IR Training & OATs

[Julian]

Hi All,

Been looking into gettings my ATPL done at Oxford and also converting my FAA IR to a JAA one now we have the oppurtunity.

I have heard though that there are instructors at OATs who wont teach the IR when the weather is bad! Seems a bit strange to me, anyone know any better on this one?

A lot of my IR training was done in actual IMC and its made me much more prepared for the conditions than flying with a hood all the time.

Has anyone done the ICAO conversion in the London Area at all and how did they get on? Who did you undertake it with?

Julian.

[fatboy slim]

Duff Gen Julian, i was there for IR in '99 and there was no restriction to going as long as you could just get back in later (no ILS remember, only NDB). In fact there were lots who would go in anything and had inventive ways to get home.

The IR instructors were all v experienced (mainly retired military) and v good. That was 3 years ago though.

[omoens]

Just a question, but how would they teach you to fly an ILS approach?

Do they go to another field in the vicinity?

greetings,
Olivier

[euroflyer]

Olivier,

Yes Oxford students doing the IR fly to other airfields in the vicinity to fly an ILS approach. I find it a lot more convenient to do your IR at an airfield that is fully equipped with the necessary nav aids such as Bristol or Bournemouth. It certainely gives you more practice and it saves time and money.
I did mine with PAT in Bournemouth and we flew in all sorts of bad weather and IMC conditions. Oxford I am sure do the same although the minimas are a lot higher if you fly an NDB approach so if the weather is really bad you might get in doing an ILS but might not doing an NDB.
Enjoy it!

[omoens]

euroflyer,

Thanks for the quick response !

How much "flying time" away is the nearest airfield equipped with an ILS?

Greetings,
Olivier

(edited for spelling mistake)

[langer]

brize norton is about 4 minutes away (if even)large military airfield with all the gear

[er82]

I trained at Oxford and found all the instructors to be very good. The nearest airfield (as mentioned above) is Brize Norton, but you don't go there too often. The more popular airfileds are Birmingham, East Midlands, Filton, Cranfield, Bristol, Coventry, Cambridge, Bournemouth and Gloucester.

[Johnny 7]

Procedural NDB seems to be an area where more problems arise during I.R. training & this is likely attributed to the more difficult nature of NDB tracking , hence I would suggest that a base facility with an NDB letdown would be more advantagous than an ILS from a training perspective .

By the way , the suggestion that some OAT instructors refuse to fly in bad weather in absolute rubbish .