When we arrived in Prague, we went to our hotel by public transport. It was better than I expected, although the buses were non-airconditioned, old and rusty, they drove exactly according schedule, and with a high frequency. During our stay in Prague, we used the public transport everyday. These days, we went to several tourist attractions, but most of the time we did some relaxing and enjoyed the sun.

Prague is full of old, -I think- middle age buildings with a lot of towers and churches, which really gives the city a historic touch. The downtown area of Prague was a lot smaller than I expected, but that allowed us to see most of it during the short time we stayed there. Our hotel (Hotel Golf) wasn’t located in the citycentre, but about half an hour traveling by bus. When I was collecting some information at home, I thought it would be quite long trip to get to downtown Prague, but it isn’t that bad. But if you are going to Prague, I suggest you to book another hotel than we did, it isn’t very good and really, you don’t want to try the breakfast there.

We didn’t do much cultural activities (we spend a lot of time with shopping), but Prague is perfect for those that like culture, history and tourist attractions.

I was accepted at both the Hogeschool Windesheim and the Hogeschool Utrecht by making an 21+ exam. I could start with one of those studies in September. At a certain point, I was convinced that I would stop my aviation study and start all over at an IT class. But more and more I realized that it wasn’t a solution. Because if I failed at one of those studies, I wouldn’t have a degree at all. And it felt like throwing away these three years of studying for Operations Officer.

So, I stay. I’ve got one year of studying to do, and then I will have my degree. After that, I can start another study -this time IT related- at the Hogeschool Utrecht or another school. Last week I made the final exams for my third year and they went pretty good. Here’s an overview of my grades:

(Photo credit: Hops_76)

KLM DVD: “Welcome to the OCC, KLM’s Operations Control Center” from Tim on Vimeo.

Before I started studying Aviation Operations at the ROC van Amsterdam, I attended an IT college. And for me it’s a logical step to go back to my other passion: Computers and Internet. Even though I was studying Aviation I’ve been busy with webdesign activities in my free time. And I enjoy that. I will quit the education I’m doing now, and I hope I will start a new education in September this year.

At the moment I’m still searching for a good school that offers the exact classes I’d like to attend. But the problem is that I do not have the appropriate certificates and degrees to be accepted at most of these schools. Here in the Netherlands there is an option to be accepted if you are 21 years or older. I have to make an admission exam to proof that I’ll be capable to finish the classes with a good result. I already made one of these exams at the Hogeschool Windesheim in Zwolle, which I passed. Theoretically I can sign in for this education and start in September.

But, as I still have lots of time before I have to start, I will attend more of these exams at different schools, so I eventually can choose the school and education that fits best to me, and I can do something I really like.

The training was followed by a ‘training-on-the-job’ to teach me, within another period of two weeks, how to be able to work as independently as possible. I was taught how to prepare a flight (e.g. collecting the information and checking if it is correct), how to monitor the flights I was handling and how to finish the flight. In the beginning my trainer and I did everything together: I said what I thought I had to do, and if that was correct he let me do my work. As days went by my trainer let me work alone more and more. Of course I still had questions, as every flight is different and might have it’s own difficulties, but asking questions is very encouraged at the KLM. Because we work with aircraft stuffed with over a hundred passengers, we cannot afford to make any mistakes. We’ve learned never to do something if you aren’t sure if it’s the right thing to do.

Basically the work I do is planning how the baggage and cargo should be loaded in the aircraft, and send these instructions to the outstation. They will load the aircraft according to my instructions. I have to make sure the aircraft center of gravity falls within certain limits. And therefore it is important that they follow my instructions carefully.

Now I’m working alone for over three weeks, and I’m pretty satisfied on how it’s going, I even see things going better every day. In the beginning it was really hard when a couple of flights departed within 5 minutes of each other, but handling a situation like that on a daily basis taught me lot, and most of the times I don’t have any difficulties with this anymore. For so far I’m really enjoying this internship.

Image by Inter.nl

We went from Rotterdam to Hull by a vessel of P&O Ferries which departed at 9pm last Thursday. On board the vessel there were plenty of ways to enjoy myself, like restaurants, bars, music and cinemas. As the vessel departs in the evening, all passengers aboard have a small cabin with a shower and bed. I spent the evening at the restaurant and bars. The next morning when I woke up, the remaining time before arrival was just a couple of hours. Although going to England by airplane is much faster (about one hour flying), going by boat is more comfortable. After the vessel was anchored at the terminal of Hull, we got to York by coach.

It was really busy in York, which prove to me that it really is a touristic highlight. York is divided in two parts; the old historic city with the York Minster, which is car-free, and the modern part with all common shops. The city center of York is almost completely surrounded by old town walls from the middle ages. We walked around in the historic part of the city and visited lots of ‘traditional English’ shops. It seems that the English culture differs from the Dutch. Because the weather was nice, we would rather drink something outside on a terrace than inside a pub. We could find lots of pubs and bars, but the majority of them only offered seating inside their building. While walking in a random Dutch city, you’ll see terraces everywhere. Eventually we found a square with multiple terraces.

York is a wonderful city with lots of tiny streets and alleys. I believe when visiting York you’ll discover how England was hundreds of years ago, perfect for a cultural day out!

Here’s an overview of my results. All grades are on a scale from 1 to 10.

Apart from studying I’ve also been busy with the internship for next school year. A couple of months ago eight students were selected for an internship at the Operations Control Center of the KLM. I was one of them, so I had to do some tests and a job interview. Only four of us will be selected and are going to work there for 5 months. The first test we got was weight and balance, which is used to determine the center of gravity of an aircraft. It’s important to know how these things work, because it will be part of the daily tasks at the OCC.

Last wednesday I had the second test and the job interview. This was an English speaking test and it wasn’t very difficult. I had to read some texts and explain to the tutor what the text was about. It was followed by a 10 minute conversation in English. After this test I had the job interview. I was interviewed by a recruiter and a manager of the OCC. They asked me questions about who I am and what I like to do, as well as more difficult questions: “Can you give an example of a situation that you was working under high pressure?”, I found it hard to remember such a situation, but after a few seconds I got one. At the end of the job interview, they told me that they would call me within two days to tell me if I was selected for the internship.

The recruiter called me today, she had good news, I’m selected. This means that after the summer holiday, I will be working at the KLM again. It’ll start with a course of two weeks to teach me how everything works. Then I will be prepared for working alone, which means I’ll be working for three weeks under supervision of a colleague, before I have to do it on my own. I’m really looking forward to all this, but first I’m going to enjoy my summer holiday.

The fire department at Schiphol is situated at three different locations on the airport. Each location is responsible for its own area. In case of an air crash or bad landing, the fire fighters within that area have to arrive at the scene within three minutes. For problems at the terminal buildings they have more time. When an aircraft crashes and catches fire on the wings and fuselage it takes about three minutes before the fire reaches the inside of the aircraft, like the cabin or cockpit. Saving lives becomes very difficult from that point, and the chance to survive the crash reduces enormously.

The day started with a presentation to introduce us to the daily tasks and responsibilities of the fire brigade. After we finished the theoretical part of the excursion, the visitors were separated into groups and we went outside. As one of the few airports in the world, Schiphol has a unique training facility for the fire fighters. It’s called the Firefly, a remake of a passenger aircraft to simulate an air crash and to practise the extinguishing of the huge fires in such a situation. The fire brigade gave us a short demonstration of the Firefly.

To be honest it wasn’t as spectacular as I expected, of course, the flames were pretty huge, but the fire was extinguished in seconds. I’ve uploaded a video of the demonstration to my YouTube account, so see for yourself here.

I never skied before and I expected to be bungling on the skies for 10 days, but it turned out better. Immediately on the first day I got a skiing lesson, and it seemed to be not so difficult. After a couple of days I could move pretty fast and I was able to ski on the blue pistes. Sure, my technique was worthless, and it probably didn’t look so good, but I was skiing there for fun. The first time I was standing at the top of a blue piste I didn’t want to go, it was so high, but there was no way back. After skiing down, it felt so good that I had overcome my fear of heights again.

In the evenings we stayed most of the times in the apartment. There were some bars, but the drinks were so expensive that I refused to spend my money there. We cooked dinner or we ate at a restaurant, and after that we enjoyed some drinks.

Skiing was more fun than I thought it would be, and I really enjoyed this week, but I will always prefer a holiday at the beach.

Yesterday we all went to the Operations Control Center of the KLM, which controls all worldwide activities of the KLM. I’ve been watching there for a couple of hours, after which we went to the Hangar. KLM has several hangars at Schiphol-East. We went to Hangar 14, which is -according to the guide- the biggest hangar of Europe. It was amazing to see the technicians working on the aircraft. The hangar is separated in three bays, which all have a different function. The first two bays are set up to do maintenance and checks on the aircraft, for example the C-check and the D-check. During the D-check the aircraft is stripped almost completely, so every single part can be inspected for damage or malfunctioning. It’s such a lot of work to perform this check, that it takes multiple weeks. The third bay is in use for aircraft repaints.

Before going back to college I’ll be going on a skiing trip to France with college. Together with a couple of teachers and students I will travel to Risoul by bus. I’m not sure how long it’ll be driving, but it will be a long, long drive…

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been interviewed by a journalist of the internal KLM newspaper. Here’s a translation of the article:

ROC students are attending internship at BTS

For ten weeks they’re standing between the aircraft: Uman, Arjen, Wesley, Shawn and Daniel. Thanks to a cooperation between KLM and the ROC Hoofddorp these Aviation Operations students are working within the team. Therefore they can put their theoretical skills into practice.

During work they are accompanied by sector manager Pieter and supervisor Renz. Pieter: “The main goal of the internship is that the boys can bring the theory into practice. For them it’s great to finally experience the real thing which is described in their books.” The employees of the department are enthusiastic about the trainees. Pieter: “You can see that everybody does his very best to make the boys experience as much as possible.

For instance, they aren’t allowed to drive the highloaders themselfs, but the specialists really like to give them a drive. When that happens you can see their proud faces.” Daniel, one of the five trainees confirms this: “It’s great to (as an addition to the theory) walk between the real aircraft.” Wesley adds: “We’ve had a good introduction course at the KLM, and when I was at the platform, it was even better than I expected.” Arjen: “We have to wake up pretty early, because we start at 7 am, but it’s more than worth it.” They have to go to college for another two years, so they have to stay focused on studying. But the question if they would like to work at the KLM after they finished college is answered: “YES”.

See the original article below (click to enlarge).

I arrived there at 6 am in the morning to conduct with two colleagues of that department. Our first assignment was to tow a Boeing 747 from the gate to the Juliet platform at the other side of the highway. I chose to go into the cockpit with one of my colleagues, while the other operated the push back truck. In the cockpit we followed a number of procedures concerning the power supply of the aircraft. After that, the push back truck gently lifted the enormous jet and asked permission from the air traffic control to begin moving. The push back truck needs confirmation from the ATC because it is entering the taxiway.

It was a fantastic experience to be sitting in the co-pilot’s seat while the aircraft got towed over the taxiways to the Juliet platform. When we arrived at the final location, we switched of the aircraft and got off.

Later that day we towed an Airbus A330 to the Bravo platform which we also towed back to the gate a a while later. My colleagues also had to tow an aircraft to the hangar, but because I’m not allowed to enter that area (Schiphol-East), I went with someone else for a couple of hours. I’ve been sitting in the push back truck while it pushed the aircraft on the taxiway where it started its engines and prepared for take off.

One thing that really attracted my attention was the big difference between Boeing and Airbus aircraft and their cockpits. Airbus is more electronic and based on computers than Boeing. For instance the control column to control the primary flight controls used by Boeing, is replaced by a sidestick in Airbus aircraft.

A Rampsnake is an advanced conveyor to deliver the cargo and baggage anywhere in the belly during bulk loading. It operates fully electronic and reduces handling operations to 2 people. During the training course they explained how the machine works, how we can control it, and they told us about the emergency procedures. Without a Rampsnake the loaders have to push or lift all the baggage to the end of the hold. Now, the Rampsnake does all this work for us.

The second course, concerned the arrival of the aircraft at the gate. A GPU is a Ground Power Unit, which is a vehicle capable of supplying power to aircraft parked on the ground. The aircraft can also use its build in APU (Auxilary Power Unit) but this method uses more fuel and is expensive. We learned how to start the GPU and connect it to the aircraft, while the wheel chocks are placed at the same time. The wheel chocks are used to prevent the aircraft from moving while parked at the gate.

They also taught us the procedures for smaller aircraft, like the Fokker 70, 100 and Embraer 190 which are mostly used by KLM Cityhopper. These aircraft don’t park at the gate, but at the buffer. The passengers are transferred to the terminal by buses. Because there is no VDGS (Visual Docking and Guidance System) the pilots and handling crew communicate by hand signals.

But we didn’t only work. Last week, on Friday, we got interviewed by a journalist of the internal KLM newspaper. A photographer went to the ramp with us, and took some photos of all the trainees during work. After that, the journalist asked us some questions.

At seven o’clock my working day begins, waiting in the canteen until they declare the names of the next team. One team, existing out of 4 or more people, handle an aircraft. I’m working at the D-pier where all kinds of aircraft are situated. This means I’ve already handled Boeing 737′s, Boeing 777′s, Boeing 747′s, and Airbus A330′s. The last three of those, are mainly loaded with containers and pallets, except for the crew baggage and remaining cargo which go in the bulk cargo hold.

The first time I had to go in to the bulk hold of an wide body aircraft, I wasn’t very sure about doing it. It’s located at the rear side of the aircraft, at a height of four meters. I have a bit of a fear of heights, and it makes it even more difficult because you have to walk up a mobile conveyor belt. I decided to try it and although getting out the hold will never be my favorite thing to do, I have no problems with it anymore. It seems that I have overcome my fears.

Airbus A330 with conveyor to bulk hold

All of the containers are loaded by high loaders and main deck loaders, which will gently roll the container into the aircraft, and after that the driver can move them to the left or the right side by a small joystick. The floor of the aircraft is equipped will small wheels, rails and locks, to make easy and safe transport possible. During one day I approximately handle 4 or 5 aircraft, depending on how busy it is.

The activities today were very impressive. At the beginning of the day we walked around at the platform, watching how the crew was handling the plane and its cargo. While travelling by plane it doesn’t look very big, but when I was standing next to the main landing gear of a Boeing 747-400 Combi, I thought: “This is immense!”. KLM uses the combi aircraft to transport both passengers and cargo from and to airports which are not profitable enough to send two different planes. At the moment we were walking around the platform, the crew was unloading the cargo part of the main deck. After they finished we all got onto the main deck loader, which lifted us easily to a height of 6 or 7 metres.

After we checked out the main deck of the aircraft, we went through the passenger cabin to the cockpit. It was impressive to see all those screens and switches, imagining that just two men control such a huge machine. We left the plane by the jetway and walked over the platform to some other aircraft, where our trainer explained about the procedures and systems.

Later at the office of our trainer, which is actually a turnaround coordinator, we got explanations about the computer systems to track the progress during an aircraft turnaround. In these three days of internship, I already learned more than during the two months of the previous internship.

I also had another weight and balance exam. I got all details about a fictional flight, and had to fill in the loadsheet, distribute all cargo and passengers and fuel at the plane.

Next week I start working at the KLM again, for my second aviation internship. Last year I was having an internship at the KLM as well, at the Groundservices department. This time, I’m working at Aircraft Turnaround Services for two months. I’m not exactly sure what my activities will be, but I’ll find out Monday.

Most of the grades are nearly the same as the ones of the previous exam week. Here’s a list of some of the results:

All grades are on a scale from one to ten

The next day we continued our trip to London by Eurostar, the high speed train connection between Brussels and London St.Pancras station. It took only 2 hours to get there, and it was amazingly comfortable in comparison with the commuter trains I’m used to.

We stayed at the Thistle Bloomsbury hotel, near to Oxford street, with a tube station nearby. The interior of the hotel and our rooms had a very classical look, and the service was good. On my room there was a leaflet about Wireless internet for guests, but I couldn’t pick up the signal. Instead of that, I connected to someone else’s network (probably someone living nearby). The network was secured by WEP-encryption, but after guessing the password (it was 12345678) I was able to check my email.

Because it was my stepmom’s first visit to London, we visited all the tourist highlights like the Big Ben, the London Eye, Abbey Road, Piccadilly Circus, Notting Hill, and so on. We spent most of the evenings with going out for dinner, and going to the pub. Before I knew it, the weekend was over. I’ve been in London several times now, but it will never be boring.

All grades are on a scale from one to ten

At the moment these are the highest grades of our class. I’ve heard rumours that people are cheating during the exams, I don’t know if it’s true, but I will never do it. I rather get a 6 for an exam without cheating than an 8 while cheating. Besides I like to play it fair, with cheating you won’t gain any knowledge.

When you fail for an exam, you’ll get a second chance. If you also fail for the second chance, you’ll get a third chance. If you’re not able to pass the third offer, you have to leave college and start another education. This means when you have to leave in your second school year, you’ve wasted two years of going to college, and ending up without a degree.

The fact that it’s more difficult than last year, is good, if you ask me. It might sound a bit odd, but the more challenging it is, the more motivated I’ll get.

One of the things I noticed immediately is the level of the lessons this year, as it is much higher than last year. We’ll get more homework, and we have to pay more attention in class in order to get good grades on the exams. Were last year was almost effortless for most of us, this year will be a challenge!

Some of the new subjects for this year:

Aircraft Performance
One of the most interesting subjects this year will be Aircraft Performance. Today we had our first class, with one of my favorite teachers (a former flight engineer). He isn’t only very well informed about aviation, he’s also very strict. I like that.

Problem guided education
Separated into small groups, every group gets an assignment or problem to solve. In a limited time, the group has to work together to collect information on the Internet, books and by asking professionals. With this information, the group has to find a solution for the problem. By example: There’s an aircraft with an engine failure on an airport somewhere on the world. What has to be done before the plane can leave? What to do with the passengers? And so on. At the end of the education term of eight weeks, every group gets examined.

Navigation
The name explains itself; we have to learn how an aircraft navigates, and how to work with aviation maps.

In opposite what the teachers told us last year, we’ll continue the math and science classes this year, but now we’ll get assignments related to aviation, so it won’t be the boring formula stuff again.

We all have to put some effort in it this year, but it’s definitely worth it.

We spent the days there with sun tanning, going out and sitting around the campfire. The day before we left, Kelly and Jessica took me on a quad drive. We drove up to the mountains, and after one hour of driving we made a campfire to make some hot-dogs. Some of the roads we drove were very rough, which made it pretty adventurous.

We came back in Vancouver yesterday, and went to the live concert of Feist. I only knew one of her songs, and didn’t know what to expect of the rest of her music, but it was great. The concert took place at the Deer Lake Park in Burnaby.

I’ve just got 3 days left here in Vancouver, It’s hard to imagine that it’s almost over now.

Two days ago I went to White Rock, a village with its beaches at the strait of Georgia. The name of the village originates from a white rock which migrated to its current position during the last glaciation. The rock was kept white by shellfish-eating seabirds, whose guano covered the rock, so much so that sailors in the 19th century used it as a beacon. We walked up the pier, and once we arrived at the end, the view was beautiful. The water, the mountains, and it was so quiet there, totally different from the busy city Vancouver.

Something totally different was the Metrotown Shopping mall, which is with over 500 shops the biggest shopping complex in British Columbia. I’ve been walking around there for 3 hours -which is obviously way to short to see all the shops- and was amazed about the number of cell-phone shops located so close to each other.

Since today I’m halfway my stay here in Vancouver, and there is so much more to see.

The day before yesterday, Kelly and I went to the Granville Island public market. We went to the Granville station by Skytrain, which is pretty similar to the London underground, except that it is above the streets and the trains are controlled by computers and not by human drivers. Then we took the Seabus to Granville Island. There were a lot of stands there, selling food, handmade jewelry and souvenirs. On our way back to the Seabus, there was a comedian giving a performance. He juggled with flaming torches and showed some other tricks.

What I’ve seen in Vancouver until now is really impressive. One thing that shows off is that everything is ‘big’ here. In the Netherlands everything is a lot smaller, like the trees, buildings, bridges and cars. It’s great to see something of other parts of the world.

I’ve uploaded some photos, which can be found by clicking here.

Kelly and her father picked me up at the airport and we drove to Delta, a suburb of Vancouver. One of the first things I saw was the Alex Fraser bridge, an huge bridge to Greater Vancouver. This bridge is about 930 meter long and the towers have a height of 154 meter.

Yesterday night Kelly, Jackie and I went to the drive-in cinema at Langley. We watched the new Batman movie, which was pretty good.

The first couple of days were full of great experiences, and I’m staying here in Vancouver for another 2 weeks.

This was the first time that I went to one of her concerts, so I didn’t knew what to expect. When Avril entered the stage, the crowd was going out of it’s mind. It was an absolutely awesome night, and her live music is very good. Unlike a lot of other artists who only sound good on a CD, and sound very bad when they’re at a live performance. This show was very spectacular, with a lot of video and light effects, which made the show even better.

Avril also played the drums and the guitar, and the way she communicated with her fans was really great. This was a damn good experience, and if I have the opportunity again, I’m sure I’ll go to her next concert.

Here are some photos from WENN:

Vancouver is the biggest city in British Columbia, at the west coast of Canada. Famous because of it’s beautiful nature and mountains. I’m definitely going to visit Stanley Park, which is one of the biggest public parks in North America.

I’m really looking forward to see Kelly again, and to enjoy staying for a while in this great city.

For more information about visiting Vancouver, you should check out the website of Tourism Vancouver.