TRAINING ROUTE
Before you start
If you have never flown previously, before you even start your training we recommend that you book into your local flying club for a ‘trial lesson’. This is a short air experience flight which will be a bit of fun and will give you a clue as to whether flying is the right thing for you.
Selection process
Once you have decided you want to move forward, but before you can start training with us, you’ll need to pass our Selection. We want to make sure that this is the right programme for you; we don’t want you to commit to significant financial risk before you find that out.
Flight and theory training
We have designed the programme to be as flexible as possible while retaining the benefits of a mentored route provided by a single group of schools. You will need to progress through a series of courses including your PPL, building your flight hours up, your theory training, CPL, Multi-Engine Piston Class Rating, Instrument Rating and Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT). You will make the choices about which of our members to train with, when to train and what pace to train at. You will be able to do your training full-time, or significant parts of it can be completed while you are still working.
What is different about our training?
- The quality is assured
- Our members follow industry best practice
- You will be mentored and supported as you progress through your training
- Your training programme will be tailored to suit your individual circumstances, even allowing you to train alongside normal working hours.
- Depending on the choices you make, the total price is likely to be much lower than equivalent integrated courses, typically £55,000-£65,000 as opposed to £100,000+.
Bespoke training plan
Following your Wings Alliance Selection, our Training Advisor will meet with you to find out what your priorities and preferences are; and also, what, if any, flight training you have completed already. The aim of this discussion is to agree with you a detailed and costed bespoke Training Plan to suit your individual requirements. Prior flight training can be taken in to account, you will not have to, for example do your PPL again if you already have one.
There are some common elements to all routes:
- Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL)
- Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence (ATPL) theory
- Instrument Rating (IR)
- Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL).
All of which lead into the final course, the Wings Alliance APS-MCC course, and airline placement.
PPL training, ATPL theory and hours building can all be part or full-time, but we recommend you do your CPL/ME/IR course on a full-time basis. After that there are only 3 weeks training with us before you are applying for your first commercial pilot job!
When your training plan is agreed, we’ll help you with the arrangements and mentor you through the programme that will be reviewed with you on a regular basis.
APS-MCC Training
The final part of your training is the Airline Pilot Standards MCC course at Clevedon and Gloucester in the UK. The course starts with one day technical training and three days crew resource management (CRM) training in the classroom, then 10 sessions in a brand-new Boeing 737 Max simulator (4 hours each for a crew of 2 or 6 hours for crews of 3). Finally, there are three days back in the classroom covering airline operations, advanced CRM and airline interview preparation.
You’ll need access to transport and accommodation during the APS-MCC course. If you don’t have a car, let us know and we’ll see if we can pair you up with other students who are willing to lift share with you. We also have an optional accommodation package.
Support
This is where training with us differs significantly from a ‘standard modular route’. On a day-to-day basis, your flight training will be managed by your chosen flight schools. We receive regular reports on your progress, performance and behaviour, and we will not intervene if things are going according to plan. It is quite usual for students to encounter some minor issues when training; these will be dealt with locally and we will be informed after the event, unless you and the school are unable to agree on a course of action. If the issue becomes more significant, we will support you and participate in the decision-making process.
We will contact you on a regular basis to ensure all is going well and your training is going as planned. You are of course free to phone or email us about any questions you may have throughout your training.
