Instructor College Requirements

[agent007]

Just out of interest what amount of experience is the College at Hurn looking for? Are Instructors expected to have been valid at a number of units or completed a number of years as an ATCO?
Are they still short of Instructors or being killed in the rush! Lastly is the same requirement of experience etc required at the other UK colleges?

[arthur j negus esq]

NATS usually require 5 years validated experience as an ATCO. Outside of NATS it depends on the college, but usually 3-5 years minimum experience.

[GT3]

I think it is only 2 years valid now.

[250 kts]

And rumour has it you don't even need ever to have instructed live ATC before going there nowadays-talk about desperate.:ugh::ugh:

[niknak]

I know of at least one instructor who never worked in the field as a civilian ATCO and never has to this day.
He came out of the RAF, did his CAA tickets at CATC and walked straight into an instructing job.
As far as I am aware he's still there.

[GT3]

And rumour has it you don't even need ever to have instructed live ATC before going there nowadays

As you need 2 years vaild prior to being an OJTI you could go to the college without that qualification. :ugh::ugh::ugh:

[agent007]

Thanks for the replies, does anyone know if CATC is still looking for instructors?

[radar707]

They're always looking for instructors, problem is the units can't releaase people to go there!!!!!

[eastern wiseguy]

Do you still/did you ever need a class one medical to instruct?

[Spitoon]

They'll be taking failed trainees next....so there's hope for me yet.

[radar707]

You don't need a medical to instruct (or at least you didn't used to need one) there were / are lots of instructors at CATC who don't hold a class1

[2 sheds]

I think that you will find that only a certain percentage of the instructors, as specified by SRG, are permitted to be non-current in the medical department.

[anotherthing]

They are top heavy with instructors that do not hold a validation and have not for some time...... probably one of the biggest problems with the college, though it's far better on the area side

[anotherthing]

r-u-m-o-u-r

not a dig at the instructors - if the college will employ them fair enough to them.

A very definite big dig at a system that allows people to move from working at a unit to the college, then allows them to stay there for as long as they want, with the only exposure to live traffic being a visit to a unit once a year.

Why don't the airports allow ROVIs? Why is it too difficult if the large area units can do it? Size of unit has nothing to do with it - once someone goes to the college, they are not properly on the books of their previous unit... there is no feasible reason why someone cannot go back and keep their hand in.

Yes, it might take some juggling and arranging to fit people in, but it is worth the effort. It is short sighted and badly misguided to think otherwise.

Having instructors who are current can only be of benefit to airports with regards to what and how potential students are being taught.


As for the college being a bolt hole for people who can no longer validate at a unit ......or otherwise unable to hold a validation that is wrong too. Maybe if the college made it a policy of making people return to units after a specified period of instructing things might improve.

The college should be a showcase of excellence, not a place that is remembered for the reasons it is at the moment.

There are big changes afoot in the training regime - if done properly and supported properly by ensuring that staffing levels are correct, it could be a good thing... however in the past few years depsite some valiant efforts by some of the instructors, the college has made laughable and fairly pathetic attempts at refoming the courses.

[agent007]

Thanks for those comments another thing.
Do they hold true for all three colleges
or just CATC?

[anotherthing]

Agent007

Don't know about the other colleges, might be worth dropping them a line.

Forgive my rants about the college... I'm quite passionate about training and often despair at how mismanaged it is, especially in my opinion, starting with the College at Hurn.

There are some fantastic instructors there whose hands are tied by management... there are also a lot of instructors who are past their sell by date, again in my humble opinion.

The college could still be the centre of excellence that it should be, if the opportunities that are coming it's way in the near future are handled properly!

[anotherthing]

Ah r-u-m-o-u-r,

But I am involved, albeit at my area unit. There are big changes on the way, that will change the student licensing on the area sidfe..... if you are at all involved, you will know.

Already though, despite requests and advice from the experts in the training section, the higher management has decided to forge ahead with something else.

In light of this, said manager was asked to think of the implications and start working on the additional manpower and resources that will be required to do the job properly. The response given was, to paraphrase, "don't worry about the minor details like that at the moment".

It's worrying on several fronts -

1 - -someone chosen to fill a new and fairly senior management post is not willing to take into consideration the views of the experts they have working for them in the various training sections.

2 - even after they have decided to ignore advice, they think that the issue of resources and manning is of minor consideration, even though the changes will mean a radical overhaul of how area centres train and license ab initio students.

I am keen, as you have noted and I have many keen colleagues at the college who retain their validation. I can say that hand on heart the vast majority of these people are frustrated and extremely dis-enchanted with how the college is working at the moment and sadly are looking forward to leaving it behind.:(

A case in point - recently the college has increased it's intake on each course... the reason is that the number of people passing was not enough to fulfil the contract the college has between itself and the units it supplies. The idea was that instead of trying to rectify the failings of the course, if they threw more people at it, more would come out the other end.

Not exactly progressive nor smart thinking!

[anotherthing]

Nope, check yer PMs!!!