We used to say that airlines were not bothered where you did your training but recently several operators have expressed preferences for students from integrated schools although, to be fair, the BA and BA CityExpress recruiters have now modified that requirement to also include the 'structured modular' courses.
One of the operators' concerns is the failure rate of low hours recruits during their initial type conversion and line training. One way round this is to not formally employ them until line training is complete, this is the attraction of schemes like CTC's and Astreus'. Another option is to tighten up their selection procedure so they don't hire any duffers.
There is no evidence at all to suggest that an integrated school produces better pilots than modular schools. There is quite a bit to suggest that students who have been selected and filtered with decent aptitude tests are less likely to fail than those who haven't. Of course, it has to be a decent selection procedure. There is a second perceived advantage in having students trained 'all in one place', their training records can be easily inspected.
Those are the advantages that some airlines currently see in hiring from the integrated schools and the CTC Wings scheme. We don't really know where it is going to go from here, it may be that they can't afford to be that fussy for long, it may be that other modular providers like Multiflight, EFT and Stapleford will introduce a credible selection procedure. The question still stands, though. Is it worth the extra money? You should be able to provide integrated training as cheap or cheaper than modular, it involves less flying hours.
Back to the 'training in America' question. We only see the PPL groundschool output, and it is dire. It is not unusual to get pilots starting their ATPLs with no idea of the difference between heading and track and who are completely unable to use the nav computer. I understand flying standards are higher, although people I know who run IR schools are scathing about some of the 'IR preparation' training done in the States.
[edited for spelling]
Last edited by Alex Whittingham; 8th Dec 2004 at 10:39.