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Quick question. Do CAE Simuflite in Dallas run JAA approved type rating courses as well? I know that Flight Safety does, but CAE do seem a bit cheaper. Anyone with experience of both and willing to compare? Thanks in advance.
Yes they do offer JAA type rating courses. As for a comparison to FSI, the trainrng utself is very much the same, but the styles and approaches are different.
Many Thanks. I know Flight Safety as I've been there before, but CAE is an unknown quantity to me. I have read pretty good stuff on here with regard to CAE but first hand knowledge is great and they do seem to be very competitive on price. As at the moment I'm freelance, my ratings are down to me so price is definitely a factor. Thanks again
I had seen that list before, but unfortunately the pricing seems to be somewhat out of date. Thanks for the comments on CAE, it does seem that they are a good 30% cheaper than FSI and in general from what I could gather with a search, they have a really good rep.
They must have cleaned up their act then. I did an initial F2000 course there four years ago. It was one of the first courses after they got their JAA approval. Manuals were cut and paste. Not bad in itself, except they had cut and pasted some of the F900 pages into the manual. Quite strange, on a two engined A/C, to be reading about three engines, etc. Pressures and limits had different values on different pages. The manuals had not been ammended for over 18 months and I cannot believe that we were the only ones to point out these anomolies in that time. The exam at the end had six questions in it that related to the F900.
The CAA were carrying out an audit whilst we were there. Our instructor refused to go in the simulator if the CAA were watching. Having suffered his instructing, I can understand why. Luckily, we got another, much better instructor, for the rest of the course. Talked to the CAA inspectors afterwards, and they had much the same critisisms that I had.
As I said, they may have tightened up by now. Suffice it to say, at the time, I was not impressed.
Bearing 123, CAE Simuflite also have facilities out in Dubai. It's been a few years since I went there but they were pretty good and worth investigating for the Hawker 800XP.
As a full timer, there are operators around at the moment who pay for your rating (with a bond). Worth a thought.
Went out to Dallas very recently for a Citation II course. On the plus side the sim instructors were very good as were the manuals. Also, its a very nice facility with all the things you need eg. internet access, decent canteen, library. On the down side I thought the ground training needed to be taught in a more enthusiastic manner - it felt like they were just going through the motions. Some of the admin was pretty poor too and the sim itself needed to be replaced as it went wrong far too often. Apparently it was the 3rd level C sim built ie. its very old and done a lot ! Hopefully the Hawker sims are much fresher and more reliable.
Folks, thanks a lot for all of the imput. whichever way I go over the next couple of months or so, I'll post back on here with what I thought of the facilities for what its worth. Cheers and thanks again
Bearing 123, any news about your decision? I'm quite in the same situation as you are. The only thing is that a Hawker 800 rating won't be practicable to me, rearding the costs.
So I'm thinking of a C560 XL rating and I'm looking for all information I can get, especially concerning Simuflite in Dallas. Would be great to hear any current news.
I didn't go in the end as I got offered a job flying a turboprop for a private owner and he paid for the training so happy at the moment.
There are basically two camps. One is FS and the other is CAE. They will both say that either one is best and the few I've spoken to who have used both have told me that the training is equally as good at both, but that CAE are cheaper.
In the meanwhile I learned that choosing the TRTO is anyway done by the future employer and as I'm focussing a certain operator and they're dealing with CAE Dallas the decision is quite clear. If you're sent to the TR by the (future) employer you'll get a chance to attend the course pretty earlier or even just that way.
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