Geoffers,
One must remember that upon being hired...the new employee undergoes FSI's Instructor Training Program. They in fact are very much into "training the trainer" as you suggest is the right way to go.
As a victim of the British TRE/IRE system in the past...which is more incestous than any West Virginian hill billy menage-a-trois...I would suggest FSI's programs beats that by miles...lots of them!
You folks there in blighty so absolutely hung up on the Old Boy network, bureaucratical horse ****, and CAA enforced jobworth thinking....that you fail to see reality when it smacks you in the face.
Sim instructors are just that....Sim instructors. The teach theory, procedures, techiques all of which must be approved by the aircraft manufacturer, Flight Safety, and then....afterwards...the CAA/FAA/EASA.
I fully agree....the more real world experience the Sim Instructor has the better....assuming it is quality and not mere quantity. I did the FSI thing as both a customer and as an FSI instructor. I saw firsthand the abject failure of British TRE/IRE's in the Simulator...had the video tapes to prove it...and the ones that failed the worst were the ones that turned their big noses up at FSI, Americans in general, and anything that wasn't a product of the British system.
The ones that went to FSI looking to "learn" did well and oft times added to the training by offering their inputs as well. Those that went there with the attitude they were the absolute Bees Knees showed themselves to be proper pricks and when Man enough to admit their could learn...did so. Some just never did learn and invariably wrote horrible evaluations of their training experience....which when compared to the video's....fell on deaf ears.
Three names spring directly to mind...but out of consideration for everyone but them....I shall not tell you who they were.
All three were fair haired boys....one from a British Army background....and two others from a Company Cadet program. One particular disastrous performance was witnessed by a Company Senior Training Manager. Yet...the fellow continued on in his duties as a TRE/IRE despite his showing of gross incompetence.
What I am trying to say to you Geoffers....is the UK system and mindset does not in any way form a stellar reference point for excellence. FSI takes a different approach and as any large operation...has its own strengths and weaknesses....but at least they do train the trainer to be trainers....and one has to meet their in-house standards before being tested by the CAA/FAA. Recall the FAA for sure sends their people to FSI for training both on the aircraft, Sim, and other training.