When I payed for my B737 rating in Jan 97 with BM there were four of us on the course all fatpl , one had just come out the army and held rank as major with 4000 heli hrs myself and the others had less than 900 hrs total.I agree with Crashdive the course lasted 6 weeks, was very rushed and for this reason I felt the level of knowledge gained was poor, itwas all over too quickly and I felt that I had not got a sound start to an airline career. Immediatly after the course the army major was the only one to be offered a job with BM and straight away had to do another week of ground school followed by more sim. this just shows that the original course is not adequate.As for the rest of us one eventually got a job with GB but they put him through the entire course again because they probably thought the self funded course was no good, different SOP'S etc. The third guy went on to fly the 146 and eventually after a few interviews and frequently being told the rating is worth nothing without experience I got a job on the B737 eighteen months later! this was with a company who were type rating cap 509'ers anyway, so I am pretty sure the self funded B737 rating was a waste of money. Nowadays I feel that whether you have the rating or not its your personality and approach to the job, and will you fit in with the company culture thats more important.This certainly seems the case at EJ. So finally don't be tempted by the claims of training organisations, they are in business to make money,keep your money in your pocket and wait a little longer , that job will come.
