Pilot training in easyJet - Curt Lewis

'THERE'S JOY AND SHEER TERROR!'EasyJet's Anthony Petteford on what it's really like to train pilots

No boarding pass required as ITV opens up the door of the flight deck to discover what life is really like for easyJet's trainee pilots


Just three per cent of the world's pilots are women. It's a shocking statistic.

So as budget airline easyJet opens its doors to ITV cameras for a new three-part documentary following its largest-ever recruitment drive, it's a relief to learn that they're trying to attract more women to enter the cockpit.

EasyJet: Meet some of the cadets learning to fly an £80million jet
"It'd make you cry," says pilot trainer Anthony Petteford.

"There's a video where we show fighter pilots and others without faces, and we ask five year olds to draw what they think they look like - the kids always draw men.

"The gender stereotypes are drawn far too early.

"It might be argued that as women are good multi-taskers and it is a multi-tasking environment, it may be safer to have more women flying, but that's a controversial view...

"There's no reason why there shouldn't be more women pilots. We're very much in favour of that."

After years of teaching trainees to get off the ground, Anthony still hasn't lost his love of flying.

Even if he sometimes gets a bit of a scare.

"It's been years and years of joy punctuated by moments of sheer terror," he says. "Sat next to some students, you do have to be quick on the draw. The skill of an instructor is to keep things safe. To transfer skills, though, they have to learn by experience.

"Some of the manoeuvres can be interesting - we have to teach them 'upset prevention recovery training', such as when the airplane becomes inverted. So we teach them to spin.

Anthony has been pilots for 19 years

8,000 planes fly over 3 million passengers in the skies above Britain every day
"It's a high-energy manoeuvre to get them into this. What you're supposed to do is make sure the engine is off, but on a couple of occasions they've put the power on and this thing spins like a top and it starts going faster and faster! You have to allow mistakes and then intervene.

"Things like that get exciting."

Anthony features on EasyJet: Inside The Cockpit, which follows a group of rookie pilots as they move from classroom to flight simulator and then into the air.

It's hard work but Anthony, the Principal of Airline Academy at L3 Commercial Training Solutions, is sure people never regret their decision to become a pilot.

"If their grin never goes away, as a trainer you've got it right," he says.

"Being a pilot is great for many reasons: building up a model of the world in your brain is intellectually stimulating, and no day is the same, you never know what the weather is going to do to you, what the piece of machinery could do to you, but you have to be able to deal with it.

"Then you have passengers who never cease to amaze you. I've had to break up fights.

"You go there, put your hat on and people hold you in high regard, they think you're a police officer. So we have to prepare them for that. There's the human interaction part of the job.

"Then finally, the other great thing is when you're not a pilot - when you can get up in the morning, fly to Glasgow and back, then turn off the engine and the rest of the day is yours.

EasyJet: Inside the Cockpit: EasyJet are trying to attack more women to enter the cockpit

"There's no other profession which unlocks you so much to do the things you like. It's the best job in the world. Nothing comes close."

While Anthony raves about his profession, he has sat through some hair-raising experiences, most of which have come during landing.

"Finding the ground is the fun part," he smiles.

"When you're teaching, [the students] point the airplane at the runway. When they think the runway is there, they pull back and allow the airplane to sit on its wheels.

"But if they do this too early, the plane drops out of the sky! That can be exciting.

"If they do it too late, then the ground rushes up at them and they splat into it. They have to find the ground.

"Ninety-five per cent of landings are done by hand.

"At about 1,000ft, the autopilot comes off - if you're a passenger at the front of the plane, you'll hear it beeping and the pilot will guide it down.

"You can circumnavigate the globe, you can go great distances and fly brilliantly, but if you don't make a good landing, the passengers think you're a rubbish pilot!"