Edinburgh
Air Charter
My first
job opportunity which arose before qualifying as a FI started with Edinburgh
Air Charter, 5 months after completing my training and was air taxi out of
Edinburgh, travelling all over northern Europe carrying passengers and freight,
including air ambulance flights, which bolstered my hours to over 900 and
gave me extensive experience and preparation for my eventual transition to
a charter airline.
History - 1996 to 1999
Having spent 10 years in the IT industry working with mainframe computer systems for British Gas and then taken voluntary redundancy, with the financial and emotional support of my partner (now wife) Suzie, decided to train for the ATPL and funded my training over a period of two and a half years. After qualifying and having sent out 60 CV's with only 4 responses and no possibility of a job I started training to be a Flying Instructor, training out of Leeds, Bradford Airport.
Captain Peter A. Smith
In
August 2007 I was promoted to
Training Captain.
History - pre - flying
Haing spent 11 years in The London Regiment of the Territorial Army progressing to a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer rank I gained extensive experience in delivering training courses and instructional techniques.
This, coupled with interview and presentation skills from the IT world and my familiarity and success with various airlines selection procedures has lead me to produce this no nonsense interview techniques course which focuses on getting the most from you, the candidate and giving you the best possible chance of progressing to job offer.
2002 to present day
After succeeding in an intensive two day selection process with Britannia Airways initially flying the 757 and 767 on both charter short haul and long haul routes. The opportunity for an early command on the 737 arose and I have not looked back…
Since my career started at Britannia they have changed their name to ThomsonFly and after just two years as a First Officer I undertook command assessment and went on to successfully complete the command course in August 2005. I now Captain the 737s flying out of Manchester and various other UK bases to many charter and scheduled destinations. The picture left was taken having received my 'Congratulations Captain' handshake on completion of my Command Line Training.
2000 to 2001
After
18 months flying for Edingburh Air Charter I was successful at interview with
jmc Air Ltd., training to fly their 757s. The effects on the aviation industry
from September 11th 2001 lead to redundancy the following year, before which
I spent an exhausting summer on loan to Air2000.
At the end of September 2002 I was successful at interview with DHL Air UK, but after 6 months flying night freight and with a young family (three boys aged 5, 3, and 1) I wanted to return to flying Charter.