Upgrade
The upgrade process at Emirates really starts with recurrent training events. To be eligible for upgrade pilots must perform well on their recurrent training.
The upgrade process starts when the qualifications have been met in terms or hours, time in company, etc. A letter is sent to the pilot asking them to schedule a time to take the technical quiz and psych assessment. Sunnfun can correct me on the current process if I get it out of order here. Once those are done an interview with the deputy chief pilot or his delegate is arranged ( this is going to change soon to other people, but the interview will still occur ). In this interview the candidate is expected to answer scenario based questions as if they were the captain. This means they must be very familiar with all the information in the company OM-A ( operations manual ) as well as fleet specific technical matters. This all occurs before the pilot even begins training. It is expected that they have been studying for the previous 3-5 years and are ready to perform in the role as captain.
Of important note, none of that has anything to do with the training department. The training department only sees the candidate once they have jumped through all the above hoops as set out by the specific fleet chief pilot's office. A number of pilots are held back from even starting the upgrade if they do not pass the above process. Most often they get help in the required area and within a year or so they get through the process and start the training. There are some who never do, but that is very rare.
Once the upgrade training starts is goes pretty fast. There is some ground school ( Sunnfun, help me out here ) and then simulator starts. You would be paired with another upgrade candidate in the sim. There are 4 full flight sim sessions then a left seat skills test. That is followed by zero flight time training; LVO; ILS-PRM; and Cat C airport qual.
Once those sims are finished the candidate will do three LOS training events followed by an LOE. LOS stands for Line Oriented Simulation, LOE for Line Oriented Examination. The LOS events are meant to be training events ( again, these can end up as "checking" events if not run properly ). The LOS events have guidelines, but it's really dealer's choice as to what events will happen in them. They are meant to train a new captain in management; decision making; CRM; and to consolidate procedures.
An example of an LOS training event might be a HKG-BKK flight. Thunderstorms and rain in HKG; possible windshear on departure; MEL at the gate; passenger or cargo issues while loading. Depart after dealing with all of that then have some event in the air that requires a diversion. Could be bomb threat; sick passenger; engine failure; hydraulic problem' electrical problem; etc.
The LOS should run in real time, but because it is training stopping and re-starting are encouraged to discuss ways to improve performance or to correctly deal with a situation.
LOS training is very subjective and because of those cultural differences mentioned above can be really intimidating at times. When I went through the process many years ago it was a little different ( much less emphasis on training ) and I really felt like there was a loaded gun pointed at my head every LOS session. I felt that if I made one little mistake the gun would go off and that would be the end of the upgrade. Thankfully it has changed for the better in the last few years and it isn't that bad anymore, although some might still feel like it is.
Upgrade line training is similar to new hire line training, just different topics discussed.
The most recent statistics for upgrade show a 9% failure rate on the Boeing and a 4% rate on the Airbus. That's over a 6 month period and it's very accurate information.
Typhoonpilot