I am starting this thread with respect to the debate that began in the
" Jet Airways trainee first officer" thread about the debate between flying schools in India specifically IGRUA and NFTI both of which are run and managed by CAE which is a world renowned pilot training firm..
Two kinds of schools that I am not including in this debate are
1. Flying schools in the Phillipines : I do not have first hand experience about them but from what I've heard they are the worst . It has a fully corrupt civil aviation authority and along with shoddy flying schools and training standards .
However if you would like to debate about it please feel welcome
2. Flying schools in India other than IGRUA / NFTI :
I am also not including these schools also as we all have heard the amount of fake logging , bad flying training methods etc
Not worth a debate
That way we have two sets of schools to compare are
1. IGRUA and NFTI
2. flying schools in the U.S / Canada / Australia and the rest of the
developed nations[/B]
Let me begin by saying that a good pilot in my opinion is someone who trained both theoretically and practically and held to those very high standards .
I will start of first by talking about the flying training and system in India especially the DGCA .
For all those of you who have dealt with the Indian DGCA know first hand that they are one of the most Corrupt , Lazy , Ignorant in the whole world
Hence one cannot believe or rely upon the standards that are set by them .
All the flying schools in India are tested to these very standards i.e the INDIAN DGCA
As I said before a good pilot is someone who is trained theoretically also .
The DGCA theory exams are an overkill
Most of the stuff taught has very little relevance to real world flying and is just taught to make things seem as tough and theoretical as possible.
I wouldnt blame the Indian DGCA alone in this .
The whole Indian education system is based upon theoretical knowledge and has no practical aspects whatsoever .
I guess this is why the Indian DGCA requires maths and physics in 10+2 which again is an overkill when it comes to aviation knowledge.
The questions for the DGCA exams are based upon JAA syllabus anyway
Infact for the last exam they copied the questions word for word from JAA question banks
A few questions were even copied from FAA question banks
Some questions even dont make any sense at all .
One guy said that they take up to 6 months to clear their exams .
The DGCA exams take place once in 3 months anyway so no
surprises there
One of the reasons why FAA license holders are able to finish in 6 months are because they can take the exams any day they please and almost wherever they please as there are thousands of testing centres located all over the country . Not sure about other civil aviation authorities though
The results also dont take one month to come instead they are printed immediately after the exam is over .
I cant comment much on the practical test Indian CPL holders are tested upon but from what I have heard they are nothing when compared atleast to FAA standards of testing
The main reason why the Indian flying schools are not good is because the flying schools only teach to the standards set up by the DGCA
which we all know in not that great at all .
Having a brand new fleet of aircraft and well equipped classrooms are not going to make better pilots if they are not tested to the right standards
Now lets begin with the FAA written exam . In FAA the question banks are freely available and only those questions in those question banks are asked for the exam . All topics are inlcuded in this one exam .
Meterology , navigation , regulation , technical , etc .
The questions asked are only what they feel are required ( sometimes I feel that some questions are also too much ) and are updated yearly .
But as we all know knowledge of how an aircraft flies as stated by one of the members in the previous thread is absolutely useless if one cannot use it to fly a plane .
Heck even my younger brother who plays those flight sims can tell you how an airplane flies . He might not go deep into explaining bernoulli's theory but he can get the point across
Like I said
Knowledge is useless if you dont know how to apply it
Remember that your ultimate aim is to fly airplanes and not explain the theory behind them ( unless ofcourse you work as an instructor )
Even though the FAA written exams are easy and one can easily score above 90%.... the FAA practical tests are not.
The FAA checkride ( practical test ) consists of two parts
1. The oral exam
2. The flying exam
If you cannot pass the oral exam you wont be allowed to proceed to the flying part
In the oral exam the FAA examiner ( who unlike in India is not employed by the flying school
) will ask questions from every subject .
By this way they will find out whether you passed your theoretical exam by rote learning or whether you have actually understood the theory content .
Unlike in India where they focus on definitions... he wont ask you to define and instead ask you to explain .
The first question i was always how would you know whether the aircaft you are flying today is legally capable for flight ( application of knowledge of regulation )
You have to explain all the documents required on board, the minimum equipment required , the weather minima for the airspace we will be flying
Then he asks questions like if you have a particular instrument failure during flight ( eg : attitude indicator ) what would you do ? would you divert ? would you continue ? are you required to divert ? etc
My private pilot oral exam was for 2 hours , Instrument rating 2 hours and my Commercial was 3 . All the exams were conducted by a senior check pilot who works for a Major U.S airline . I passed all of them the first time thank you
I wonder how many students trained in India can answer the above question with respect to equipment required , documents to be carried on board , where would find the minimum equipment required
The above question is only the tip of the iceberg . Only if you know your theory very well will you be able to answer the above questions .
For my commercial exam he made me explain to him all the factors that affect Vmc in a multi engine airplane and the different factors that are used while certifications of one and whether they increase or decrease Vmc
Which ofcourse is in addition to the systems and regs and navigation and weather and chart symbols .
By the way how many of you can
plan and fly a VFR cross country in India ?( are there even VFR charts published )
Please excuse my knowledge for the above question as i havent flown in India
The flying part is no joke either . They make you fly the cross country as planned and expect you to stick to very strict standards with respect to assigned altitude , airspeed and heading . They test everything from engine failures to partial panel to short field landing . Infact you have to touch down within 100 feet from your intended point of landing .
They also make you do numerous instrument approaches , a hold ( I had 5 seconds to figure out the entry ) , DME arc , single engine approaches ( on a multi engine aircraft )
How many of you have even flown a GPS or WAAS approach ?
Flying in the U.S also gives you the chance to experience a variety of different airports and approaches .
Florida alone has more airports than the whole of India
My instructor always conducted the theory lessons on a 1:1 basis and gave me as much as possible . If i had a doubt he would always take the time to sit and explain untill i got it in my head .
Before the exams he would sit with me and again tutor me for all the possible questions and situations that would come for the practical exams
He taught above and beyond what was required for the exam and in becoming a good pilot
I really wish someone could explain how the practical test is done either in IGRUA or NFTI .
NFTI charges you 28 lakhs for 190 hours of single engine and 10 hours of multi engine and thats it .
The 10 hours is because thats the bare minimum required by the Indian DGCA . I can only imagine as to how much you must have learnt or to what standards you must flown in those 10 hours .
Even the FAA requires only 10 hours but most candidates average 20 or more hours before they are proficient in flying the airplane to the required standards .
In India none of the flying schools or clubs will trust you to fly a multi enigne plane solo (meaning sole living being on board ) even though you were trained by them.
Well that about brings me to end of my point of view
Now about the RT exam . Its another DGCA like organisation which is way more corrupt and absolutely unnecessary . Asking questions from hard core physics, some useless questions that are totally unrelated to the exam and meant to fail the candidate on purpose .
Part 1 of the exam is an even bigger joke . I have seen senior Air India captains come and fail this exam
These are guys who have flown for most of their lives and have more experience talking on the radio than either you or I do .
I dont think there is anyone out there who can justify that the RT exam is even necessary .
For those of you out there who think I dont know what I am talking about i passed both Part 1 and Part 2 in the first attempt
I give my thanks to Mr . M K Singh for that as i had attended his coaching classes . It was a lot to study but finally my hard work paid off as i was able to answer most of the questions asked during Part 2
Now about the 6 months to finish...
6 months is the theoretical possibility of finishing the CPL . Very few candidates finish in 6 months . Most average 8months to more than 1 year due to various factors like weather , maintenance or sheer badluck .
So that brings me to the end of my debate...
On another note eventhough the FAA standards are very high the capacity of individual to individual always varies . I have seen people fail even the easy FAA written exam along with the oral and practical exam because they didnt prepare well or made a stupid mistake during the practical exam
I was fortunate enough to pass all my exams in the first try .
I believe the same applies to flying schools in India or elsewhere that it all depends upon your individual attitude towards this career and learning
Now lets hear your comments , suggestions , things that I am not aware of , plain arguments etc .
If you feel that any point that I have mentioned above is factually wrong please feel free and welcome to make the necessary correction.
I would also like to hear the comments from current airline pilots who have flown with candidates from the different flying schools and welcome their opinions and suggestions
Like I said before
Knowledge is useless if you dont know how to apply it