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Training Policy for Students

Purpose

This document establishes procedures that are to be followed by students training to achieve ATC ratings in VATSIM Scandinavia. This training policy is built on top of VATEUD's Division Training Policy (DTP) and VATSIM's Global Controller Administration Policy (GCAP)

Requirements

All students should be able to converse and provide air traffic control services in English, the internationally accepted official language for air traffic control. The student must also fulfil the requirements described in GCAP and DTP.

The student may only have one training request at a time.

Training Progression

Requesting training

The student should request training from our training management system found on our websites.

Waiting for training

The student will now be placed in the training queue. The time spent in the queue will vary severely depending on mentor availability, training demand, season and other factors. Waiting times are often difficult to predict, and students are kindly asked not to repeatedly contact staff members asking for estimates. They are instead encouraged to study procedures, observe active controllers and in other ways do work that will later benefit their training process.

While waiting for an available mentor or assignment, the student will also receive a training monthly confirmation e-mail. To maintain their place in the queue, the student has to confirm their training interest within two weeks of receiving the e-mail. Failure to confirm will automatically close the training. It is the student's responsibility to check their inbox, spam folders, etc., to make sure the confirmation is confirmed. It's also possible to log into the training portal and accept it from there.

Training assignment

Depending on the training type, the student will be assigned a mentor or an assignment for a training programme. Upon assignment, the student is required to establish contact with the mentor or other assigned means within 7 days or the training will be closed without any prior warning.

Practical training

Students are expected to study theory between sessions and always be prepared when showing up for training sessions. Mentors spend considerable amounts of their spare time mentoring students, and an even balance between time spent in practical sessions and time spent on self-studies is expected by the student.

Local procedures

All countries in VATSIM Scandinavia might have local procedures building upon this policy. This policy can not be overwritten, but it may be elaborated and impose additional deadlines or expectations.

It is the student's responsiblity to look through the documents of the FIR you have applied training in for details. By accepting this policy, you accept the local policies as well.

Responsibilities and Expectations

In summary, VATSIM Scandinavia expects the following from students enrolling in ATC Training:

  1. That the students are prepared to commit to training, self-study and availability.
  2. That the students make initial contact with the assigned training programme within 7 days of assignment.
  3. That the students correspond regularly with their mentor and/or assigned staff.
  4. That the student propose at least one date per two-week period when they are available to train. If availability permits, at least one session per week is a recommended average. If either the student or mentor is unavailable to schedule a session within any 30-day period, the training staff must be involved, and the training will be marked as inactive and will result in an investigation for the student's training eligibility.
  5. That the students understand that the mentors commit their spare time to train others, and:
    • Show up well prepared to all sessions, with any questions either prepared or previously sent to the mentor.
    • Show up on time to all scheduled sessions.
    • Should any unforeseen problem arise, cancel training with as much notice as possible. Repeated late cancellations of training sessions will result in an investigation of the student's training eligibility.
  6. That the students notify their mentor if they are absent and are unable to train for more than 30 days period so that the training request can be paused. Pausing the training request is intended for shorter periods for i.e. holidays etc. Pausing the training for longer periods will lead to cancellation of the training request.
  7. It is the student's responsibility to provide dates of availability for an exam in due time to the Training Manager/Assistant. The student must be prepared to find an alternate date basis availibility of examiners. Failure to do so will result in the removal of the Solo Endorsement until an Exam has been fixed.

Sanctions

If the student does not fulfil the expectations and responsibilities, the Training Staff is to impose restrictions on the training request.

Any training request can be closed after the student has twice violated the above mentioned expectations and responsibilities, and has received not less than one written warning from the Training Staff.

Acknowledgements

  • Jeppe Seier - version 4.
  • Daniel Lange - Version 3.
  • Adrian Bjerke - Version 2.
  • Håvard Halvorsen, Kristian Kling & Arvid Hansson – Version 2.
  • Daniel Edvardsson & Claus Hemberg Jørgensen – Versions 1.1 and 1.
  • Håkan Schulz – Version 1
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