Question for Ryanair SFIs
 

Hi!

I´m considering going down the SFI route. Would any Ryanair SFIs out there like to shead a little light on the process, T&Cs and most importantly, would you do it again?

Thanks!

/L.

Probably the best career choice you can make. You get the core course and whe you become a captain you are automatically TRI. Good for the CV!

Process: 5 day Core course, teaching and learning, make sure you do the one with the sim and you get CRMI ticket as well. Then 5/6 day SFI course, TRI rating only issued if you have done 30 sectors on the type in previous 12 months. Check the restrictions, without mentorship from a TRTO you may have problems, but usually the TRI course providers can help. Good investment, probably about 10K in total.
Read STD DOC 24 and LASORS for requirements.

If you have a current FI rating and did it at an approved school, you may get a core course exemption, but then you may not get the CRMI privileges.

Of course you need a type rating on the type you want to instruct, but as an SFI no currency.

You don't have to be a Captain to be a TRI, just meet the requirements.

Good luck.

Investment, 10K

Is this not a thread about the Ryanair SFI for Ryanair pilots, not more pay to fly stuff, jesus if Ryanair start chargeing there experiance F/O's to be SFI's I think they will see a big ass hole in there requirements.

zerotohero - I had the same thought!

Come on guys, don't turn this into yet another anal PTF thread. I assumed this was a genuine question and the answer to get a TRI is as given. Now if this chap thinks by getting a TRI he/she will get work from FR.. NO, they have their own TRIs.

From what I hear it's a great thing to do. Training department excellent, learn loads, will make command upgrade much easier.

5 day core course / groundschool / instructional technique.
7 sim sessions (2 as observations, 4 sim training sessions and one check). Obviously the more observations that you can make the better.
3 minimum supplementary sessions under supervision of a TRI/TRE. You may be released after this or further supplementary training scheduled.

You pay for the endorsement to you licence, as does any TRE/TRI in Ryanair. :suspect:

Sorry but I do not know what SFI means, what is it? I know if I don't know why ask, it is just curiosity as to what else you have to pay for in Ryanair.

SFI = Synthetic Flight Instructor. The foundation is a TRI course, however SFIs are current line FOs, so hence the SFI title. Primarily 3 weeks of duty is sim and 1 week is regular line flying. The cost of the licence endorsement is yours, however the cost of the course is down to Ryanair.

Are they still requiring SFI's to be based in STN/EMA?

If you do the TRI course even as an FO you will get 737 TRI on your licence. If you have not flown 30 sectors in previous 12 months you cannot do the TRI course, only an SFI course. If you do the TRI course Your Licence will be endorsed TRI 737 300-900 sim only.
If you want to instruct on the real aircraft, that requires more training, baulked landings, misshandling etc.

See STD DOC 43 or JAR OPS1

Rank has nothing to do with TRI status

So as I understand it anyone in Ryanair can pay them to become a sim instructor or type rating instructor, that sounds awesome as 30 secotrs is enough to be a type rating instructor!!!!!! This will really boost the industry as you need a whole 30 sectors to become a TRI, seriously what is this profession becoming? I am so glad I am not employed in the UK if 30 secotor wonders can be TRIs. I am sure I am missing something so please tell me it is not so that you can be a TRI if you have 30 sectors in type?

Yes you missed something, you also need a minimum 1500hrs JAR25. Also, as has already been pointed out, once selected the course cost is covered by Ryanair. The core course is outsourced the sim course is done in house. Once the course is completed successfully the endorsement is paid for by the applicant, direct to the IAA.

SFI's usually do a year or so in the role then move on for command upgrade. As a result, recruitment for the role comes up fairly regularly.

SloppyJoe - either use some common sense or stop trying to instigate some sort of rise. I believe the thread is being replied to from two different sources. Those who have knowledge of the SFI/TRI qualification outside Ryanair and those inside Ryanair. I'm sure there isn't a vast amount of difference relating to the stipulations, however the 30 sector in 12 month rule will not apply because it simply can't. All SFIs are current line FOs, so they will have acquired much more than 30 sectors. They also need to have a minimum of 1500hrs on type to apply. They are then interviewed and assessed.

Once qualified their position and endorsement will be SFI. The course is the TRI foundation course, however TRI (sim) status cannot be acquired until command experience has been aquired and simulator training currency retained.

Its not that I am not using common sense as there are strange things going on in aviation at the moment and was just curios about this. With guys being hired with 250 hours into the right seat of 737s it means that you can be an instructor on the 737 a couple of years after completing your studies at some flying school. To me this seems like a bad thing regardless of who is paying for it.

1500hrs is the very minimum. As stated here, guys closer to the command are your usual SFIs. And it isn't simply the case of filling the position with anyone. Quite a bit is expected. They have never had any problems. Guys who had previously been SFIs all transferred to the LHS with ease. Quite a few are now LTCs and TREs. The SFI qualification within Ryanair has been around some time now, even before the fleet became all -800

Spot on Callsign. Amazing it takes 16 posts on a thread before actual facts come to light.

Not dreamy " I want to believe it so it must be true" drivel.

Alas the truth.

I think you will find sloppy joe that while our SFI may have been flying only 2-3 years on a 737, they are excellent. Much better than any senior TRE/TRI from various major European airlines that I have come across in my career.

Mr Kilo

I know of two SFI's that have struggled to pass a command course.

Fair enough. However the general trend is that they don't because their list of responsibilities include part of the upgrade training. I cannot account for everyone who has passed through FR as an SFI; however those that I know have had no issue with the command. It is a general belief that they shouldn't. But then we all know what can happen when we generalise..........:rolleyes:

Kilo: Did I interpret this correctly? Are you saying that a 1500hrs SFI is invol ved with command upgrade training of another F/O, who by definition must be more experienced? Command courses are with 2 F/O's; I can see the de-briefings, on some occaisions, being very interesting should differences of opinions arise.

Yes you understood correctly. SFI's do not just instruct low time cadets on type courses. They also do recurrent sim training for crew (not OPC/LPC as this requires TRI/E), and OCC courses. As ryanair don't currently recruit direct entry FO's, these OCC courses are for DEC's the vast majority of whom have several thousand more hours on the aircraft than the SFI's. This does not appear to cause problems. As has been said, Ryanair have been using SFI's for a long time now. The company takes a great deal of pride in the standards of its training department, and from what I hear, it is generally held in high regard throughout the industry.

sorry to bring this up again but how does a captain become a tri/tre in ryanair if he wasnt an sfi beforehand?is it even possible?

Probably possible, but don't suppose it happens much.

Plenty of line captains become LTC's without having been a SFI/TRI, but obviously you need the TRI to become a TRE.

Normally, like most things in RYR I guess, the normal procedure is to go from SFO with SFI, to Line Capt with TRI, LTC then TRE.

I know lots of Captains who joined RYR via direct entry, who were TRE's at their previous company who keep it valid at their own expense and don't exercise it for RYR.

is there anywhere you can do a tri tre course and pay for it by yourself?just a thought!!

1500hrs is the very minimum

Wowwww 1500 hrs, bloody hell, thats alot. It certainly puts the 20000 - 30000 hour ex concorde,777 and 747 trainers who i had the pleasure of being trained by into perspective.:rolleyes:

I am no longer surprise by anything Ryr does, just when you think they hit rock bottom they manage to lower it further. Not only that, but the next numpty whose mummy and daddys bank balance is inversely proportional to said numpty's IQ turns up to pay for the pleasure.

20,000 to 30,000 hours ex concorde etc doesn't qualify you to train. And I also agree that 1500 hrs on a particular type doesn't either. For the high time guy all that equates to is that you have 20,000 or 30,000 hours worth of flight time; but it doesn't mean you can train. Some people seem to make a prerequisit for a trainer to have 'x' amount of hours. Bollocks. Some of the worst instructors I have ever came across are some of the most 'experienced' operators/pilots that I have met. They may know one or two things about an aeroplane, however their idea of teaching is bawling at some laddie in order to scare him into submission. Training is about finding the right type of person with the right type of mentality. It isn't about being so sort of Chuck Yaeger sky god, with multiple type experience; all within a legacy carrier!

However blackred, I'm sure you are a fine pilot. You will have been trained by the best, certainly.

Guys,

The SFI's are teaching highly qualified candidates on SOPs and the way RYR want you to attack a certain situations. They are not teaching effects of controls on a 737.

blackred
 

What about all the guys with you at EZY coming off the CTC sausage machine with even worse terms? Some declaring bankruptcy I believe.

All these guys paying for the pleasure too.

When I did my type rating with FR I had an ex 747 skipper doing most my sims.

Big wham.

Do me a favour and get off that stupidly high horse of yours.

blackred1443:

"1500 is the very minimum"

So how do you imagine the creamed-off students in the RAF who got sent off to CFS just after getting their wings, with less than 300 hours in their logbooks, to learn to be instructors managed to cope?

I had my command on 4-engined turbo props with 1521 hours in my logbook. I was a training captain (on the aeroplane - we didn't have a simulator) with less than 2000 hours in my logbook.

Mind you, I had quality training.

VJW: I know lots of Captains who joined RYR via direct entry, who were TRE's at their previous company who keep it valid at their own expense and don't exercise it for RYR.
How does this work? I thought you need to be sponsored by a TRTO. A few years ago, when my TRE was converetd into a JAA version, you could check out any JAA licenced pilot. Now I'm told my checking validity is only under the sponsoring TRTO, i.e. the airline I'm working for. If this restriction is true, how can someone maintain themselves as an independant TRE, or be sponsored by a TRTO they don't work for? I can ask permission/discretion to perform a one-off check on an ad-hoc basis outside of my TRTO. Further, when I left my first TRTO I was told my TRE lapsed automatically. This was 2000.

Rat5 you are correct. I believe they are still sponsored by their old trto.

Not every airline has their own trto and approval.

Must be a Nigel
 

Don't mean to get involved in all this company bashing, but if you ask me, (which I know your not), but it sounds like you sir (blackred1443) are BA.
In that case, I know of a few people who are FO TRIs down your way. They do EXACTLY the same job as Ryanair SFIs. So because they are in a blue and silver uniform and have a little hat makes it fine, however if Ryanair do it then it is horrific!!

Also, referring to the point that people who are SFIs tend to do better in the command course, that often has a little to do with the fact they are part of the training department if you know what I mean.
The command course is nothing to do with how you fly the plane on one engine, or how well you read the checklist. Do what you have done for the past 4 years and you can pass the 4 day command sims with ease. It is all about how you manage the day to day operations. Your decision making process. Just because you have 500 hours of sitting in the back of a full motion MS Flight Sim doesn't mean you can interact well with ground staff and cabin crew, ops and crewing, and most importantly multitask 5 things at once on a 25 min turn around when it is winter ops and your running late!!

Everyone bashes Ryanair, and believe me when I say I am not the biggest FR fan in the world, but look at our stats compared to all the other companies in the UK. You will see that accidents, incidents and the like are no different any other operator including BA!! It just in Ryanair you don't have to wait for 60 year old Nigel to pop his clogs or take his final salary pension before you can leave the comfort of the RHS where you have been for the last 15 years waiting for your number to come up.

Put it this way, it's not a willy waving competition, but Ryanair is no Onur Air!!

SFI
 

hey guys,

this is for sloppy joe, i'm sure I will not have been the first one to tell you this, but your a complete idiot a fool of the highest regard. Their is defo strange things happening in aviation when they let people in that can't even read...tit:mad:

Worst instructor I've ever had: 737-300 TRI with 20000 hours of Phantom, F15, 727 and 737. Just yelled at you the whole time.

I don't care if you can do Sudoku while hovering in a Harrier. I don't care that if you look young enough to be my son or daughter. If I sit in the taxi thinking "that was a useful sim", you get my vote.

It's the same as the pointless debate about how many hours you should have to be the RHS of a jet. It's about STANDARDS. As long as you have a professional and experienced training management team, they will make sure that FO hiring, initial line checks, command upgrades and training promotions will be given to be people who make the grade. Will they get it right 100% of the time? Off course not. But the whole process has nothing to do with how many hours and how many types you have flown (within the minima of the regulators, obviously).

P

To Peba,

There are many options for TRI course. Let say, try this one; proaviator.aero

To RAT 5

You may be TRE not only in TRTO, but as well as TRE on list of your Aviation Authority. That is how independent TREs exist.

Some extra information for those interested.

Contract supposedly last for one flying year. Although some are individually negotiated the basic one seems to be 1 week flying 3 weeks sim. Either based at EMA or at STN. You're allowed to pick the flights you would like to do in your flying week.

T&C's of your individual contract apply to your flying week. T&C's of your SFI contract apply to sim weeks.

Rumoured pay at €450 for each planned sim session. No figures or TRI or TRE payscales though.

Not true mate. At the mercy of Dublin for that.

About right for the Brookfield guys. Those on Ryanair contract don't get anywhere near that for sim sessions, but are amply catered for in other ways on the FR deal.
The contracts crossover, they are not seperate. eg sector pay rates.

Edit my last post. Information is for Brookfield only it seems.