Having always been interested in aeroplanes from a very young age, our newest Alumni Spotlight credits a flight over Mont Blanc sitting in the cockpit of an Air Malta flight as the conscious defining moment that he knew he wanted to pursue a career as a pilot.

 

 

We were delighted to sit down with Andrea Bonanno, from Course 211, to explore his story through flight training and find out some more about what he does nowadays.

Before attending FTE, Andrea completed a Part-66 Aircraft Maintenance License, allowing him to certify Diamond DA-42s – the same aircraft he would go on to complete his multi-engine training on at FTEJerez. He completed 7 years of work experience working on DA-42s and business jets before successfully applying to FTE in early 2019, attending the BSc course in Pilot Studies offered by SETU Carlow in Ireland.

Unfortunately for Andrea, it was during his time in Ireland that the Covid-19 pandemic hit. As a consequence of lockdowns along with a gap between training in Ireland and commencement of the course in July, he briefly assisted working in maintenance for a month in Munich at his previous employer before eventually moving to Jerez to start his flight training in July of that year.

During his time at FTE, Andrea noted that having been out of the routine of studying for some time before going back to complete his ATPLs, he found his biggest challenge to be getting back into a routine of studying and rediscovering what worked for him. However, by surrounding himself with likeminded and hardworking people, he managed to get through.

Since his time at FTE, Andrea has joined DEA/ESAO, a specialist provider of complex aerial data acquisition services, flying King Air 200s on ISR operations. Alongside flying, he still fulfils his maintenance obligations in the company, looking after the DA42 and DA62 aircraft in accordance with his Part-66 Maintenance License. If you’d like to learn more details about Andrea’s journey to this exciting opportunity in the cockpit, we invite you to read through some of the responses he gave to our questions during our interview with him below.

 

Why did you choose FTEJerez?

The ethos of FTE is Fly, Train, Excel. I knew that I wasn’t going to be perfect right away, but excellence can be developed over time, and FTE would be the place to allow me to get there.

This, paired with the Diamond DA-42s that I was familiar with, and their partnerships with the airlines all drew me towards the school.

 

Favourite aspect of training at FTE?

“With the QCC it felt like you were covering new ground.”

The solo QCC. That was the defining moment. It was such a long flight. Normally you only fly for 1 hour solo at a time, but with the QCC it felt like you were covering new ground. While every flight should have a purpose and an aim, the QCC felt like you were on a mission to get to the next destination.

 

 

Most challenging moment of FTE?

“Learning how to study again after so long was challenging, but surround yourself with good people, form strong bonds, and that will help you throughout your training.”

Finding out how to study again after not studying for a long time. But surround yourself with good people, form strong bonds, and that will help you throughout your training. The CRM aspect of the course is so important, and it can be developed in lots of ways, by playing volleyball, at the bar, and off campus.

 

Highlights since leaving FTE?

“Every flight, there is still a moment when I’m watching a sunrise or a sunset, maybe listening to some music, and I just think ‘I’m here now. I’ve made it.’”

Sometimes you get to a point where you can take the job for granted. But every flight, there is still a moment when I’m watching a sunrise or a sunset, maybe listening to some music, and I just think “I’m here now. I’ve made it”. That highlight keeps coming back over and over again. The idea that you’re there, you’re part of a team, and just loving it, and keeping that learning and progression mentality.

 

 

 

CRM is probably one of the most important factors. It doesn’t start with the APS-MCC. It starts in the classroom at the end of week 1 after you’ve started to get familiar with the names of people on your course. The better the camaraderie in the course and the earlier it is established, the better the whole process will be.

Alongside the CRM aspect, it’s important to be adaptive. Setbacks will happen, but if you are aware of that, and when they do come tackle them with a positive mindset, you will achieve what you set out to do.”

 

 

If you or someone you know would like to be featured in our Alumni Spotlight Series, please reach out to us at president@fteturbojet.com or careers@fteturbojet.com.