5/16/2023 0 Comments Endless sky fleet licenseThere are new technological terms - like FANS 1/A (Future Air Navigation System), CPDLC (Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications), and SELCAL (Selective Calling) - which are relatively unknown to most continental pilots. I asked a lot of questions! Fortunately, I have many great people in my life who are happy to answer questions, give advice, promote critical thinking, and walk through some important steps - well in advance of filling our Challenger 605 with Jet A and lighting the General Electric CF34-3B engines. This was his first time flying an aircraft across the pond. The Challenger 605 that the author piloted across the Atlantic. It’s left to me, the chief pilot, and the co-captain/director of flight operations to ensure we’ve done everything required for a positive outcome. With private jet travel, we don’t have large teams of employees dedicated to the training, planning, and implementing required to complete these trips - as an airline would have. When this trip first came into my schedule, there was excitement, followed by a reality check for what needed to be accomplished to fly the mission safely and legally. But flying above and across the open ocean was still left unexplored in my personal logbook. I have flown to all corners of North America and many islands of the Caribbean, setting foot in all 10 provinces and three territories in Canada, 48 U.S. It was the first time I had piloted an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean. On a beautiful fall evening in late September 2021 - nearly 22 years after completing my first solo and over 13 years after being hired into my first aviation job - I was fortunate enough to accomplish another major milestone… a first. It’s what makes working as a professional pilot so intriguing and uniquely individual. What may seem as mundane, and even inconvenient, to some pilots, is an entirely new beginning for others. Maybe, even as a seasoned pilot, you encounter a true first again, and the elation of accomplishment floods back. Adam Fuller Photoīut maybe you get lucky. The author during a cruise flight in a Cessna Citation II – his first jet type. As great as those memories can be, they pale by comparison with a first solo or first license. ![]() ![]() Pilots covet new experiences, and start to measure new airports, new cities, and new countries as the yard stick of progress. ![]() For pilots, there’s the first solo, first license, first flying job, first type rating… the nearly endless list of firsts become lifelong memories for a pilot.īut as a pilot’s career progresses, “firsts” are few and far between. Estimated reading time 11 minutes, 54 seconds.įrom the inception of flight with the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, aviation has been an industry interrelated with firsts: the first powered flight, first supersonic flight, first passenger jet… the list goes on.
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