Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Future Pilot Skills Event hosted by Flight Pad at the University of West London.

This was a full day event aimed to bring together flight training organisations, aviation experts and employers from all over the industry. It also delivered on upskilling aspiring pilots through group assessments and CV proof-reading.

In this blog I will share my experience and insights from this remarkable and eventful day. In this blog I cover:

• Group Assessments: My experience and what I learnt.
• CV Checker with an Airline Pilot: Tips to keep in mind.

• Strength of networking:

1. Reconnecting with – Deborah Gaine, Sales Exec/Skills Advisor at Leading Edge Aviation.
2. Reconnecting with – Umar Khan, Sims Operator at FlightPad and Volunteer at the Air League.
3. Reconnecting with – Bridget Donaldson, TUI MPL Cadet Pilot and Sustainability Lead at the Air League.
4. Creating new connections – Tom Anderson, ATPL student at CATS Aviation.

Group Assessments

In the morning, I attended the group assessment hosted by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. This involved a group exercise in a team of 6. We were given a project and had to work together to present recommendations that met the objectives of the project.

The project revolved around an airport start-up and our objective was to consider the staff type, safety and profit margins while also justifying the associated costs.

Here are some pictures before we started:

This was my first group assessment I attended. Surprisingly, I found it quite natural and really enjoyable. As a team we worked really well for 3 reasons. We were getting involved, asking lots of questions and making decisions together. I found by listening to individual insights this meant decision-making was under a unified front – one that is collaborative and constructive to our goal.

Throughout the various discussions I documented potential cost solutions as shown above. In the final 2 minutes I provided a group summary of what we had discussed as a team and welcomed opinions that would support or suggest alterations. I did this through involving big personalities and more importantly quieter members.

I found quieter members provided insights we may have overlooked initially – such as the importance of add-ons in business (one member suggested Apple became a trillion dollar company not through their Iphones and Macs but through their countless ad-on benefits – such as extra Icloud storage or cable sales – therefore we should consider add-on as a potential investment in the startup). Conveying new, great insights with the team and acknowledging their contribution enhanced their confidence, team-working and better cohesion. As a result, we achieved better, more informed decisions after the 10 minute deadline.

The results…. The assessors concluded our ideas meant we were a loss-making business and unattractive for investors! Although there is no airport start-up coming soon I feel wealthy having profited knowledge from different avenues – such as collaboration and team-building. Here are some of my takeaways below:

What I learnt?

• Body language: stronger team players displayed open body language – e.g. open hands, maintaining equal eye contact across the room and turned towards the people they spoke to.
• Curiosity and inclusive: stronger team players have a sense of curiosity – they welcome opinions from all members, even if they weren’t entirely beneficial.
• Team players not dominators: It’s important to work as team and not dominate or lead through forcing your agenda. The best leaders are often the best listeners – they sit back, take in multiple opinions and offer a holistic view of the situation.

The most important take-away:

Everyone’s contribution is key. Everyone has different skills and strengths to offer. By working as a team we fuel unity, creativity, collaboration and motivation under a unified front to achieve our goal. This is done through inclusivity and acknowledging one another to make an informed choice. Much like the cockpit – where flight deck, cabin crew, ground ops and ATC work together to provide a seamless experience to passengers.

CV Checker with an airline pilot

Will Wright, an airline pilot reviewed my CV. I recall meeting Will at the Future Pilots Event in 2023. In this session I decided to bring along a TUI orientated CV as I am applying to the TUI MPL cadet programme. It was a great opportunity to gain an insight on key areas to improve on before submitting it to TUI. He spent 15 minutes going over my CV and offering recommendations based on what a ‘pilot CV’ should look.

Fortunately, having met him last year I had already implemented many recommendations he advised back in 2023. As a result, he was really impressed by the CV and offered no further adjustments.

However, having said that I did show it to a TUI recruiter who recommended some adjustments to make – I will talk more about this in a new blog. But the learning from this is – it’s also worth speaking to someone in the organisation you’re applying to – or a recruiter (even better!). If they ask you to do it in a certain way –  make sure you do it their way to the T!

Here are some of the recommendations from last year + speaking to recruiters:

• Keep it to one page (if possible).
• Highlight keywords you want them to notice – Bold fonts with colours of the airline (red – for BA, blue – for TUI, orange – for EasyJet).
• Bring ‘education’ to the top – make it easier for recruiter to scan!
• Have a short, punchy personal statement
• Plaster pilot competencies throughout CV. DO NOT just list competencies – give quantifiable evidence to support it!
• Bring in values, mission and tailor to the airline language – like Let’s TUI It for TUI or Our Orange spirit for EasyJet throughout your CV.

The strength of networking

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to speak to most of the people at the exhibition stands. I stayed till the very end to ensure I had at least introduced myself to everyone there. Remember, aviation is a small industry and you’re bound to cross paths – so it’s worth networking with as many people as you can.

Reconnecting with – Deborah Gaine, Sales Exec/Skills Advisor at Leading Edge Aviation.

I have a great relationship with LEA through Deborah Gaine. Deborah Gaine is the Sales Exec and Skills Advisor at Leading Edge Aviation. We met a few years ago at Leading Edge’s first Pilot Careers Live (PCL) event. Since then, I’ve got to know Deborah and was offered a trial flight and the iconic LEA flask… I can confirm it’s rather fancy! As a thank you I popped in with some Krispy Kreme donuts when I was last in Oxford. And ever since then we’ve had a great working relationship and it’s always great to catch up with Debs at pilot career events.

Reconnecting with – Umar Khan, Sims Operator at FlightPad and Volunteer at the Air League.

During the event I also bumped into an old friend. I bumped into Umar Khan – who I met years ago with a TUI pilot at Pilot Careers Live. I vividly remember Umar and his friend Dale Mudie, a TUI pilot were one of the first people I met through my first Pilot Career Live in 2018. Umar and I spoke in great lengths about how he’s finding unique ways into aviation. For example, learning the B737 syllabus at a young age and was later offered the opportunity to become a trainee instructor on the sims!

I met Dale Mudie and we spoke about his role in inspiring younger people into aviation and more around the TUI culture. Since then, I was incredibly inspired to work for airlines like TUI. And work with great people like Umar and Dale to inspire the next generation to reach for their dreams! Since our initial meet I later met Umar again last year at Pilot Careers Live 2023.

I also took the opportunity to reach out to Umar when applying for the Air League Scholarship. We had a phone conversation which lasted an hour – his insights and help were invaluable. At the end of the call I felt more confident in my abilities and my dream. As a result I was awarded the scholarship – and he was a major contributing factor to this!

Reconnecting with – Bridget Donaldson, TUI MPL Cadet Pilot and Sustainability Lead at the Air League.

I first met Bridget Donaldson at the two-day Sustainability Skies Summit at Farnborough in April, 2023. She presented on a panel with other sustainability champions – such as Pippa Bailey, Head of Climate and Sustainability at Ipsos (at the time) and Rachel Gardner-Poole, Chair of the Zero Emission Flight Delivery Group at the Jet Zero Council.

Here the panel discussed various topics with a particular focus around public perception as we transition into the new jet zero era where sustainability remains a strong talking point. Bridget was joined with Christoph Todt, Direction of Transformation and Change at TUI.

I vividly remember this talk for two reasons – a) it was the last talk of a VERY long two-day summit but more importantly I was moved by how passionate we are as an industry to being a force for good for the planet. For example, seeing sustainability champions like Christoph and Bridget from a single airline working collaboratively with industry shows the stance airlines are taking to be that change… a big leap forward.

Few months later, Bridget was my interviewer at British Airways Head Office for my Air League Scholarship… what a coincidence! Here I got to know Bridget a little bit better – for example, we shared the same dream to become a pilot and she once had a blog website like me….

…. And to hear not too long after she will be able to make her dreams come true with TUI through the Pilot cadet programme was a surreal moment for me because it shows with purpose, persistence and hope we can make our dreams a reality. Having met Bridget at this event as a ‘TUI Cadet Pilot’ it was a fantastic opportunity to congratulate her and take away some words of wisdom to follow her footsteps one day!

Creating new connections – Tom Anderson, ATPL student at CATS Aviation.

Here I met Tom Anderson from CATS Aviation for the first time. Tom is currently completing his ATPLs with CATS and was expressing how great CATS is – despite me trying to shine a spotlight on how great Bristol GS (their fierce competitor) was! Through this we broke the ice and I got to know him on a personal level. During our conversation, I learnt he completed his PPL at the same airfield I did my scholarship at! In fact, we also had the same instructor – the amazing Steve Haines at Booker Aviation!

From PPL to instructors, we got talking about finding the right instructor. Through this he mentioned another great instructor that he knew – Catherine. And guess what… it’s the same instructor who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting as Ground Crew at another airfield. She also kindly assisted me through the Air Pilots PPL scholarship application where I reached the top 60 from 700 applications! I am ever-grateful to people who have helped me on my journey – it really means the world to me!

Lessons of the Day: Through our short conversation together we unlocked a friendship and so many other conversations!  A conversation goes a long way folks. Next time when I see Tom I’ll jokingly go on about how great Bristol GS is and we’ll start off from where we left – and have another brilliant conversation… or 5 others!

Wings Alliance –

I also spoke to Josh from Wings Alliance and one of their approved partners – Bristol Ground School. I have known of Wings Alliance for a few years now – they are doing a phenomenal job. I know they are great because a good friend of mine called Payda Marizani, the winner of the Arlan Hamilton and Earline Butler Sims scholarship used Wings Alliance and was later recruited by Ryanair as a First Officer through their assistance. So I can vouch for the great work they do!

It was great seeing Wings Alliance again. I cannot wait to see them at Pilot Careers Live in April 2024.

Flight simulator

I prioritised networking over flight simulator. So I had time to spare at the end of the day once everyone had packed up to quickly nip down to the FlightPad HQ. Here FlightPad showcases their state-of-the-art Boeing 737 simulator. I was really fortunate to step foot into the simulator with Jordan Penning, Boeing 737 simulator instructor at Turnpoint.I was in there for a few minutes, but managed to complete a landing which was fun!

This has been a REALLY long blog – and has taken HOURS to edit! If you have got to the end you are the best!

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog as much as I have writing this up! I hope you were able to take away some insights from this blog. I’ll see you on the next one. Thanks for reading

The Proficient Airman.