26500-done
Bondu - not saying CAE training is bad necessarily, just that outsourcing your training as a policy looks bad for a large/mainstream operator. Although I think there will be an element of pot luck as to whether you get an instructor with any experience on type or in role.
The other issue is the flexibility that being in control of your own simulator brings. Not an issue when things go to plan, but when you have a candidate who is marginal and really needs more training, there is a strong temptation to just pass them because you know that there is no more sim time available at short notice, and anything else is too difficult. This is something I found a problem at Helisim, but not once we got our own ones.
Of course its not "required" to have your own sim, but when you do, to sell it is a big backwards step that says a lot to an outsider about your attitudes.