George
New to this forum and have been recently researching stuff on the DA 40 and 42's on behalf of a friend in UK looking for an fto to obtain JAA ATPL. Coventry appears to have a good record ground school wise but I'm a little sceptical regarding their use of the Diamond aircraft. Your post raises some good issues regarding the use of the Diamond's but having spent several years in the flight training world several years ago (as instructor) the Diamond seems to be more of a benefit to the school than to the career pilot. (Attractive, modern aircraft pull the students in and coupled with what I would assume to be cheaper running costs look great also on the books of the school)I agree with you that the use of the DA a/c will certainly be of good value when it comes to MCC, turbine type training etc but would question the value of a DA to a low hour, fresh out of ground school pilot who is probably going to have get an instructor rating to get a few hours under his/her belt. Furthermore myself and all of my chums plugging the airways today didn't do too badly learning our skills on a/c designed in the 1950's! At present I would have more confidence in a pilot whose skills in instrument flying and handling twins were harnessed in Pipers, Cessna's and Beech's etc than in a Diamond. The EFIS stuff should be done after the basics have been developed on an aircraft where the work load is significantly higher for the student than on say a Diamond. However having been away from the UK for quite some time and admittedly not paying a huge amount of attention to the UK job market I may be underestimating the value of DA's. If a significant proportion of low hour pilots are being picked up by those carriers with the new generation aircraft then I suppose I would advise my friend to take a drive to Coventry.
Last edited by Adversethought; 3rd Feb 2007 at 11:55.