Flight training show [Archive]

Hyph

13th Apr 2002, 19:09

Hiya Paddy,

I went along this morning to what was a pretty good show. I hadn't been to one before, so I didn't quite know what to expect.

I guess if you'd been to one before, there wouldn't be too much new to see. Atlantic Flight Training, BAE Systems, Bournemouth, Cabair, Comair, LGU/Stapleford, OAT, and Western Michigan University seemed to be drawing most of the crowd.

RC Simulations also had a flyable set-up where you could fly MSFS or X-Plane with proper controls and visuals projected onto the wall. Nice... !

The highlight for me, and I must say it was a little unexpected, were the seminar sessions. I missed the first one, but caught the Western Michigan and OAT ones - I had other things I needed to do this afternoon so I had to leave. I'd have liked to hang around for the Cabair and Peter Moxham ones too.

I was expecting a load of marketing blurb and gushing words, but the two I attended were actually very informative and well thought out. Each time, at the end, the floor was opened for questions - some people threw a few curveballs which made it all the more enlightening.

I got a lot out of the show. It's helped narrow down the choice of FTO a bit. I now have some homework to do on exactly which one I'll choose but it doesn't seem such an insurmountable task now.

Slán!

Ivan.

Hyph

14th Apr 2002, 17:32

You want summaries? You got summaries! Well, two anyway. I only managed to attend two of the seminar sessions, and these are they...

Western Michigan University - International Pilot Training Centre (and they spell it properly too). Presenters: Martin Grant and Iain Davidson

I was fairly skeptical about JAR flight training in the USA, however these guys made me rethink that. My personal opinion is that these two guys got selected to present because they were both Brits. They weren't the best presenters in the world, and I don't mean that in any way disrespectfully, they came across well and clearly knew what they were talking about. I got the feeling that they were telling it like it is, rather than giving us marketing pap.

Of interest was the fact that BA, Emirates and Aer Lingus use(d) them to train direct-entry cadets, which I feel says something.

Started off explaining where Western Michigan was and then discussed the University campus (at Kalamazoo) and the Aviation College (at Battle Creek).

You start with 8 weeks of ground school (770 hours of it), and then move to day on/day off classroom/flying for most of the rest of the time you're there. Two sets of JAA exams are conducted at 25 weeks and 38 weeks.

Something I hadn't seen before, was an introduction to piston and turbine engines using real engine test beds - the advantage of using a college which also teaches engineers. Also of note is that the college also has a B747-100 (yes, you read that right) which was donated by Northwest - however it's not on the flying syllabus, but it is used for teaching students about heavy aircraft systems, like undercarraige, hydraulics, etc.

All flight training is conducted at Battle Creek airport using a fleet of 60 aircraft. Basic training is conducted on C172, all of which are newish, the oldest being about 5 years. Equipment and avionics appeared to be very good, with all a/c fully airways equipped and all come with GPS. They showed a photo of one C172 cockpit and made a point of saying that it was representative of the entire fleet, not a special for the picture.

Advanced training is done on 7 Piper Seneca a/c. After that it's on to the Frasca 142 and 242 FTDs (sims to you and me). At the very end there's an MCC course which comprises of 25 hours in the classroom and 20 hours in a 737-400 FTD.

It's probably important to note that there is 4 weeks of UK familiarisation and the IR test which I think is at Bristol.

In the Q+A session someone asked if the self-sponsored students got the same treatment as airline cadets - the answer was, predictably, yes.

My one concern about this is that Michigan is in the north of the country and in the winter it gets really cold up there - what's the weather going to be like. You can check today's wx at: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KBTL.html

OAT - "The impact of JAR/FCL on Professional Flight Training". I've forgotten the name of the presenter. :(

The title of the seminar suggested we were going to hear lots of interesting stuff about the JAA FCL regime... we did, and all of it was negative. They had the guts to admit that an entire class failed the first set of JAA exams they'd sat (they were airline sponsored, BTW).

They did however allege that it was the fault of the exams (poor english, ambiguous questions). They did make a point of saying that now they have a 92% pass rate for airline cadets and 85% or so for self-sponsored. During the Q+A someone asked why the difference - the answer, which I felt was probably accurate, was that the airlines get something like 2000 applicants for every place available, so they can be as choosy as they like.

Basic flight training is now conducted at Oxford Tyler in Texas - an airfield that is owned by OAT. The reason given was that it's quite a bit cheaper to do in the USA and they have better weather so you're less likely to be delayed by poor wx. Interestingly, it was pointed out that the terrain in Texas (or at least that part of it) is similar to Europe - I don't know if that's true or not, but I'd be interested in finding out.

Unlike WMU, there is advanced training on single engine aircraft, again this is at Tyler. After that, it's back to the UK for more flight and groundschool training. Again, there's an MCC course with B737-400 sim experience. You get ~100 hours single-engine and 14 hours complex single along with 45 hours multi, 27hours and 10 hours in single/multi sims respectively.

Groundschool is done on a full-time basis and is not mixed with flying. The presenter made a point of saying that with the new JAR exams OAT found it impossible to get students up to standard by operating day-on/day-off (a dig at WMU?).

OAT have written all their own manuals and coursework, which did look quite good - I had a rummage through it on their stand.

Much was made of the schools reputation... with the analogy: "it doesn't matter what degree you have, what matters is where you got it."

All in all, they did seem pretty slick and well polished which is a testament to their marketing department as much as anything else. :)

Some wag in the audience commented that he'd been told by previous students that they'd been pushed to one side while some airline cadets took priority on a/c allocations. This was explained away as OAT having a contract with the airline to get the students ready by a particular date and they'd been delayed by weather - the new facility at Tyler should help alleviate this.

That's about it. Feel free to ask questions.

Ivan.