Many of our pilots suggest not reading much, about the A-319/320 systems, unless you are already in a training class. But most of them are quicker students than 'yours truly'.
About ten years ago our 757 Tng. Dept. had NO desktop (computer) training aids, and the fixed-based sim. program left me with very bad first impressions/memories (reroutes/building an NDB approach [not in the database....
])-but the full-flight simulator sessions went pretty well. Despite the much better success with the real simulator ( V1 "cuts", ILS, CAT 1/2/3/LOC/VOR/NDB) I never wanted to go into an even more advanced aircraft, especially if designed by a (foreign!) different manufacturer.
In the last several years, A-320/319 aviators say that their training was the best program they have ever been through, although it was reportedly a rough syllabus (training versus checking function cooordination?) when it was a brand-new aircraft, and many Captains failed/gave up. What a stark contrast and improvement! This must have been an incredible workload/achievement for those instructors to turn it around.
All instructors at my company are top-notch, second to none, whether teaching ground school, fixed-base (FTD) or full-flight. The Training Schedulers are also superb. Although some of our Upper MGMT. "Leaders", to use the phrase as carelessly as possible, are totally self-centered and will not be here very long (they will leave in the short/mid-term and compete to create the largest palace on a pristine lake: only 20,000 square feet?), our many training people are dedicated to the airline.
Even if a pilot will not have a possible class date for the next 6-12 months (or more), would many pilots suggest buying the company-designed CD-ROM about 6 months before a possible class date? And if so, could this help give the new "student Airbus aviator
" a fairly solid foundation for the first week of ground school? I just jumpseated for most of the descent on a recent deadhead flight (from IAH) and really like the Airbus cockpit displays. Many of the trips are also quite attractive.