The first three milestones in the IFR and VFR streams are identical - the Introduction To Aviation ("ITA") exam , the Meteorology ("met") exam, and the Module 1 ("mod 1") exam.
Sometimes IFR and VFR share the same classroom for the first month, since the curriculum is the same lioresal. This gives you an opportunity to meet more people antabuse. When the classes split up at around the one month mark, keep in touch with your sister class clomid online. Then you get to learn about a different side of operations (if you're in IFR, it gives you a chance to learn how VFR works, and vice versa). Also, the more people you know at NCTI, the easier your time there will be.
The first three days are familiarization days. You'll meet your course director and maybe some of your instructors. A study lady comes in and gives you a lecture on how to study. A nurse comes in and gives you lectures on healthy eating and personal hygiene (that last item quite important in the simulator). A security guy comes in and tells you to wear our security pass while you're in the academic wing of the school. (Commissionaires do spot checks, sometimes even in the simulator.) Some of the NCTI managers come by and introduce themselves. Very exciting stuff.
CAUTION: During these first three days, the training manager might tell the class what the tentative postings are. Do not get on the phone that night and tell your friends and family: I'm going to ________ ! These postings are extremely tentative and can change multiple times throughout the course. If you do tell anyone back home what the postings are, make sure they understand that the locations could change anytime from now until you sign the offer of employment at the end of the course. Because they will.
Usually held on day three of the course, the ITA exam is based on the pre-study package sent to you by the registrar's office. You only need to study the blue book, not the From The Ground Up. The exam is 25 multiple choice questions. It's any easy exam - most of the class should score 100% or in the high 90's. You don't need to know the entire pre-study package word for word - as long as you understand the material you'll be fine. If you're not good at multiple choice exams, pick up a copy of an LSAT, SAT, or police officer exam preparation manual. Any of these books will have lots of tips on how to take the test.
Within the first week, get everyone's email address, room number, and your course director's office number. Make a contact list and hand it out to everyone in your class. You'll be surprised how much discussion occurs by email as you move through the course. To facilitate this, C.O.P. offers a NCTI class mailing list service. For example, if your course number is E0119, your class can get a permanent address at e0119@checkoutparty.com. These mailing lists have the following features:
To get a class mailing list, send me an email at w The number one rule is "don't keep a secret." If you have information that will help your class, you should share it with them. In turn, your classmates will follow your example and share good info with you. In keeping with this whole "don't keep a secret" idea, once you have a checkoutparty.com mailing list set up for the class, send out an email that includes the following links:
You can learn a lot from these sites.
One aspect many people find difficult about NCTI is establishing a routine, something I began to have trouble with around three weeks into my course. My father sent me this email and it helped a lot.
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 21:41:19 -0300
From: "Dad"
To: "Son"
Subject: Warning - unsolicited advice!
Although this is indeed unsolicited, I take comfort from the fact that I am qualified to give it, having existed in similar circumstances on many occasions. You are:
I think that you realised before you left here that the key would be to get yourself on a schedule, but from the sounds of things it hasn't been that easy to make the transition. Some specific suggestions:
Take care,
Dad
Students do a 20 hour met course, spread over two weeks. The met section runs concurrently with the mod 1 study material. The exam is 25 multiple choice questions. Most of your class should score 100% (supposedly, only one person has failed this test in the last four years). The most important knowledge you can take away from this section is how to read a weather report (e.g. METAR's & PIREP's). You will give weather reports to aircraft all the time in the simulator.
The module 1 content is basically the pre-study package material, but more in depth and with a few extra subjects. It covers some material (e.g. wake turbulence) that overlaps with the meteorology course you'll be taking at the same time. The exam is multiple choice, around 50+ questions (I can't remember the exact number, somebody drop me a line so I can fix this). This is the last test in which a large portion of your class will score 100%. If you are in a shared IFR/VFR class, after this point the classes will split and go separate ways. VFR classes will move on to the tower simulator, while IFR classes will start practising with a radar simulator.
If you are a pilot you will find this entire section boring. And if you are not a pilot then you are going to feel constantly behind all the pilots in you class who are making no secret of the fact that they are bored to death. Drill this into your head now: if you do not have an aviation background - DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. First of all - and this is to Nav Canada's credit - they have done a good job of organising the course so that a layperson can move through the program successfully. Second, as soon as you finish mod 1 and start in the simulator, the playing field levels. Even experienced, instrument and multi-engine rated pilot's can and do have trouble in the sim. Finally, note that several of the best guys on my course had NO aviation background at all.
This may vary from course to course - so I don't want to make a sweeping generalisation - but there can be a heightened sense of competition during the early stages. I suspect this is more true for IFR than VFR classes. You're not close to your classmates yet, but you do know that you want to do well on the course. Collectively, this can result in a class putting a lot of pressure on themselves to perform at a very high level. Performing well is a Good Thing, obviously, but don't burn yourself out before the real work even begins. The academics at this stage are not as intense compared to later in the course. If you want to spend a couple of weeks in the bar, getting to know your classmates, this is the time to do it. Also, this is a good time to talk to people from classes ahead of you.
CAUTION: You are going to hear a LOT of talk about people getting cease trained (CT'd). That's when you get sent home because you failed to meet the required performance standard. Early in the course, it's good to listen to a lot of people talk about this problem. Try to find out why people get CT'd, so you don't repeat their mistakes. At a certain point, however, all the negative talk becomes depressing. You start to wonder: am I going to make it? Will I get canned? At this point, stop listening to all this nonsense. You need to make the following decision: I don't care what the odds are, I am going to get through this course.
Giddy up!
Copyright 2003 checkoutparty.com