A Pass and yet...

The 2nd of my exams, ATPL Law, was this morning.  90 minutes given, 30 questions, pass rate 80%.  It wasn't easy, but two of us passed, and one did not.  I was sure that he would pass, but it just didn't work out that way.  I feel very bad for him, because he put in a lot of effort, and it just didn't happen on the day.

The thing is, it's incredibly hard to be excited about passing an exam, and to feel good, and to think "Halfway there!" - when somebody failed.  You feel guilty about your exhilaration, you feel like you should feel sad too - and you do feel sad, to a certain extent, because you feel for them, and you are glad that it wasn't you - but then you imagine that it was you - and it is a bit depressing.  Then you remember that you passed the exam and you want to go EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... but you can't, because it would be hurtful.

Anyway, suffice it to say, I passed, and I'm happy, and I'm also very very sorry for the guy who didn't pass - and if you're reading this - really, I am.

Enough of that "feelings" trollop!  Back to the normal blogging.

Archerfield Airport is where ASL hold the exams.  This is towards the south of Brisbane, and relatively easy to get to, assuming that you have an iphone or something similar which will tell you what road to travel on.  It takes about 20 minutes from the hotel, although we usually allow an hour Just In Case.

There is obviously a lot of GA (General Aviation for those who are not Aviation savvy) going on at Archerfield.

I took this picture on the day of the CPL exam.  Given that it was much better weather today, and the sun was in a different part of the sky (different time of day), I could have taken a better one today - however I knew I had taken a picture previously and didn't realise that it was this bad.  ANYWAY, you can see some of the light aircraft parked on the airport.

Here is the same picture, but I have lightened it considerably... sky doesn't look quite as interesting but at least you can see what is going on in the foreground! 

The interesting thing is that if you turn around to face the opposite direction, this is what you see.  In the far centre of the photo is a green sign that reads "Archerfield Airport", and in the foreground... well, it's fairly self explanatory, isn't it?

A cemetery.

Just the sort of thing you really want to see when you drive into an airport.  Whether it is to go flying, or to sit an exam - not exactly confidence building.  Maybe this is an Australian thing?  Who knows...

At 1330 we have what is known as a "DAMP Test"  In other words, a pre-employment drug and alcohol test.  Today is also one of the guys' birthday, so we are going to combine our celebrations, commiserations and birthday wishes in one big Thing (couldn't think of a word that encompassed celebrations, commiserations and birthday wishes) in the Belgian Beer House which is below the hotel.  (Well... below most of it.)  After the DAMP Test.

Tomorrow is uniform fitting day, so we'll traipse off to the airport and get measured etc. to get a uniform that actually fits.  4 years... never had a uniform that fitted!

Then it's back to business, studying for the Human Factors exam which is on Tuesday 15th.  It never stops :(


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TTFN !!!