Arrived in Phoenix

So after a months break we have flown out to Phoenix- and its great to be here.

Anyway, we all met up at Heathrow to fly on BA289- a British Airways 747 for a 10.5 hour
flight. We met at check in at T5 and after security decided it was a good idea to have a beer and buy some last minute things for Phoenix. We were soon on the plane and sat as a group. The flight itself was uneventful but much of it was spent in the galleys talking to the crew. It was great to speak to them and ask about their experiences, luckily the pilots got wind that we where all on board and being ex OAA men themselves invited up to the cockpit after we landed, which we did. The flight itself was a symbol of the hard work of ground school, you so want to be on the flight and not doing re-sits etc, so it was great to get to Phoenix.... for more hard work!

Cold front

Hello Phoenix

Our crew waiting for us to go away so they could also!

Having our fun

We arrived at 6.00 in the evening and had 2 OAA buses waiting for us. After a 25 min trip we were dropped off at our apartments and given keys. We share apartments but all have our own rooms and bathrooms, my first impressions were that the facilities were clean, basic and big. The accommodation is great and everything was already set up for us. We live in permanent residence apartments in many blocks so it is not pilot exclusive, but we live in a gated community and we have 2 swimming pools, a gym, bbq's and fires. However there was not much time to stop and appreciate what we have because classes were booked for 8.00 the next morning. OAA run a bus service for us taking us to and from the airport and if your nice any personal requests as well.

 We finished the first day after enrolling and doing the usual tours etc and the bus's took us to Walmart so we could do our first shop, we had 2 vans, one for food and one for us, I am glad we did because Walmart is like Tesco on steroids, the place is massive and you can buy everything you ever need. America is very different place and my first impressions were that everything seemed to be on a bigger scale, everyone is very nice and the weather is currently a good temperature, not to hot! However it has soon come apparent that there are some very nasty little 'critters' who sole purpose is life is to bite and sting you turning up in unusual places, so far in the apartment (which is common) I have has a poisonous spider, a lizard and a scorpion... this isn't unusual so I think I am just going to have to get used to my new neighbors....

Our place

Since then I have been to Vegas and done many other things but will save for my next blog.

Thanks for reading,

Finally 'on' a plane

I hope you are well.