OAA in Reality
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I’ve had firsthand experience of integrated training at what is claimed to be Britain’s and the world’s premier flight training organisation. Some of the experiences of my fellow trainees make that difficult to believe.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']The ground school is largely excellent; it’s the flight training where the problems begin, specifically in the US. The training centre in the USA is at times very poor value for money. There is zero standardisation of training and assessment, and there are a few instructors who are nothing more than arrogant bullies, who are a law unto themselves and whose treatment of students is nothing more than extremely abusive. There have been many instances of students refusing to fly any further with instructors for this reason. You can be sure the same names would crop up time and time again in any forum on this subject. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']It should be mentioned there are many instructors in the US who are excellent, lovely individuals and are as good a teacher as they are pilots. It’s just unfortunate though that there is a minority that aren’t, and that really heavily detract from the good work of their colleagues, undermining what could otherwise be a first class set up. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']The level of training off some, oddly enough usually the arrogant bullies, can be too low to be even classed as sub-standard. In spite of all the arrogant rants about how many hours and what airline they flew for. If you were so good why did they dispense with your services? Just because they have an instructor rating doesn’t mean they can teach, and some are incapable, never can, never will, no matter what their backgrounds.
Additional training at a heavy additional cost can result because of this, and has been given to students by some instructors needlessly on the thinnest or most pathetic of reasons. Flight reports can be as severely affected as your mental health by extremely negative and quite damaging entries to training records from instructors who have taken a personal dislike to their students.
To add further insult, any complaints are completely dismissed with no right to appeal, the senior staff covering for instructors no matter what the complaint, or how obvious the problem. Surely when two or more people raise a complaint there is obviously a very real problem, and yet still nothing is done about it. It’s happened so many times before and keeps happening again and again. They don’t seem to take any interest in your rights out there after they’ve taken your money. We’re all sure it’s just a matter of time before somebody sues, and rightly so after paying almost seventy thousand pounds, and it will be interesting to see OAA’s standpoint if someone takes an instructor to court for bullying, victimisation, or some other customer service issues. There have been cases where, had individuals decided on that particular means of action, OAA would have been placed in a highly damaging and embarrassing position. Fear of a poor report or of not getting a recommendation usually putting people off doing so. [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']The only people whom even get close to a fair hearing are the EPST students, OAA being wary of negative reports reaching EPST of sub-standard training or behaviour by some instructors and of potentially losing a very lucrative contract with EPST.
We’re sure Anthony Petteford himself isn’t fully aware of what goes on out there in his absence, and for someone as committed to OAA and to quality, as Anthony undoubtedly is, that he’d be quite shocked at the standards and behaviour of some of his flight training staff. [/FONT]
It’s quite disheartening too when you return to Oxford to begin your IR to find the pass rate was currently 60%. However, the standard of instruction is higher in the UK is more assured compared to that of the US, with some excellent instructors who give their all to their students.
So the reality is not the same as the glossy image portrayed for everyone, it just depends how lucky you are, but luck shouldn’t have to come into it after paying in excess of sixty-five thousand for flight training. Quality should be assured. OAA need to recognise and rectify this, and then they could easily be as good as advertised for all students without exception.