A320 type rating

Over halfway through the type rating seems like a good time to give an update on the process. The structure of the course here at CTC, on behalf on BA, is three weeks of groundschool followed by 12 simulator sessions, each of 4 hours' duration, the last of which is the Licence Skills Test or LST conducted by a CAA appointed examiner.

The groundschool for us was delivered by a mix of pilots and engineers, giving a useful look at the aircraft both from a practical and a technical perspective. The actual learning is largely self-study using the pre-loaded iPads. This has software that talks you through each of the key systems on the aircraft and has questions at the end to help focus the learning. It is such a fantastically complicated aircraft that even pilots and engineers who have worked with it for years do not know every single system inside-out so the training has to direct our learning towards the essential knowledge required to operate it safely and efficiently. The groundschool culminates in an exam (doesn't it always) which is the usual CAA multi-choice format. 

Interactive graphic presentation of the overhead panel from the CBT

We then travelled up to Cranebank, BA's training headquarters, for two days of CRM training. This was essentially refreshing much of the material from the JOC in terms of how to most effectively function as a two-person crew. We studied various incidents or near-incidents and looked at ways in which the crew could have functioned more successfully together to avoid getting into those situations at all. As usual we walked away with another batch of acronyms and abbreviations to learn and use but they are the cornerstone of successful daily operations so are well worth spending the time to assimilate.

Last Tuesday we finally began the simulator sessions and got our hands on this:

 (Note: this is a screen shot from Google streetview - click here to explore the sim hall more fully)

I remember 18 months ago in the early phases of ATPL groundschool being in awe of the stream of cadets going into these massive machines and felt a little overwhelmed to say the least to finally get my turn. However, sadly the novelty factor wears off surprisingly quickly as the focus of the training becomes paramount. The sim is around a year old so is in excellent condition (even considering it is used around 20 hours a day, 364 days a year) and has very accurate full motion. Today we were practising windshear recovery (where the flight path becomes unstable at a critical phase of flight owing to sudden changes in wind strength/direction) and it is extremely convincing! It is a remarkable feat of engineering that the hydraulic struts can take the hammering that they do day in, day out. 

My colleague setting up the FMGC with the instructor in the Captain's seat

The type rating sessions differ from those of the JOC in that they are more focussed on handling the aircraft and its systems as opposed to the multi-crew, line-orientated sectors in the JOC. This is to give us a firm basis for controlling the aircraft before moving on to BA next month and beginning line-training where it is really all put into practice. I've found the A320 quite hard to control initially but I am gradually improving. The sidestick input is very different to a conventional aircraft and more often than not is best left alone! If the aircraft seems to be wobbling about uncomfortably it's probably best to let go of the stick (it will continue on the most recent flightpath automatically with no need for constant input) and then make some small corrections. Constantly moving it, as you might with a conventional yoke in a Boeing 737, will just lead to everyone feeling sick and very little success in actually achieving  the flightpath you want!

Some very early starts!

Next event will be starting at BA itself so get ready for cheesy uniform posing pictures and shiny BA A320s at Base Training!