As a part of the preparation for the final exams
in June, it was time for the 3 week ATPL refresher
course at NEAR in Aalesund. The course started 4
April, with class room lectures the first 2 weeks
followed by one week of school exams.
We were a total of 18 students attending the course
from different classes. In the most difficult subjects
we had teachers who specializes in the different
subjects, while NEAR themselves took care of the
easy ones. It was alot to go through in 2 weeks,
and we mostly just skimmed the surface, while the
teachers emphasized the important parts. In Meteorology
class we had Øyvind Johnsen who teaches at
the Institute of Meteorology at Blinderen in Oslo.
A man with alot of knowledge who gave us useful
hints and cleared up some of the stuff that has
been unclear earlier. In Navigation we had Gunnar
Sandsbraaten who is a retired Air Force navigator.
Whatever he doesn't know about navigation is not
worth knowing.
The school exams went alright. Most of them had
the level of difficulty I expected, though there
where some of them which were harder. It was good
to get an idea about where I am compared to what's
expected and get to know what I have to work on
before the real exams starts in a little over a
month.
I stayed at the students housing together with
11 others about 3 km from the airport. My own room
and a shared livingroom and kitchen, which worked
out alright for the 3 weeks I was there. We mostly
took the bus to school and a taxi back home. The
taxi was ironically cheaper than the bus, which
is one of the reason why the taxi drivers got rather
frustrated when we approached them 10 minutes before
the flight from Oslo arrived which they had so patiently
been waiting for.
The weather on the West Coast of Norway is strange.
It started off pretty decent, but got pretty bad
after a couple of days. Rain and sleet was falling
sideways. In the end it got alot better.
We went out in Aalesund the first weekend. Aalesund
is a amazing city. Incredibly charming situated
in a fantastic landscape. I haven't really been
to the West Coast before (only at most of the airports),
so I see now why tourists come to this part of Norway.
The next month will be mostly repetition before
the exams with the CAA which starts 6 June.
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The classroom with Mr Sandsbraaten at the board.
The livingroom at the student housing
The view from a hill near where we lived. The airport
in the middle of the picture.
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