A Little Bit More About Me

Hi guys,

After the first post introducing the blog and myself I felt the need to let you know a little more about me, giving you an insider point of view on my aeronautical background and on my progress so far.

I was born in Lisbon on the 31st of August 1986. The passion for aircraft soon came as a natural result of being the son of an Airline Captain for TAP Portugal. Since the beginning I got used to fly on the cockpit of big airliners such as the B727, B737 and the Airbus A310 while accompanying my father in his different flights around Europe and The Americas.

As an obvious consequence of this premature contact with aviation I soon became passionate about flying and it was a natural decision to follow a career as a pilot.

Still, prior to starting my commercial pilot instruction I graduated in Materials Engineering in Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon in 2007. But meanwhile in 2005 I was granted the possibility of getting my Private Pilot License by my parents. And so, there it was, the long awaited moment had come to life, flying was no longer a distant hypothesis but a real thing. I rushed to the Aeroclub de Portugal and got my Private Pilot License after a 6 month theoretical ground school and another 6 month flying period in LPCS- Cascais Aerodrome ( Yes, it took that long because I was attending University at the same time). After 45 hours flying time, flying Cessna 152 and Cessna 172R I finally had my exam in October 2006 and passed! 

1. LPCS - Cascais Aerodrome as it is today.

2. Just after my PPL exam, October 2006.

I could now fly around in a wide range of Single Engine Piston aircraft and enjoy the pleasure of flying. After something like 40 hours after finishing my PPL a new opportunity came in August 2007: Integrated ATPL Course.

I did my Integrated ATPL Course in Évora, Portugal, at the Aeronautical Academy of Europe. Évora Aerodrome is much smaller and less crowded than Cascais and it was much easier to do instruction flights in here than back in Cascais. 

The course comprised 150 flying hours plus 50 simulator hours (20 of which in Multi Crew Coordination environment). The ground school was completed prior to start flying and it took me about 9 months to go over the 14 subjects that make up the ATPL Theory. After that I started flying and in only 8 months I was an endorsed Commercial Pilot with Instrument Rating in multi engined aircraft, that happened in December 2008. 

3. Flying in Évora - Aeronautical Academy of Europe - 2007.

Since then I have been trying to build flying time and have been looking for my first job in the aeronautical industry. I hope you now know a little bit more about my flying background and I will surely describe some of the flights I have made during my PPL and ATPL Courses, as well as the leisure flights I have been doing since 2006.

Hope to post again soon,

Greetings!