Sky Wave
4th May 2005, 15:33
I’ve just completed my MCC with Jetlinx and I must say that it was a superb way to complete my training.
I feel compelled to write here because so many people on PPRuNe suggest going for the cheapest available course and I don’t believe it’s the best advice.
To all the people that are going to come flooding in saying “it’s just a tick in the box don’t pay £3400 for it”, I say without attending the Jetlinx course you can have no idea of how much value you get out of the course and how much more than “just a tick in the box” the course is. My partner had previously completed his MCC with Oxford yet decided the JOT aspect of the Jetlinx course would be useful. In his opinion the Jetlinx course was streets ahead of the Oxford MCC in terms of course content, instruction and obviously the simulator.
I chose the A320 and I have to say it’s a dream to fly. You get 20 hours in the sim split into 5 x 4 hour sessions. In each session you do 2 hours in the right hand seat as PF and 2 hours in the left hand seat as PNF. You get given a set of Jetlinx SOP’s and a Jetlinx checklist to learn before you attend the sim sessions. If you learn these SOP’s, standard calls and procedures you have plenty of spare capacity to think about what the aircraft is doing.
The course starts with aircraft familiarisation, cockpit preparation, push back, start take-off, autopilot management, ILS and landing. You do this from both seats. In the second session you move into line flying using full R/T and sessions 3 and 4 deal with emergencies, RTO’s, Depressurisation (those masks are horrible), Emergency descent, Engine Failures/Fires at V1 etc. The whole lot ends on session 5 with a LOFT exercise, where you do full pushback and start procedures, you start your trip and will inevitably start having things fall to pieces on you. Between the both of you have to sort it all out and get the aircraft safely on the ground. You obviously do this for 2 sectors so that both people get a chance to be PF. Any time left once you’ve completed the course objectives you can use to practice raw data hand flying or explore the Airbuses envelope protection, whatever you want to do.
The knowledge that between you on session 5 you safely flew an A320 from A to B, with all sorts of failures, medical problems and runway closures with no help from the instructor is very satisfying and I would say it’s almost as good a feeling as the day you flew your first solo.
I notice on other MCC threads that comments have been made about silly sim times and fatigue. My sim slots were 21:00 or 22:00 so the worst case was a 02:00 finish. For me that was great, the motorway was clear which made for a pleasant journey. Getting to Heathrow between 07:00 and 10:00 and leaving Heathrow between 16:00 and 19:00 is no fun at all. I also fail to believe that anyone could feel fatigued when they are buzzing from the environment in which they find themselves.
I might just add that no one from Jetlinx has asked me to write this, I just feel that I should put straight some of the things that have been said on previous threads.
Regards
SW
I feel compelled to write here because so many people on PPRuNe suggest going for the cheapest available course and I don’t believe it’s the best advice.
To all the people that are going to come flooding in saying “it’s just a tick in the box don’t pay £3400 for it”, I say without attending the Jetlinx course you can have no idea of how much value you get out of the course and how much more than “just a tick in the box” the course is. My partner had previously completed his MCC with Oxford yet decided the JOT aspect of the Jetlinx course would be useful. In his opinion the Jetlinx course was streets ahead of the Oxford MCC in terms of course content, instruction and obviously the simulator.
I chose the A320 and I have to say it’s a dream to fly. You get 20 hours in the sim split into 5 x 4 hour sessions. In each session you do 2 hours in the right hand seat as PF and 2 hours in the left hand seat as PNF. You get given a set of Jetlinx SOP’s and a Jetlinx checklist to learn before you attend the sim sessions. If you learn these SOP’s, standard calls and procedures you have plenty of spare capacity to think about what the aircraft is doing.
The course starts with aircraft familiarisation, cockpit preparation, push back, start take-off, autopilot management, ILS and landing. You do this from both seats. In the second session you move into line flying using full R/T and sessions 3 and 4 deal with emergencies, RTO’s, Depressurisation (those masks are horrible), Emergency descent, Engine Failures/Fires at V1 etc. The whole lot ends on session 5 with a LOFT exercise, where you do full pushback and start procedures, you start your trip and will inevitably start having things fall to pieces on you. Between the both of you have to sort it all out and get the aircraft safely on the ground. You obviously do this for 2 sectors so that both people get a chance to be PF. Any time left once you’ve completed the course objectives you can use to practice raw data hand flying or explore the Airbuses envelope protection, whatever you want to do.
The knowledge that between you on session 5 you safely flew an A320 from A to B, with all sorts of failures, medical problems and runway closures with no help from the instructor is very satisfying and I would say it’s almost as good a feeling as the day you flew your first solo.
I notice on other MCC threads that comments have been made about silly sim times and fatigue. My sim slots were 21:00 or 22:00 so the worst case was a 02:00 finish. For me that was great, the motorway was clear which made for a pleasant journey. Getting to Heathrow between 07:00 and 10:00 and leaving Heathrow between 16:00 and 19:00 is no fun at all. I also fail to believe that anyone could feel fatigued when they are buzzing from the environment in which they find themselves.
I might just add that no one from Jetlinx has asked me to write this, I just feel that I should put straight some of the things that have been said on previous threads.
Regards
SW