Becoming an Airline Ground School Instructor

[Jay_solo]

If you wanted to teach aircraft system ground school classes for an airline, or type rating training organisation, what qualifications do you need?

do you need to be a type rated pro pilot with airline experience?
do you need to even be a professional pilot at all, seeing that it is aircraft systems you'll be teaching?

*** Teaching Airbus or Boeing Aircraft systems, not flight instruction ***

[BillieBob]

Appendix 2 to JAR-FCL 1.055 "16 The theoretical knowledge instruction shall be conducted by an authorised instructor holding the appropriate type/class rating or any instructor having appropriate experience in aviation and knowledge of the aircraft concerned, e.g. flight engineer, maintenance engineer, flight operations officer."

It will be up to the individual TRTO to decide what requirements it wishes to set for its TKIs and for the approving Authority to decide if the Company's requirements acceptable for approval.

[bucket_and_spade]

All our technical ground instructors are type-rated company pilots (the vast majority of which are captains) who fly on the line. They aren't necessarily training captains, although some are.

Although the initial type rating groundschool is predominantly systems training, I think it would be unusual to have it taught by someone who'd never flown or used the systems on type. I suspect a lot of experienced students (who ask the in-depth questions!) wouldn't appreciate a non-TR, non-pilot as their instructor. Not sure what the regulators say about experience requirements though...

Plus, TR courses aren't regular enough to provide
enough work for someone on the company payroll who only does grounschool duties. It may be different at third-party TRTOs...

[S-Works]

Likewise, our Ground Instructors (myself included) are active TR's company pilots on the types we teach the ground school for.

You need an in depth knowledge of the type I think if you are going to teach someone about it?

[Jay_solo]

So if your an active line pilot, and you teach ground, how does that affect your work pattern?

Are you primarily class room bound, with some line flying in between? How does it work?

[mad_jock]

All the ones I have had for TR's have been Engineers.

I believe the deal with them is they do what ever the TRTO requires them to do (bit of dual so to speak) and then someone from the CAA sits in on them for a day or two and then they get an approval for that paticular TRTO to teach solo. And they also taught the engineering type courses as well.

They were very good at the systems stuff but they usually got a pilot in to do the performance.

[Northbeach]

Negative trend

At our outfit we are rapidly moving away from ground instructors of EVERY type towards self paced computer training: initial, recurrent....everything.

I dislike the trend. My guess it is money driving the decision.

A motivated great ground instructor is worth their weight in gold.

Oh well, not all progress is imporvement.

I would have my doubts that this field represents a growth opportunity seems like it is a dying breed.

[1nfinityAndBeyond]

Approved TKI ?

Continuing this thread from a few years ago, I presume that you still don’t need any ‘official’ qualification to teach ATPL ground school i.e. become a Theoretical Knowledge Instructor (TKI)? (but an ATPL would be absolute minimum, together with industry/flying experience).

How do you become an ‘approved’ TKI?

Thanks.

[BillieBob]

Under the EASA requirements:

ORA.ATO.110

(c)Theoretical knowledge instructors shall have:
(1) practical background in aviation in the area relevant for the training provided and have undergone a course of training in instructional techniques; or
(2) previous experience in giving theoretical knowledge instruction and an appropriate theoretical knowledge background in the subject on which they will provide theoretical knowledge instruction

AMC1 ORA.ATO.110(c)
Theoretical knowledge instructors should, before appointment, prove their competency by giving a test lecture based on material they have developed for the subjects they are to teach.

The exact arrangements for the recruitment, training and checking of theoretical knowledge instructors in an individual ATO will be detailed in Part D of the Operations Manual and approved by the competent authority.

[1nfinityAndBeyond]

Thanks BillieBob