Ryanair B737-800 Base Training in East Midlands

It’s been some time now since my Base Training in East Midlands (EGNX) and I would like to make a short debrief about it.

The Base Training is the first time we fly the aircraft for real after the Type Rating. We have to do a minimum of 6 take-off and landings in order to get the rating on the licence.

We were 5 that day, accompanied by a Line Training Captain and a Safety Pilot (First Officer) and we started at 7AM. About 1 hour briefing to talk about the sequence of the day and to answer questions if we had. We then went through the security check and to the crew room.

Finally, we got to the aircraft which needed de-icing and we did a walk-around with the Captain.

In turns, we flew the Boeing 737-800 for the 1st time of our life (about 1 hour each) and it was a great moment for each of us! Usually, the Base Training is done with a 737-700 but for some reasons we had the -800. Base Training is a VFR flight some we need VMC conditions at all times. It’s probably the first and last time we fly VFR with this aircraft. Everyone stays in the aircraft during all flights. So one is flying, one is jumpseating in order to observe before he/she flies just after and the other 3 are alone in the cabin. As you can imagine, this empty aircraft is like a rocket. Candidates swap seats during taxi.

Below some photos of that great day! We even had a bird strike on the windshield but hopefully had no effect. We had to land and let the engineers check the aircraft just to make sure the aircraft was ok.