
Monday I sent my CV to BFSAA who are based in Sweden and look after the Ryanair recruitment. I also registered my CV with www.aviationjobsearch.com.
I made calls to Simtech and PTC to see if they could help me get in contact with Ryanair but to be honest I think there is only one route as far as I can see and that is to send the CV to BFSAA in Sweden.
Wednesday I phoned BFSAA in Sweden and spoke to the recruitment officer to see if she had already received my CV. Unfortunately though she receives hundreds of CVs every day and she could not tell me if she had received mine. She mentioned I should receive an automated response within a week meaning the CV was received.
I sent my CV to PTC in Waterford as they told me they may have a direct route to Ryanair. I also sent my CV to Simtech as they also have connections with Ryanair. Fingers crossed one of them will have a positive outcome.
Friday I received an automated email from BFSAA in Sweden to say they received my application for Ryanair. It is just a standard automatically generated email but at least it's a start. It stated on the email 'the vast majority of cadet applicants do not get called for an interview' which is not very nice reading but I'm still determined to stay positive !

Monday 1st June 2009
Sent off a few more CVs this week and went to a few recruitment agencies looking for work in Electronics to keep me going for the summer.
Friday I received a written reference from PTC which was fairly positive. It was also sent by PTC direct to Ryanair which will hopefully speed up the process.

Monday 8th June 2009
I travelled to PTC Waterford Wednesday to chat regarding internship work they were advertising.  This basically means working without pay. Instead they give you flight training vouchers to be used at PTC.
I agreed to do some website work for them as I thought I may need flight vouchers in the future to renew my IR rating ........ that is if I don't get a job in the meantime.

Monday 22th June 2009
Monday I booked a flight to East Midlands (where the Ryanair interviews take place). Not sure why but I thought I'd better do something pro active. The flight I booked was a day return Tuesday 7th July. It might be good experience to see where the simulator was located in the airport just in case I do get a call. Also there might be an off chance they allow me see the simulator and its instrument layout. I am familiar with the 737-200 simulator but the simulator in use for the Ryanair interviews are 737-800 which have a different instrument layout.

Monday 29th June 2009
Wednesday I travelled to Simtech in Dublin. One of the PTC guys was flying circuits on the simulator and he needed a left seat pilot to work with him so I volunteered. It was good experience and revision to my MCC course and I was glad I made the trip as I had become fairly rusty with the procedures etc. I contacted PTC again regarding Ryanair and they promised to follow up my application and they mentioned I should hear something soon.......fingers crossed.

Monday 6th July 2009
I studied a few more chapters of the book  'How to ace a pilot technical interview'.
Tuesday I left home at 03:45 for my East Midlands flight from Dublin at 08:00. I got to East Midlands to find that Ryanair had already moved to Stanstead where they would conduct the interviews going forward. I heard a rumour they were moving a few weeks ago but didn't think they'd have left already. Unfortunately this meant I didn't get to see the simulators as I would have liked. It was starting to look like a fruitless exercise. Luckily though one of the guys that interviews with Ryanair was left on in East Midlands for 2 weeks and I happened to bump into him.
I had a quick chat with him and handed over my CV. Not sure what will come of it but at least now it didn't seem like a waste of a trip.
When I was travelling over I made sure I was positioned in a seat over the wing. I found myself rehearsing the different speed calls and flap retractions as we were climbing and descending. Positive Rate of Climb ...... gear up, 170 Kts ....flap 1, 190kts flap 0 etc.
Sad or what !

Monday 13th July 2009
Sent off close to 50 CVs this week to all the European Airlines and beyond. 80% didn't reply and the ones that did gave much the same answer. 'We currently have a full compliment of crew and do not anticipate any recruitment in the foreseeable future'.
One of the guys I knew from PTC got offered a job with Ryanair today. Unfortunately though he does not start until April 2010.
There are a few things floating around my head this week. I could go back to Flight School and do an instructor rating. The problem with this is the cost. Money is scarce having spent the last year out of work. Also I think there could be a saturation of flight instructor as many other pilot graduates are probably thinking along the same lines.
Alternatively I could save up and do a type rating to make me more employable. It would be a lot of money but might be worth investigating a bit more. People say when in recession you should take the opportunity to educate yourself further ?

Monday 3rd August 2009
I signed up for a 2 day workshop for past pupils of PTC on Thursday and Friday. The first day was going over the aerodynamic differences between Jet Engine and Piston Engine aircraft. I was particularly interested in this as it was to be given by a Ryanair Captain and apparently is a typical question in an airline interview.
The second day was on Human Performance which was followed by a BBQ. Unfortunately I missed the second day due to work commitments but I can say the workshop on a whole was well worth attending. The workshop was free of charge for past pupils of PTC.

Monday 17th August 2009
I was asked by PTC to attend their Pilot Recruitment day in Limerick City to answer any questions prospective students might have.
While I was there I met a group who have recently purchased a 737 NG simulator and have it based in Shannon. I might give them a visit in the near future.

Monday 24th August 2009
Printed out loads of information from the website www.smartcockpit.com. Starting to do a small bit of study for the first time in a long while. Need to keep focused !!
PTC are organising a 'fly out' in September going from Waterford to Blackpool , England. They are giving graduates discounts for aircraft rental so I decided to sign up as it would be a great opportunity to get behind the wheel of an aircraft again. Especially since it is an international flight.

Monday 21st September 2009
Monday I received an unexpected call from the company in Ennis where I had an interview a month previously. They offered me a job as a project engineer which I am extremely grateful for. Engineering jobs are few and far between with this recession going on.  My first undertaking is to implement ISO quality standards. It will be a real challenge as it's been a while now since I last worked in a company. I'm now back where I started when I left my job in February 2008.
Friday I visited www.skydiveireland.ie which is based near Nenagh Co. Tipperary 30 minutes from my house. I had a chat with them hoping they might have some part time work for a commercial pilot but unfortunately they don't. However after a bit of chatting they decided to take me for a spin on their new GA8 Airvan which they use for Skydiving. It was great to get behind the wheel of an airplane once again. We flew around the Silvermine mountains and followed the new motorway which is being built between Limerick and Dublin.

Monday 5th October 2009
Saturday morning my neighbour phoned me to say he had to fly to the Isle of Man Sunday to collect a client. He asked me to come along to sit in the right seat and of course I accepted. We first flew to Shannon in his Van's RV-7 which is a home made single engine kit plane. The weather wasn't great but we were able to go special VFR.
Once in Shannon we reviewed our flight plan. The GAR was already sent in the day before. We fuelled up and boarded our aircraft for the day. The aircraft in question was a Rockwell Commander turbo prop belonging to PacNet Air. I sat into the right seat and once we had the checklists complete and radio calls made I taxied as far as the runway. It was a great trip and fabulous experience for me which I appreciate very much. I had already been to the Isle of Man during my instrument rating in a Piper Seminole. Things happen much faster however in the Rockwell Commander. We were no sooner at cruising altitude FL230 when we were preparing for decent and approach.
We got back to Shannon at around 2pm and got back into the RV-7. On the way home we stopped off at Coonagh airfield. My neighbour has a reputation to fulfil whenever he visits local airfields. He has his own personal STARs and SIDs which basically means a few loop the loops and barrel rolls before coming in to land and the same after take-off. Of course I wouldn't be happy to sit in an aircraft with anyone doing loop the loops but I feel fairly safe with my neighbour. He has a  fantastic ability to control an aircraft.

Monday 19th October 2009
I had a call from my neighbour who asked me to accompany him on another flight to the Isle of Man. Unfortunately though it was short notice and I couldn't go. Pity as it's a great opportunity to clock up a few more hours on the logbook.
Also received an out of the blue call from Jetbird. They conducted a 10 minute phone interview for a position as a cadet pilot. They are an Irish start up company that sound really exciting. The interview went OK even though I was caught off guard. They mentioned I would be hearing from them in 3-4 weeks. Looking forward to the October Bank holiday weekend

Monday 21st December 2009
Heard during the week Jetbird had declared bankruptcy before ever carrying a single paying passenger. Yet another bad story from the aviation industry.
I was chatting to one of the lads during the week who finished the course around the same time as me. He bit the bullet and self financed a type rating in an A720 with a company called Eagle Jet. It's a bit of a gamble but best of luck to him. He has no guarantee of a job after the type rating and it costs 40K Euro but he will certainly be more employable than a cadet. Virtually all the other  lads and ladies that finished the course with PTC in 2009 are jobless.
My medical is expired since the beginning of December. I will renew it hopefully in the new year or maybe over Christmas. Next year I plan to do some flying at weekends.  PTC have reduced their rates for any graduates that require an aircraft.

Monday 4th January 2010
Another year down and hopefully 2010 will be better, brighter and dryer than 2009. Just to round off the year it has been the coldest Christmas in 30 years according to records. We received a mixture of snow and ice along with night time temperatures as low as -12 degrees Celsius which is usually unheard of in Ireland.
I have started a new study regime that involves 1 hour studying aviation books on Tuesday, 1 hour studying Ryanair material on Thursday and 2 hours of Microsoft Simulator on Saturday. Like all new years resolutions we'll see how long it lasts !!!
I met a Ryanair captain for a beer over Christmas and he has promised to look into my application in the coming weeks so hopefully something will come of it. He keeps emphasising the usefulness of Microsoft Sim. To be honest I haven't used it much to date until this Christmas. However after spending a few hours on it I can see now how useful it is. I am concentrating on the 737-800 NG. It's amazing how familiar you get with the cockpit after a few flights.
I am also booked in to a simulator session on a 737-400 in Simtech Dublin Airport 22nd January with a guy I know from the PTC course. I am looking forward to that as it's been 7 months now since I last sat into the Simtech simulator. I am also hoping to do my Class 1 medical on the same day. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone as they say.
I'm still unsure what to do regarding renewals. At least now I know a bit more about it. My Multi Engine rating (MEP) will expire the end of Feb and my Instrument Rating (IR) will expire the end of May. To get an airline job as far as I am aware all I need to renew is the IR. This can be carried out at low cost in the PTC simulator.
For me to do the MEIR I would have to do it in a multi engined aircraft in PTC which would probably require a few revision flights beforehand adding up to around 1500 Euro.
It's hard to know what to do. If I received a call from my neighbour again to fly the Rockwell Commander I would not be able to log it if I only had my IR renewed without the MEP.
Decisions ????

Monday 18th January 2010
Friday 22nd I scheduled a simulator session with Simtech in Dublin for 9am and a class One medical in the Mater hospital at 3pm. The simulator session is in their Boeing 737-200 simulator which pretty old but it is great practice for any future interviews. I was hoping to get in a bit of study during the week prior to Friday as there are many calls/procedures that need revising for the simulator. However work these days is very busy so my study time was very limited.
I spent 4 hours in the simulator (2 hours PF and 2 hours PNF) going over take offs, Upper airwork, Steep turns, Climbing turns, Accelerations and a few ILS approaches in Manchester Airport. I was definitely a bit rusty in parts. My flying was OK but the calls/procedures need some brushing up.

Afterwards I headed straight to the Mater for my Class 1 medical. There was a bit of a wait due to numbers so didn't get finished until 4:30 just in time for Friday rush hour traffic in Dublin ! The traffic was a disaster. I didn't get home until 11:30 mostly due to traffic but also due to stopping off in Borris-in-Ossory to watch Munster secure their place in the European Rugby 1/4 finals against Northampton.

Monday 5th April 2010
It is nearly a year now since I finished my Pilot training with PTC. Unfortunately not a sniff of a job. Not even an interview. I had such high hopes this time last year when finishing the Instrument Rating. If I knew back then 12 months later I would be still jobless !
Now 12 months later I need to renew my license by going back to PTC and completing a revalidation course on the FNPT11 Siminole simulator. The cost is 450 Euro for the IAA examiner and about 800 Euro for the use of the PTC simulator. I have the renewal Tuesday next week so I will do a refresher flight in the Sim on Monday evening and maybe another on Tuesday morning before the actual renewal.

Monday 12th April 2010
Drove down to PTC Monday evening for my refresher Sim session before my MEIR renewal which was scheduled the following day. The cockpit seemed very unfamiliar. I couldn't even remember how many flap extensions the Seminole had or when they were deployed. Recalling the V speeds was also a challenge. Needles to say I stayed up late Monday night going over the Seminole checklist and take-off / landing profiles.
Tuesday morning I had another refresher simulator session at 6am. Bit of an early start but I wasn't complaining as I needed every bit of revision. It is amazing how quick the information started flowing back during the second simulator session. By the end I was feeling a lot more confident. I think the fact I had been flying 737 sims since last April 12 months had me confused at the start.
After the early start I didn't have the renewal check ride until 6pm so it was a long day. The check ride involved flying out of Waterford using the company SID to Clonmel CML NDB at flight level six remembering to change the altimeter to 1013 !
Then the examiner failed the Attitude Indicator and the HSI for some limited panel work involving turns and unusual attitude recoveries.
Afterwards it was back to Waterford for a hold followed by some ILS and NDB approaches with one engine failed. It all went fairly well so after the initial panic the night before to my relief he signed off my Instrument Rating license for another 12 months.

Monday 17th May 2010
Yesterday I visited Atlantic Air in Cork. Atlantic Air is a flight school based at Cork airport. It trains pilots to commercial level in much the same way as PTC. They also hire out their aircraft at reasonable rates which prompted my visit. I booked an IFR Cessna 172 from earlier in the week.
I arrived 2 hours beforehand to park beside the runway listening on my portable TX/RX to the radio calls. When my turn came the instructor brought me out to the aircraft and showed me each one and described the differences. The 1st 2 flights require an instructor on board before being allowed rent the aircraft for solo flying. This is fair enough having never piloted a Cessna before. Up to now it was always a low wing type piper warrior or Seminole.
We flew all around Cork taking in the 4 VFR holding points for future reference. I then flew out some circuits to practice my landings.
I really enjoyed the day. The instructor was really sound and was in no rush before or after flying. It was much different to what I was used to while training. Back then each flight was like a mini exam always under pressure. I plan to do another VFR flight in the near future followed by an IFR flight from EICK to EINN.