Aviation Career of Markus Rohrer
From university to aviation As already described in "Bio", I had successfully completed the quite tough, six-day Swissair pilot assessment im summer 2000, and was accepted for the integrated ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License) course at Swissair Aviation School (SRAS). Because of the good test results, Swissair granted me financing of the whole course, which was a big relief for me - I wouldn't have been able to finance the course on my own right after university. I chose to join pilot course PK 4/01, starting on 15. October 2001, in order to finish my university course. Immediately after my graduation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), I headed off to start my ATPL course.
ATPL course The first shock was already waiting for us in the very first week: Swissair, the worldwide known Swiss national airline with its famous reputation, declared bankrupcy in eraly October 2001, shortly before our ATPL course started. Management errors, a completely wrong expansion strategy and large investments into ailing foreign airlines in order to set up a "Swissair Alliance Network" led to arund 4 billions Swiss francs of debts, from a former cash reserve of about the same amount. Our feelings were very mixed these days, but our complete breakdown came when the school announced that Swissair's bankrupcy led to the cancellation of our financing. We had two weeks time to settle own means of financing, or to leave the course if we didn't succeed. Days of personal assessment followed, doubts about following the right path, about pursuing a dream that in the end wouldn't be as beautiful as I thought. But all the assessment led to the same result: I really wanted to be a pilot, an engineering career was not my first target. So I didn't have another chance but to finance my dream somehow. I finally managed to get loans in the amount of 160'000 swiss francs (for the course and the living cost during the 18 months to come) through a multitude of sources. I am still deeply grateful to all these individuals who believed in my dream and supported me this way. So I continued. During 18 months we were trained according to the syllabus of the former Swissair Aviation School, still with the old target which was the idea before Swissair went bankrupt: To start with the Airbus A320 transition right after completion of the integrated ATPL course, if the decision board gave the "thumbs up" to continue. We trained hard, and each one of us had times when he questioned if he could make it to the end. Nevertheless we had a great time within the team, taking the challenge to go through all the checks and tests.
The course started with a theory block of several weeks, before we were allowed into the first practical phase on single engine, four-seat Piper PA28-181 Archer II aircraft in Grenchen/Switzerland, lasting two weeks. We then continued on with theory and completed the practical phase with a second two-weeks-block, soloing at the beginning and completing the Private Pilot License at the end of this phase (it's not planned to get this license during an integrated ATPL course, but the USA required us to have a license in order to be trained at Flight Safety/Swissair in Vero Beach later on, so we did it).
Theory continued, now more related to IFR and line flying, and subsequently we were trained in a so called FNPT II (fix base navigation and procedures trainer), which looks like a Seneca Simulator, but does not move. There we flew 18 IFR sessions learning the basic IFR stuff like QDM/QDR interceptions, holding pattern entries and procedure turns, all according to the flight instruments. After this phase we were enough prepared to head off to the States. At Vero Beach, Flight Safety International (the world's largest pilot training organisations) had a joint flight training department with Swissair. There we "upgraded" to the faster and more complex Piper PA28-201 Arrow III. This aircraft was still a single engine, four-seat aircraft at about the same size than our Archer II, but had a retractable gear and a variable pitch propeller. On this "bird" we did our first VFR (visual flight rules) flights in the USA, and made our basic IFR (instrument flight rules) training, before we stepped up once more to the two-engine, six-seat Piper PA34 Seneca III. What a feeling for us "greenhorns" - twin engine flying with barely 100 hours total time! We loved it... After 10 weeks of training, three of us made a quick hop to the Bahamas (check the story and see the pictures unter "Gallery"/"Travelling/Holidays"), and then we returned to Switzerland to do our "Europe Phase" on Seneca III out of Berne, Switzerland. This led to our CPL (Commercial Pilot License) checkride. After some more theory - including jet engine theory, high level meteo and long range theory - we were off to the four-day written ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License) exam.
Happy to have passed the exam, which took several days of intensive examinations, we joined the Airbus A320 course. But unfortunately, our course was only a part of the original course which led into a Swissair A320 cockpit in the past. As Swissair did not exist any more at this time, we were only able to do 21 hours of full flight sim, the requirement for a Multi Crew Course (MCC) according to JAR regulations. So we were dropped to the market, with some A320 and Multi Crew knowledge, but no real jet hours.
For further information about this phase, please see our Pilot Course Website.
Unemployment, Sightseeing flights and
PC-12 flyingAnd then the big boredom started. We were already looking for jobs during the last third of our ATPL course, because we knew that the successor of Swissair, Swiss International Air Lines, would not need pilots for months or even years to come, because they shrinked the whole operation down and parked aircraft nearly every month. So we wrote to more than 100 airlines, and looked for jobs. But one thing was for sure: We would certainly not have a job immediately after completion of our course. So all of us looked for a second job to keep them alive while looking for a right hand seat in an airliner. I chose to apply at LIDO Flight Nav in Zurich, a Lufthansa subsidiary which produces chart material and FMS data for airlines, comparing to the more known company Jeppesen. There I worked for more than half a year, producing approach charts for the more lucky people who were working in a cockpit. Besides this job, I regularly flew relatives and friends to the Swiss Alps in small Piper single and twin engine aircraft. You can find some photographic impressions on the page "Gallery"/"General Aviation".
And I was very happy when a colleague of mine called in (he is in a management position for a Swiss business jet company), and told me that he had given my name to his friend who regularly flies a Pilatus PC-12 out of Zurich and St.Gallen-Altenrhein in eastern Switzerland. He was in need of a freelance copilot, who - my big chance - did not have to be type-rated in the PC-12. This was a very unique thing, because the PC-12 is not yet approved by the european aviation authority (JAA) to be operated commercially under IFR and as a two-pilot-cockpit. So it basically needed just one pilot to operate it. But the owner of this privately operated PC-12 requested a second pilot, who did not have to be typerated, but hold a CPL, to be on the righthand seat, operate the radios and do PNF (assisting pilot's) work.
It was the big chance for me, and I made several unforgettable trips within europe, impressive night flights, trips in adverse weather, experienced max weight takeoffs in really hot conditions. Nice, Milan, Keffalinia (Greece), Brussels, Liège (Belgium)...
And through all this, the PC-12 proved to be a real small airliner. Equipped with the latest EFIS avionics suite and weather radar, capable of flying up to 30'000ft altitude and cruising at a speed of 270 knots TAS, it is really a good thing. And what can one say about the "nose art" of HB-FPB (this is the registration of "our" PC-12)...see the pictures on the left side and judge for yourself. I loved it!
Until...
Finally jets... Yes, until the day when I received a letter from the German holiday carrier Hapag-Lloyd. I had been accepted - together with four classmates - to join the pilot assessment. They were looking for young pilots to join the company as B737NG first officers. Life seemed to be beautiful again... Luckily, three of us "survived" the three assessment days, and were introduced to the company in December 2003 (me), January and February 2004 (my pals, respectively). We went through weeks of theory and computer based training (CBT) in Hannover, Mönchengladbach and Frankfurt (Germany), completed the Cockpit Procedure Training in the B737-800 simulator at Mönchengladbach, and were taken through the Conversion Course (full flight simulator part), finally passing the Skill Test. Now I am a proud holder of a JAR B737 typerating, valid for the series -300 up to -900.
Subsequently, a landing training followed. After a one hour introduction to perfect landing technique in the simulator (Aircraft Preparation 1, AP1), we were ordered to be in Hamburg on the 26. february 2004, and after a two hours briefing, we were picked up by a crew bus and taken to our jet. What a feeling to board a *real* aircraft for the first time with the intention to fly it by myself! We proceeded to Rostock-Laage (a military field offering good training possibilities for initial airliner training), and bumped around for nearly an hour, doing six landings in total, whereof two had to be full stop landings (with subsequent taxi back), and one circuit was flown "one engine out" (meaning that one engine was brought to idle power ba the instructor immediately after liftoff). The flight back to Hamburg was one unforgettable experience, as we were flying atop of a stratus cloud layer, and I mean exactly on top, surfing on the clouds, facing the sun which disappeared beyond the horizon this very moment, flooding the scenery with warm, reddish light.
And then, real "airliner" life began. Real flights started to appear on my dutysheet, the first two days just as an observer on the jumpseat (third seat in the cockpit), watching experienced colleagues how they did the daily work, and trying to pick up as many hints and tricks as possible. I flew Cologne (CGN)-Pisa (PSA)-Stuttgart (STR)-Pisa (PSA)-Cologne (CGN) on 07.March and Cologne (CGN)-Berlin Tegel (TXL)-Cologne (CGN)-Bilbao (BIO)-Cologne (CGN) on 08.March 2004. This phase is called "supernumery flights" at Hapag-Lloyd.
Immediately afterwards, my first real duty called: Phase "FO1/First Officer Familiarisation Phase A", acting as a copilot on the right hand seat, although Pilot Not Flying (PNF), meaning that I just did the radios and assisting pilot tasks. As an additional safety feature, a second First Officer accompanied us. Our bird took us from Cologne (CGN) to Hamburg (HAM) and back on the 9. March 2004, and the following day we were off from Cologne (CGN) to Naples in Italy (NAP), thereafter to Stuttgart (STR), and via Naples back to Cologne. It seems to be so simple, but I must admit that an adrenaline kick rushes through the body when you talk to 148 people in the back for the first time, giving the world famous words "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, a warm welcome from the flight deck, my name is..."
Another simulator session (Aircraft Preparation 2, AP2) followed, covering crosswind landing technique, and another day of theory, this time about security on board and around the aircraft (the so called "past 9-11 training").
The next phase ("FO2/First Officer Familiarisation Phase B") saw me flying as a Pilot Flying (PF) only for about 10 flights, so I was fully in charge concerning piloting the aircraft, my instructor acting as Pilot Not Flying (PNF). On these flights, a second First Officer was mandatory as well.
The subsequent phase ("Confidence Phase") lasted around 70 hours, 80% Pilot Flying and 20% Pilot Not Flying, and no "third man" in the cockpit anymore. Phase 4 ("Consolidation Phase") meant around 20 hours "real-life-like" flying, 50% Pilot Flying and 50% Pilot not Flying tasks.
It all worked very well, so on June 15th 2004, I passed my Final Line Check (FLC), which marked the end of my probation period. Under the applause of the crew and the check pilots - wearing plastic donkey ears and a crown handed over by the check pilot - , I was welcomed to the club of real aviators.
Since then, I am busy flying all around Europe. As of July 1st 2004, the two pilot's corps of Hapag-Lloyd Express ("yellow") and Hapag-Lloyd Flug ("blue") have been merged, so I will fly the both of then in the future. And on August 1st, 2004, I was awarded a new crew base: Frankfurt/Main, Germany (FRA).
Stepping up... In November 2004 I got the incredible chance to step up to the Airbus A310, our former longhaul aircraft. Even if Hapag-Lloyd does not fly any longhaul holiday routes any more (they used to fly to New York, Miami, Toronto, Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, Kathmandu...a.s.o) with their Airbuses, the bird is still able to do longhaul travel, and sometimes an A310 is dispatched to pickup or drop cruise ship passengers in the Carribean or one of the Americas, but the occasions ar getting more and more rare. Most of our work was the usual "high density route" work, like Egypt, the Greek Aegean Islands, Antalya in Turkey, and the Canaries. So I was one of the "youngest" (in terms of flight hours) first officers to be honoured with an assignment on the A310 for Hapag-Lloyd - normally the minimum requirement is 1000hrs of B737. It was even cooler when a A300-605R leased from Lufthansa joined the fleet in July 2005, and I got even to fly this big bird (171 tons max takeoff mass...).
But.... things turned out to be on the move...
...and off to new pastures I got a phone call from Austrian Airlines in January 2005. They still had links to their former partner Swissair pilot school (SRAS), and were looking for young ex-Swissair pilots who were already A320 typerated, to join the Austrian fleet immediately. As there were no more ex Swissair people ready to move to Vienna, they started to pick former Swissair pilot school alumni without A320 typerating who preferrably had jet hours. When they scrolled through the list, they apparently found me with my barely 700 jet hours on B737 and an A310/300 typerating. I was invited to come to Vienna short notice, and was hired after a mere 30 minutes of talk to the chief of fleet. I accepted the job offer, and we agreed on October 4th 2005 as my entry date, giving me the opportunity to fly the Airbus A310 for Hapag-Lloyd during the summer months, collect some hours on the widebody and then change over to AUA. My last flight at Hapag-Lloyd was on the afternoon of September 30, returning to Frankfurt from an AOG-delayed (AOG= Aircraft On Ground due technical problem) flight back from Fuerteventura, going into the blocks at 1639 local time.
Only three days later, I joined the Austrian team in October 2005, and was assigned to my new homebase in Vienna. There I attended ground school once more, and was happy to find Elias Kohler, one of my former Swissair Pilot course mates, and another Swiss companion in the same course. The program was tough, as we had to do another "Jet Trainer"/Multi Crew Course, which consisted of a "mini typerating" on the MD-80, with several weeks of ground school, and then 52 hours of MD-81 full flight simulator training in Zurich until mid-november 2005. The sim lessons were really tough, as we had to fly the bird on raw data and manual thrust only, which was a real challenge for me after two years of more or less relaxed flying in daily line operations with well equipped EFIS (glass-cockpit) aircraft. We were back in a "submarine" type aircraft with very different handling characteristics, a crampy and old fashioned "clock and needles" flightdeck, flying "2 NDB" and localizer backcourse approaches, holdings and missed approaches all by hand, often with only a single engine turning, and worked our way through simulated crosswinds, turbulences and navaid failures. But five of the six candidates survived the challenging time, and we were both among them. And we really enjoyed these hard lessons - they trained us once again on raw data flying.
So we stepped up to the other end of the scale, and were soon sitting in an Airbus A320 ground course, then an A320 full-flight simulator in Berlin-Schoenefeld, and all to soon on the real aircraft, doing some landing training (see pictures here), before the head of training released us into the passenger service. After two months of "flying under supervision" (with flight instructors), we earned our wings once again, and had a wonderful spring, summer, fall and winter 2006 in Vienna. We flew line operations all over Europe, deep into the former USSR and the Balkans, to North Africa and the Near East, to Iran and even the Iraq (I managed to get one of the few flights to Arbil in Kurdistan/Iraq), as well as charter flights (also with the LAUDA branded A320s), sometimes five-day chain charter flights with the whole crew remaining together, enjyoing a really nice life.
...but not for long... But two things really threatened our happiness: A very low salary due to the bad economical situation of the Austrian Airlines group and the low living expenses in Austria (which is the very opposite to Switzerland), and the shorthaul schedules which often saw us flying five or six days in a row, with only one day of "break" to visit our wifes, family and friends in Switzerland, before the next series of flights started. These problems became more and more important for us. Nevertheless, the final culmination was an "offer for layoff" from the human resources department in November 2006, because the Austrian Airlines Group - which was under heavy restructuration during our time of employment - decided to sell all longhaul Airbuses, which ultimately led to a surplus of pilots. So we got an email by our HR department, offering us to leave the company.
Welcome home... Amidst this desaster, we heard news from the Swiss holiday charter companies Edelweiss and Belair who were looking for pilots. Elias and I sent in our resumes and CVs, and found ourselves soon in recruitment interviews of both airlines. Within only a few days, we received a "thumbs up" and a job offer from both airlines, leaving us with the hard choice between two small but excellent niche carriers in the holiday segment, one operating with B757 and B767, the other one with A320 and A330. Both fly out of Zurich, both operate with very high standards, both have an impressive and interesting route network, and both offered a good salary. After long discussions and sleepless nights, we finally favoured the Edelweiss offer, and signed the contract. So I am off again to a new operation, starting my next career as an Edelweiss Air First Officer on Airbus A320 as of April 30th, 2007. I will be back home, will be able to see my wife, family and friends much more often, and to finally "dedust" some of my abandoned hobbies, like inline hockey/skating, sailing or hiking. And I am really happy, believe me...:-)
Last Update: 17.10.07
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