The challenges of operating 2-man flight deck, complex aircraft, in a tactical environment (C130J, C17, Nimrod MRA4, A400 and FSTA) particularly on low hours straight from the training system, means the standard/quality will have to rise.
It will be interesting to see how the TRTO requirements are applied to the RAF 'ab initio' A330 pilot. Because the input standard for civil TR courses assumes that the pilot has been trained to at least CPL/IR standard....
An integrated 'frozen ATPL' course is as follows:
The aim of this course is to train pilots to the level of proficiency necessary to enable them to operate as Co-Pilot on multi-pilot, multi-engine aeroplanes in commercial air transportation and to obtain the CPL(A)/ IR. The course shall last between 12 and 36 months.
The course consists of a minimum of 195 hours of flying training and 750 hours of theoretical knowledge instruction. The course also includes training in multi-crew co-operation for the operation of multi-pilot aeroplanes.
Amongst other requirements, the pilot must have 70 hrs PIC, of which 50 hrs PIC must have been on cross-countries, including one 2 stop 300nm solo cross-country. I doubt very much whether RAF (or MFTS
) flying training achieves all this nowadays. I've already met one TriStar pilot with a considerable amount of operational experience who couldn't obtain a CPL without first having to do some hour building on PA28s....
Perhaps the RAF will evolve its own 'MPL' course for A330 ab-initio pilots?