Tag: ab initio

Next-Gen Training

The Pilot Training Opportunity is Dramatic, Right Now

By Captain John Bent, FRAeS

After the pandemic, many of the thousands of pilots who had been grounded did not return to flight decks. Two factors – both triggered by Covid – combined to create a huge airline pilot shortage:

1. A scheduled surge of retirements, most obvious in the US.

2. Closure (without students or any government support) for many primary (ab initio) training schools delivering professional licences.

Government support kept many airlines afloat, but no primary training organisations.

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Ab Initio / ATO

APC: Matching Quality Candidates with Quality ATOs

Amidst the current chaos of the global airline scene, are young people still interested in becoming airline pilots? The Airline Pilot Club has grown from 800 to 19,000 members in the past two years as they raise the training standards for pre-selection and ATO quality. Rick Adams, FRAeS, outlines their concept.  

In the regulatory world, all flight schools fall into one of two categories – they are either an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) via the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), or some other aviation authority; or they are not approved. There is no distinction made, by the regulators, between the various ATOs on the authorized lists.

Frankly, many regulatory agencies are stretched thin and lack the resources and expertise to delve beyond a basic pass/fail determination.

In the real world, there is a great deal of difference between ATOs – from the very good to the marginally adequate.

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