Career Pilot

ARTICLE
New Owners of the Cockpit

The expansion of the Turkish Airlines fleet and parallel increase in flight destinations has brought about a need for new flight personnel. The Turkish Airlines Flight Training Academy was therefore founded by a decision of the Board of Directors taken on 10 November 2004. After permits were secured from the Civil Aviation Authority and recquisite inspections completed, the Flight Training Academy was authorized to offer training in the following: Private Pilot License (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL), Instrument Rating (IR), Commercial Pilot License Integrated (CPL Integrated), Commercial Pilot/Instrument Rating (CPL/IR), CR (Single Engine Land, Multi Engine Land), Airline Transport Pilot (ATP), and Flight Instructor (FI). As Turkish Airlines trains the personnel it requires to its own high standarts and quality, it is also offering young people with an interest in aviation a chance to become pilots. The academy, established under the leadership of Founding Director Atilla Öksüz, went into operation with a staff of three flight instructors as well as ground instructors, maintenance personnel and a secretary. The Cessna 172’s that make up the Flight Training Academy fleet were purchased from the United States for the training course. The academy, which started out using a rented Cessna until these aircraft arrived, stepped up the pace of its activities in September 2005. A large number of applications were received and processed, and each applicant was given psycho-motor tests at the Air Force War College Headquarters. The 16 applicants who passed the physical, interview and flight tests began their instruction on 1 May 2006 with a core staff of three flight instructors and a team of three technicians. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tough course, combining courage with professionalism, and discipline with dedication, it simultaneously represents a “first” for Turkey. The trainees, who have been divided into two fleets of eight, are first given pre-flight instruction for two weeks. The principal base used for the training is Atatürk Airport, and protocols have been signed with Çorlu and Sabiha Gökçen Airports for their use as well. Besides flight instruction, which lasts for 12 – 15 months, the trainees also take academic courses in subjects such as Aviation Law, Flight Performance and Methods of Speaking. A total of 205 hours flying time is planned, including vision flight, instrument flight and night flight. Pilot candidates who succesfully complete the CPL/IR training process will earn their “pilot’s wings”. After being given the requisite theorotical training to become Airline Transport Pilots (ATP), the young pilots will then receive an average of three months of “airline” training, which will qualify them to fly as “First Officer”, i.e., Co-Pilot, on Boeing and Airbus planes. Basic pilot training, which takes approximately one and half years, starts at 6 o’clock in the morning with a flight briefing and continuous up to 4:30 in the afternoon with flight and ground instruction. This lenghty training period is an arduous process, the standards for which are set by the worst imaginable conditions. The young pilot candidates, whose training requires them to experience personally the most difficult conditions as well as the seriousness and sensitive nature of the job they aspire to do, focus on their tasks in full awareness of the responsibility their profession demands. They will now be the new owners of the cockpit.


Reference: Turkish Airlines, Skylife Magazine-September 2006