The Skills Assessment ensures we can identify those who are highly likely to succeed before they embark upon the Integrated training course and subsequent aircraft type training. Assessment takes place over two days at our Centre for Career Development, using methodologies and tools specifically developed and validated to meet airline needs. Although this process might initially sound daunting, it is actually quite enjoyable, and also enables potential students to have a closer look at OAA and to meet both staff and students in the day-to-day working environment, before committing to training.

Successful completion of Skills Assessment leads to an offer of a place on APP FIRST OFFICER. In addition, further services become available in terms of funding solutions through BBVA and the financial security of our money-back guarantee. Details of this unique funding scheme are outlined to all candidates during Skills Assessment.

ATPL Ground Training is conducted at our airline training centre at Oxford Airport. The first phase of theoretical training takes 15 weeks and is followed by internal OAA tests. These thoroughly prepare you for the official JAR-FCL exams - the first 7 of which follow immediately thereafter.

After a short break, you complete the 11 week second phase followed by the remaining 7 JAA exams - again only after you have refined your skills in the internal OAA tests. The JAA examinations are undertaken at Oxford , which is an official CAA Examination Centre.

The Career Development Programme will be introduced to students during the second phase of Ground Training. Some self-study will be required for this and you will complete a short, 1 hour exam. This, together with the 14 JAA ground examinations already completed provides you with half the credits you require to complete the Foundation Degree. Passing the examinations is a pre-requisite to commencing Foundation Flight Training at Goodyear.

Here are the subjects for each phase:

Phase One Subjects

• Principles of Flight
• Aircraft General Knowledge – Systems
• Aircraft General Knowledge - Instrumentation
• Human Performance
• Meteorology
• VFR Communications
• IFR Communications

Phase Two Subjects

• General Navigation
• Radio Navigation
• Flight Planning
• Aircraft Performance
• Mass & Balance
• Operational Procedures
• Air Law

Foundation Flight Training is conducted at our Airline Training Center at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in Arizona. Weather, equipment and instructors are all first class, allowing you to concentrate on training to be a professional pilot in a highly enjoyable environment and is an environment which enables you to achieve that all-important continuity from the word ‘go’.

During this 20-week phase you will complete a total of 110 hours of single-engine flight training in the PA28 Warrior aircraft, along with 10 hours in an FNPT II simulator and 10 hours multi-engine training in the PA34 aircraft before taking your Multi Engine CPL Skills Test in the PA34 Seneca Aircraft. By the time you return to the UK, you will be a competent multi engine pilot. You will also hold a commercial pilot’s licence pass result, and you will have a firm foundation of instrument flying experience.

On return to Oxford and prior to commencing the final, advanced training phase, you will complete the First Officer Fundamentals (FOF) course. This short but intensive 1-week course is delivered before you enter the final, advanced training phase at Oxford. Again, careful integration of academic and professional study will allow the remaining requirements of the Air Transport Management FD to be completed during this week, contributing to the aim of preparing you for your rapidly approaching role as First Officers and FOF covers the following areas:

First Officer Responsibilities and Crew Resource Management

Whilst early training necessarily concentrates on single pilot needs, your future lies in the very different operational environment of a 2-pilot, multi-engine commercial flight deck. Within the FOF course, a specially selected team of , airline training captains offer you a bespoke, 2day module, designed to focus your mind firmly on the future. This highly participative exercise has proved an invaluable and deservedly popular scene-setter for the more advanced flying and jet simulator training still to come.

Commercial Appreciation

All airlines now require pilots to understand the commercial realities of operating an airline business in an ever more competitive trading environment. Within the FOF course, you will be given a first exposure to the realities of airline life by a series of briefings, presentations and exercises covering airline economics, business analysis, and other relevant issues, including the relationship between the flight deck crews and other key staff including cabin crews, flight dispatchers, and even senior management.

Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively with other crew members, with passengers, and with operational staff members is a critical skill for airline pilots to acquire. For many, the FOF course represents a first realistic opportunity to develop such skills as you participate in delivering briefings and formal presentations on flying and commercially related topics selected by the OAA staff. As part of this same phase, radio communication skills will also be honed to prepare you fully for flying in the intense European air traffic environment.

At this stage of the course all the academic and theoretical study required of you will be complete. The various assignments completed at Goodyear and during the FOF will enable your FD to be processed by Buckinghamshire New University. This will provide you with the academic platform you will need to continue your study post graduation to full degree or Masters level if you wish.

From this point forward you will be concentrating on multi-engine flight training, initially using the PA34 Seneca aircraft and simulators; flying in poor weather and tightly controlled airspace amongst commercial airliner traffic. Being so centrally placed, you will find Oxford Airport is well positioned for accessing the busy airways and the many highly challenging destinations - exactly what you need in order to prepare for your future career.

Advanced flight training consists of 50 hours - split between aircraft and simulator. The high-fidelity simulators are perfect for the task in hand, enabling you to practise many procedures which cannot be undertaken in the actual aircraft. This phase culminates in the Instrument Rating Skills Test (IRT) with one of our two resident CAA Flight Examiners.

The last three weeks of the APP FIRST OFFICER concentrates on Multi-Crew Co-operation (MCC) and a Jet Orientation Course (JOC). This phase will teach you how to work in a Multi-Crew environment, and how to operate a modern commercial jet. Whilst MCC training is a JAA requirement, the unique additional JOC is one of the strengths of APP FIRST OFFICER as it gives you that invaluable training in multi-pilot operations which is so appealing to airline employers.

You will fly realistic routes, using genuine airline operating procedures, all in the six-axis, full-motion Boeing 737-400 simulator. By the end of the 36 hour phase, more than twice the time required to comply with JAR-FCL regulatory requirements, you will be as well prepared as it is possible to be to move directly to airline interview and airliner type specific training.