...whereas at the two private institutions, the instructors will bend over backwards to help you, at Bournmouth, fail to make the grade within the prescribed limits, and you are toast...
Nothing to do with the fact that NATS are paying for the training and giving you a wage - therefore apply standards strictly, whereas the other two places (which rely on people paying them as they are a business run ultimately for profit), would soon see their income dwindle if word got out that they had a high failure rate??
I'm no great fan of DAT&S - I think it could be improved vastly, but saying that it does have some very good points. Not having to rely on customers (trainee ATCOs) money is one of those good points - allows more impartiality.
Bearing in mind also that a licence at NATS college means in theory that you can work at busy or complex airfields (EGKK,EGLL,EGPD,EGCC etc etc) as opposed to Lands End, or Yeovil Westlands therefore the standard required by the college is probably actually above the minuimum SRG requirements because the college is there to act as a filter as well as to instruct... (one of) It's 'mission statements' is to provide trainees to NATS units who have a good chance of passing validation training.
NiKNak - it's a pity the Cwmbran sim is still light years and about 20 real years behind the mil sim at Shawbury. If you knew what was entailed to run a sim like that then maybe you would realise that it is not a viable option for a college that has large numbers on it's course - you would need more than one simulator, more like 3 or 4 minimum to fulfill DAT&S requirements. Therefore , it's not really an option
