Due to the rapid expansion of Dublin Airport, our site in Dublin has grown significantly over the past two years – the number of courses being delivered there has doubled between 2016 and 2018.
The eight-member team (supplemented by colleagues from our academy in Malmö and experts from the Irish Aviation Authority, the IAA) delivers Transitional and Pre-OJT courses and all the Continuation Training needed by the Irish Aviation Authority (Dublin Unit).
By the end of 2018, the team will have delivered six Transitional and Pre-OJT courses to 26 participants. The courses are split into four different endorsements (ADI-TWR, ADI-GMC, APS and ACS).
Course participants comprise of a mixture of initial training students working towards their first endorsement, ATCOs who are working towards an additional endorsement and transfers from other units within the IAA or from abroad.
The training is streamlined to follow the same learning process: two weeks of classroom-based theory supplemented by study visits to the organisations that they will be in contact with whilst working as ATCOs in Dublin (e.g. the Irish coast guard). This is followed by six to ten weeks of training in the simulated environment in either Entry Point North Ireland’s state-of-the-art 360° TWR 3D simulator or the COOPANs radar simulator (depending on the endorsement), putting the theory into practice.
Once the participants have successfully completed the theoretical and practical training, they will proceed with an OJT period where they will work with live traffic for 145 – 200 hours before being signed off and licensed to work independently as air traffic controllers in the Dublin airspace.
Additionally Entry Point North Ireland’s Dublin site delivers all Continuation Training to the Irish Aviation Authority (Dublin Unit). When e.g. new procedures and airspace changes come into effect, the air traffic controllers need to practice in a simulated environment before handling the live traffic.
Entry Point North Ireland’s Dublin site also delivers yearly refresher training to the 120 air traffic controllers and 20 station managers for the 4 endorsements in Dublin (ACS, APS, GMC and TWR).
The planning and execution of all these courses would not be possible without close cooperation between Entry Point North Ireland and the Irish Aviation Authority, with the IAA providing the ATC experts and Entry Point North Ireland providing the training and organisational expertise. This close cooperation has proven to be a very effective training method.