Cwmbran and ASTAC to shorten ADI course?
 

As someone considering self sponsorship for the ATC Basic and ADI course could someone shed some light on the timescale it takes to go through both courses with breaks included etc?

I understand the basic course to be around 4-6 weeks and the ADI to be between 9-11 weeks. I had heard there was a possibility that the length of these courses maybe shortened to enable trainees to start at a unit in a faster timescale.

Can anyone advise?

HP

As an 'Approved Course' it would require a very robust safety case for SRG to agree to this, and I doubt if they would do so.

Being a first course I think it would be unwise to shorten it. It's hard enough as it is in the short time to get used to it and pass. I'm sure it would have a negative effect for some students on the courses.

I did Procedural in 5 weeks as I was the only one on the course and damn, that got mad. It was lucky that I didn't have any problems as 4 sim runs a day is quite tough!! :ouch:

sp.

I did a PAR 'add on' course in 3.5 days at Shawbury. 3 of us on the course all with valid APRs (one Farnborough and two Boscombe), about 1 hour classroom work then the rest was sim runs apart from one afternoon of 'live' training in Shawbury Tower talking down Jet Provosts who were pretending to be Tornados.

Sweet Potatoes is right, you'll probably be wishing for more time not less once you get stuck into the mountain of study that's required.

The cost of having someone away from a unit at the college is very high and to minimise that cost, the courses are as compact as they realisically can be.

That said, I too, finished the procedural course in five weeks by being the only one booked on that course and believe me - I'd have prefered to be there for the full eight!

If you've got a unit that'll train you on completion of the course it's unlikely the offer will change because you can't shorten the course. Don't worry about the timings and give yourself the best chance to pass by taking all the time available to you.

Humberprop

Have you got any previous experience? i.e are you an ex-mil controller? If so then you will be able to cut down the basic course to 4 weeks. If not than as previous posters have said you will need the 6 weeks as the study load is high. As for the ADI well that will depend on the number of people on your course. If the college can get it done quicker then you may be in luck, however that might not make it any cheeper
Costings, set aside £20k at least.

Many thanks for the various replies.

Julio I would be coming from a civilian assistant background. I can see why the college would be reluctant to drop the course prices. The main reason for wishing to condense the course is to cut down as much as possible on accommodation, living costs and possible time outside of a job. My main concern would be validating, which I believe is where the real hard work begins.

I suppose the tolerance of the unit training you determines how much pressure is on to validate the peace of paper presented to you on passing the course.

Could anyone tell me how long most units allow a trainee for ADI validation?