History
1) Introduction:
Welcome to the house of fun, and a full house it is indeed!
JFC stands for Juge Fidelis ad Caelum, (it used to stand for Junkers Flying Circus the reason why it's changed you will read further on). We are a student club who are/have been studying at Ostend Air College (OAC). OAC is a private flight training school or Flight Training Organisation (JAR)FTO 001, situated at Ostend Airport, Belgium.
The aim of the training courses is to achieve the necessary licences, ratings, knowledge, experience and attitude, all of this to become an airline pilot (Aircraft Manager called these days). As mentioned above, OAC is JAR-recognized. This means OAC complies with the European regulations and is able to train her students and to finish the training with a CPL(A) licence, IFR rated, multi-engine...and a lot of joyable memories. This is where JFC fits in the total piece. We try to bring some lightness in the sometimes hard!! existence of a student-pilot (ab initios). JFC organises monthly club evenings in the restaurant-bar Icarus (Ostend), cinema-presentation with the latest movies, sport and adventure, drink-sing-sink gatherings (cantus), company-excursions and student support where available. This in order to stimulate a good companion -and relationship between the students.
2) Origin of JFC:
We are writing 1999. To be more specific September 1999. Yes, the roots of Junckers Flying Circus, JFC for the friends,
go back to the previous century!!!!
Ostend Air College has since September 1999 only been provided a modular flight-education but saw the light or the dark long before,
it only depends on how you look at it. Clouds appeared at the aeronautical-firmament....
Clouds that found their origin in the unstable atmosphere which had been created for many years in Europe by several CAA's(1).
Numerous problems such as the incompatibility of the rules, amendments and procedures of the different European aeronautical authorities,
have led to a final uniformity of the previous and it may be said, to the example of the FAA2 .
Even the model applying to the training and licences was been studied more closely and was finalised in the FCL3 part of JAR4.
That model was only officially accepted by the Belgian authorities in 2000.
But Ostend Air College had already made the choice in 1999 to start with a first group of students following an education
to become airline pilots, completely conform to the JAR-FCL standards. The students of that group had a rather diverse background.
Some of them came directly from high school; others had just finished a completely different education. Only one person had a PPL licence.
So the best thing to do was to approach everybody in the same way and to see them as a rooky, more politely said: an Ab Initio.
As we were the first to start our training in Ostend Air College under the JAR, we were given the name Ab Initio 1. Many would follow...
You probably must have fallen asleep by know, I almost did!!!! Anyway so the education was taken pretty serious. The whole atmosphere reminded of a university or an education of equal level.... So what do you do when things get serious, you start a student club!!!!! Actually it was at the counter of The Icarus that the first idea's came to life, in mixture of cigarette smoke and beer. At that time the new infrastructure as it exists today wasn't even there. The school was located in the rooms on top of the restaurant Icarus. The whole place was that small that on a busy day the average space to share with your fellow students was 1m2 for 6 people... Just to give you a picture of what it was like.
So in between beers and other alcohol, ideas began to take form and by October 2000, when Ab Initio 2 joined us, all was ready. The rules were made and with good memories of that peculiar moment it was a celebration breakfast with oysters and champagne. An (empty) bank account had been opened, there was a praesidium, there were fresh ones, a shield had been designed, and the "linten" where ordered. So on the logistic point of view all was well. Still there was one little problem, let's call it money. To have both the useful and the pleasant come together, we decided to celebrate the birth with a reception at which instructors, parents and other supporting people were invited. After the obligatory speech there was clearly referred to the piggy bank where one could voluntary, but nevertheless with some moral obligation, pass by. This strategy did not miss its aim because we saw the smile of our quaestor become broader with the minute. Thanks once again as a matter of fact to all generous donors. And the rest is history. Our freshmen participated bravely and succession was ensured. The fact that JFC, about nine years after its birth is still alive and kicking, proves that we, and all succeeding praesidia worked well, which does us much pleasure as founders. Finally here are the names of the founders of JFC:
Nicolas Dekeyser: Praesis
Frederik Lampens: Vice Praesis
Bram Claes: Ab Actis
Chris Discry: Quaestor
Silvia Vanoudenhove: Scriptor
Mike Roosens: Sport-Praesis
Kenneth Vanhulle: Dominus Morum
Hans Heens: PR
1 Civil Aviation Authority
2 Federal Aviation Administration
3 Flight Crew Licensing
4 Joint Aviation Requirements; een verzamelnaam voor alle voorschriften waaraan de lidstaten die deel wensen uit te maken van de JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) moeten voldoen.
5 Private Pilot License
You probably must have fallen asleep by know, I almost did!!!! Anyway so the education was taken pretty serious. The whole atmosphere reminded of a university or an education of equal level.... So what do you do when things get serious, you start a student club!!!!! Actually it was at the counter of The Icarus that the first idea's came to life, in mixture of cigarette smoke and beer. At that time the new infrastructure as it exists today wasn't even there. The school was located in the rooms on top of the restaurant Icarus. The whole place was that small that on a busy day the average space to share with your fellow students was 1m2 for 6 people... Just to give you a picture of what it was like.
So in between beers and other alcohol, ideas began to take form and by October 2000, when Ab Initio 2 joined us, all was ready. The rules were made and with good memories of that peculiar moment it was a celebration breakfast with oysters and champagne. An (empty) bank account had been opened, there was a praesidium, there were fresh ones, a shield had been designed, and the "linten" where ordered. So on the logistic point of view all was well. Still there was one little problem, let's call it money. To have both the useful and the pleasant come together, we decided to celebrate the birth with a reception at which instructors, parents and other supporting people were invited. After the obligatory speech there was clearly referred to the piggy bank where one could voluntary, but nevertheless with some moral obligation, pass by. This strategy did not miss its aim because we saw the smile of our quaestor become broader with the minute. Thanks once again as a matter of fact to all generous donors. And the rest is history. Our freshmen participated bravely and succession was ensured. The fact that JFC, about nine years after its birth is still alive and kicking, proves that we, and all succeeding praesidia worked well, which does us much pleasure as founders. Finally here are the names of the founders of JFC:
Nicolas Dekeyser: Praesis
Frederik Lampens: Vice Praesis
Bram Claes: Ab Actis
Chris Discry: Quaestor
Silvia Vanoudenhove: Scriptor
Mike Roosens: Sport-Praesis
Kenneth Vanhulle: Dominus Morum
Hans Heens: PR
1 Civil Aviation Authority
2 Federal Aviation Administration
3 Flight Crew Licensing
4 Joint Aviation Requirements; een verzamelnaam voor alle voorschriften waaraan de lidstaten die deel wensen uit te maken van de JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) moeten voldoen.
5 Private Pilot License
2006-2007:
The airline industry is finally recovering form the nine-eleven disaster. Due to this disaster, for a few years there was a lack of interests in Flight training. Resulting that Ab Initio 6 was a class of only 3 members.
Finally Ab Initio 7 was with 8 again, numbers where increasing in Ab Initio 8, so a few members of Ab Initio 7 and 8 decided to go on with JFC. A new area means new changes. And we decided that the name Junkers Flying Circus has had his best days. But we would like to keep the letters JFC. Solution? Find a new meaning for the letters JFC. That's where the ancestors came in, on the forum an old JFC member called "ploeter", found 3 Latin words:
Juge Fidelis Caelum
Meaning: Always loyal/true to the Sky.
Soon many members found the new meaning a good alternative, so the praesidium meeting of 14 October 2007 agreed upon the new name, so from right now JFC stands for Juge Fidelis Caelum.
As you see, the JFC is continually evolving, join up, and experience the wonderful world of clubbing...
