Originally Posted by
dera
They will give you all tools you need to succeed. It's up to you to use them.
If you sit in class thinking you don't have to study at the hotel, you will have issues. I think that is what is meant that they don't spoon feed you.
Hardest part is studying for the oral. There's lots of support to help you with that though as long as you are proactive.
You'll have more sims and FTDs than you need.
The training is geared towards people coming from other ACMIs still. That said, we have improved from where we were. Regarding the "We won't spoon feed you." comment, I agree that's usually said about programs that are poorly designed/run. Perhaps I can help clarify?
About 10% of candidates fail a ride, need extra training, etc. Of those most get the attention they need to eventually make it to the line as long as they do what they need to do to meet standards. One or two people per class either quit or get terminated due to failure to progress. This number is hard to pin down because what fraction of those who quit do so because they have better opportunities compared to those who know they're not going to make it? There's still a lot of variability from one instructor to the next, but several years of trying to get people onto the same page around sim profiles and classroom work have paid off. So you're not going to bust a ride over some stupid issue, but one guy may decide to put comments into your records when another wouldn't. Our training isn't as good as it needs to be, but we're not abnormally bad either. We're firmly in the "Meh, I guess I'll have tomato soup with that." bracket.
That said if you do the basics of getting any type-rating, you'll be fine. Read the material. Know limitations, flows and profiles. Don't let somebody get under your skin in the sim. Do the normal stuff, and you'll be fine.
Where we under-serve some of our people is insufficient classroom exposure to regulatory considerations, international procedures, high altitude/airspeed factors, etc. A lot of people are still struggling to find airspace/airport details when they need them, and that's on us. This is why I say we still assume people are coming over from other ACMI.