This Review Overall Rating
Positives:
-Location & Knowledge
Cambridge is a brilliant city and the airport is located in convenient spots for both accommodation access and quick access into the city. The instructors also make this place what it is today, it using to be Virtual Aviation when I was there. Ben Boness, John Beecham and Alan Snow allowed me to get the most out of my course and have continued to stay in touch and help with my endeavours 2 years later. Fantastic people.
-Manuals & SOPS
The training material provided pre course, during TKI and in preparation for the sim were excellent. The SOP's used at the time gave me a great grounding for what airlines would expect for sim assessments and polishing them off and constant repetition made the course go very smoothly
-Quality of Training
Without a shadow of a doubt one of the highlights of this establishment is the level and quality of training. All the instructors from Day 1 TKI to Sim 10 was amazing. So much experience from every instructor allowing a broad spectrum of stories and advise to arise and allowed a much more personal experience being in in a close knit group for the duration of the course
Cons:
-Eating facilities
No food on sight offered meaning day to day can get expensive having to go to the local petrol station for food, would be nice to get some sandwiches or wraps just to keep going during the day and sim sessions
-Lots of pre course study material, not all used
Although I said above the manuals and SOP's are fantastic which they are, there is alot of pre reading to do as they say you "need" to know the manuals before getting there which of course is true, however reading a boeing manual of 500+ pages and QRH's etc being non type rated etc is and can be quite overwhelming
-Course Length?
For me it worked great, however just want to put it down. I enjoyed having the extra days off during the sim period to allow the information to be absorbed however having 3 days off before a sim check can be frustrating so maybe just be wary of the length of the course
Overall though I have nothing but a soft spot for this organisation. Feels like a family and have always been supportive throughout and invited me back for extra sim opportunities.
Course(s) taken:
General
Simulators
Practical Training
