Back in the day, training was free and mostly only for men. But was it any better? By Ian Frow, Log Board member B ack in the dark ages of aviation, when the Old Gits generation entered the business and money was no object, most pilots going into Civil Aviation had already been comprehensively trained by Her Majestys services. Then the airlines trained them again. Some followed a more eccentric career path. The Old Git story (from fallible memory) illustrates how the cost and content of training has changed: Course: Gliding course, courtesy of school Air Training Corps Cost: Free (possibly paid for by the Royal Air Force) Course: Private Pilots Licence course (ditto above), 30 flying hours Cost: Free (paid for by the Royal Air Force), at Croydon Aerodrome on Tiger Moths Course: National Service Flying, 220 flying hours Cost: Free (paid for by the Royal Air Force), initially on the piston-engined Percival Provost, followed by the De Havilland Vampire After leaving the RAF, I took a six-week Commercial Pilots Licence Technical Course at Avigation on Ealing Broadway, followed by some extra cross-country hours for the Commercial Pilots Licence (my RAF training removed the need for a CPL flying test). Then it was on to the Link Simulator, the Percival Proctor training for Commercial Instrument Rating (my RAF White Card training was pretty basic). My first-attempt failure at Instrument Rating in a De Havilland Dove at the Civil Aviation Flying Unit at Stansted (CAFU) was hardly surprising. I had not handled a twin piston-engined aircraft before, and my preparatory training and practice had been minimal to the point of stupidity (some more experienced ex-service pilots did get through first time). The total cost was around 200, paid for by a loan from the bank of Mum and Dad. After this, BOAC generously took me on as a pilot trainee on an initial salary of 600 pa, even though I still had not achieved an Instrument Rating (airlines were kind in those days). Four hours of instrument flying training in a BOAC Dove at 20 an hour (it flew in BOAC colours) meant that, finally, after one and a half more attempts back at CAFU, I had an Instrument Rating. The cost was taken out of my BOAC salary (airlines were not that kind). Now be a navigator Then came the elephant trap. BOAC had decided to discard its highly competent specialist navigators and replace them with us, as rather grumpy Pilot Navigators (PINs). There followed a years university-standard course on the mysteries of navigation, including astro navigation, Decca, Loran, Consol and how to swing a compass in a flying boat. The bonus was that, later, this counted as the technical part of our ALTPL licences. This was free, paid by BOAC. After two and a half years of grumpily navigating, we PINs were allocated a Boeing 707 (or VC10) type technical course all handouts, instructors in sports jackets and chalk and talk no computers then. At the end of the eight-week course, our technical knowledge was almost enough to build a 707 from scratch. We underwent eight simulator sessions (no visual), followed by four aircraft-base training details the total handling was six hours, five minutes and 31 landings. At last, my licence had a type on it, allowing me to sit in the right-hand seat above 10,000 feet. Together with many others, we were now PXs cruise pilots who also acted as navigators. Six months later, a further one hour 30 minutes base flying and six landings finally put a full Boeing 707 rating on my licence. It had taken little more than 400 from me, eight simulator sessions and seven hours 35 minutes handling before I became fully type rated. The total cost to BOAC was lost in the accountants books. AT THE END OF THE COURSE, OUR TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE WAS ALMOST ENOUGH TO BUILD A 707 FROM SCRATCH A landing at last So, just over four years after joining BOAC, having been a Pilot Navigator and a PX, I made my first route landing an inelegant firm arrival (the 707-136 was an unforgiving beast). Mercifully, it was on a positioning flight to Frankfurt with no passengers on board. Subsequent conversion courses were hardly less lavish in technical and flying training. Moving from the 707 to the nearly new 747 in 1972 still involved a technical course (more instructors in sports jackets and chalk and talk), simulator details in double figures, four base-flying details, seven hours 25 mins handling and 28 landings. Why BOAC took me on only part-qualified remains, for me, a fortunate mystery. All the time we Gits-To-Be were being grumpy PXs, we kept our licences valid by flying the Chipmunks for free at the Airways Aero Club. This lack of real handling practice through those years was a disadvantage when eventually confronted with the rather tricky Boeing 707. Many captains were justifiably nervous about giving away landings to such under- practised right-hand seat occupants. Today, it is a very different story. Tomorrows Old Gits must find and fund training costs of 100K plus (buy your uniform and bring your own sarnies). Was it better in my day? Possibly, in parts frustrating at times but certainly very different. TRAINING TRAIN OF THOUGHT