I work for a European shorthaul operator. Our check and train system consists of an annual line check on a line flight. Before the flight we will have had a classroom training/crew discussion session during which we get to handle all of the emergency equipment installed. We also have two simulators checks every year lasting four hours (but split into bite size chunks with coffee in the middle) and two simulator training sessions every year. In the latter sessions, senarios are developed from hot topics (failures, near misses etc.) from our own flights and those of other operators. These are the most taxing of sessions because here we really get into the corners of the aircraft systems. Additionally, throughout the year, we have ad-hoc training on various subjects and this is normally self-study delivered via the internet and internal e-training systems.
PM