Their students and instructors who have had interviews and sim checks with us, have been shockingly bad! So much so, that (unofficially of course) a CV with that FTO on goes straight in the bin. We are not the only airline to have this policy.
Interesting quote - I wonder which airlines have this policy towards this company? Just the one school or are there others? Seems a little selective methinks, or is it just someone with a gripe? At least, like many other of the smaller schools, their students are tested by reputable CAA Staff Examiners? They must have the most appalling pass record if the quote above is true.
As for the Spanish IR - well..... by all accounts the IMC rating test is a harder nut to crack than this! On good authority I understand the CAA are beginning to look a bit closer on what is going on there. For instance it would appear from the logbooks submitted the there is a very big differential between people doing their IR Modular in Spain and people doing the integrated in the UK. Seems like the Spanish contingent seem to have a very high pass rate versus hours done. Mostly bang on hours and first time passes. Well even the best integrated Schools in the UK cannot boast a similar success rate. A little bird tells me that the CAA are considering endorsing the UK issued CPL with the state of initial IRT on it as industry is concerned that the Spanish are taking the Michael on this. Similarly so are the employers who are complaining that some candidates are nowhere near the mark on the assessments and are wondering how these people passed their IR's with the CAA Examiners. Of course they are making the assumption that the candidates are taking the test in UK with CAA Staff Examiners as there is nothing in the license to indicate otherwise.
For my money I'd still take as the Gold Standard someone who has passed the UK IRT - so comment about any schools having the the CV's being binned by one or more airlines as being a little far fetched in my humble opinion, perhaps those who have passed their IR's in sunnier climes perhaps, but UK modular schools - I think not!