Integrated or Modular at Oxford

[Speedbird59]

Hello fellow Ppruners

I was reading some posts in a topic re. BA cadet requirements and the subject of OAT came up. It was mentioned that some students at OAT have been fortunate enough to land jobs with BA or other large airlines, when they finish with just a handful of hours by virtue of being excellent students at Oxford.

The ascertion was made however that students on the Integrated course are far more likely to be offered positions than those doing the modular. Is this True? Any comments would be much appreciated as I am about to go the modular route with them after completing my 150 hours in South Africa.

[flying doc]

Hi Speedbird,

I think in reality the way it works at OAT is that if you get 90% or over in all your exams and perform VERY well in the flying tests then they may recommend you to British Airways and so on.

I would think that the Integrated guys would have the advantage though..they would be more similarly trained to, for example, BA's own cadets.

GOOD LUCK!

[rolling circle]

It's not so much that the integrated course students have more chance of a BA recommend, it's more the fact that modular students have no chance whatsoever. BA require that any students recommended under this scheme have followed the same training pattern as their sponsored cadets - i.e. integrated.

[Speedbird59]

Thanks for your information guys. I have a mate who is a BA captain and his advice to me was to just enjoy your PPL and first 150 hours because from then on the whole thing gets very tough and demanding. He seemed to suggest that it was the ATPL, CPL, and IR that was the most important parts of the course.

I have a tricky decision to make as to whether I do my PPL and 150 hours in South Africa, where the weather and scenery are great or spend the money with Oxford and presumably do it state side.

Thanks for your views

[Pandora]

A few months ago BA employed an internal candidate who had completed the modular course at OATS. I'm not saying that they will take external candidates because I have no evidence for that, but the modular course is relatively new and things will probably change over time.

[Princess PP]

Does this imply that if you have completed the modular course with OAT (which I had intended to do eventually) you will stand no chance at all of flying for BA?

I don't understand the reason for the prejudice, is the modular route viewed as being disjointed? I thought the course material covered was identical either way?!

Is this view held by all of the major Airlines?

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

A BA captain gave a talk to the self sponsored students at BAE Systems, Jerez last night ref. BA recruitment.

Seems (from what I hear was said) that you need to pass all ATPL exams at 1st attempt at 86 percent or above plus score "2" or above in all the flight tests. If you ar ethen recommended by your school BA will take you straight to the final stage of selection IF they have a recruitment requirement (fairly ongoing so highly likely).

Thats the word from the horses mouth as of yesterday.

OATS have no more chance realistically of getting BA to look at you than the other major colleges.

BA have sent/still do send cadets to OATS, CABAIR and BAE and to be honest - one school is much the same as another, the exams are the same and the flight tests are the same.

Choose your school for many reasons but don´t let one of them be perceived ability to get you airline interviews after the course. There are far far more important things to consider.

Apparently the BA Captain said that over recent years BA have taken 9 self sponsored students. Thats 9 out of what? 400 a year going through the various colleges? Thats a hell of a small figure over several years to be pinning your hopes on!

Good luck one and all,

WWW

[rolling circle]

Nice try WWW, BAe now send cadets only to OAT and WMU for ab-initio training. However, you are right to say that BA have taken only 9 self-sponsored students in recent years, all from OATS integrated courses - QED.

[Flying Spider]

Rolling Circle,

Not quite QED! If my sources are correct, BA took a self-sponsored integrated student directly from Cabair about 5 years ago!!

FS

[rolling circle]

And, Flying Spider, "If my sources are correct" the moon is made of green cheese!

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

rolling circle. Correct on the ab intio. But then we have some 84 (I think) BA cadets coming to BAE Systems, Jerez for their MCC and JOC courses.

Glossary:

ab initio - learning to fly light piston aircraft to get your commercial pilots license and various ratings. Usually includes groundschool tuition as well.

MCC - Multi Crew Co-operation courses designed to stop fisticuffs on the flightdeck.

JOC - Jet Orientation Course, how to transition from flying light piston aircraft to flying a big jet our of Heathrow etc.

BAE Systems have trained BA cadets on ab initio in the past and have done the JOC courses almost continuously. The difference is that BAE don´t try to pretend that this connection with British Airways will "help" you get a job with them.

Cheers,

WWW

[rolling circle]

It is quite right that "BAE don´t try to pretend that this connection with British Airways will "help" you get a job with them" because it won't. However, OAT's connection will if you're good enough, as a number of self-sponsored OAT trainees who now have places in BA can confirm. The original point was that this only applies to integrated course trainees, demonstrating BA's opinion of modular training.

[Speedbird59]

Wee Weasley Welshman and Rolling Circle, Thanks very much for your interesting posts.

You obviously know what you are talking about so hypothetically assuming money is no object what is the best way a self-sponsored student can learn to fly? Given that I am currently living in South Africa (although I am British by birth) my idea was to get my PPL here and a total of 150 hours and then do my ATPL ground school, CPL, IR, MCC & CRM at Oxford.

Can you guys tell me what you think of that idea and secondly what job prospects are after doing the modular at Oxford - best and worst case scenarios.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Speedbird59