Changing Ground School

[pentatonic]

I am currently trying to raise finance to go Integrated. (please no debates on modular/integrated malarky).

It will be a few months before I know whether it will be possible to raise the necessary capital.

Rather than wait and find I can't get the money, I would like to start my ATPL study now with Bristol, but if I am successful with raising finance, transfer to one of the large integrated courses later in the new year.

I'm sure I read somewhere before that once you have commenced your ATPL studies you are not allowed to jump ship to another training provider.

Is this correct?

[Alex Whittingham]

No, it's not. We routinely have people move from one training provider to another, usually because they are switching from distance learning to full time or vice-versa but these are modular students staying in the modular system.

Although people occasionally switch from integrated to modular it is much more unusual to go the other way. If you do this you will only get limited credit for your flying hours, one of the integrated providers will tell you how much, and I would be very surprised if you get any credit at all for your ground studies.

I would strongly suggest you don't follow this plan. If you are planning to go integrated don't start on the modular route, you'll end up wasting money and effort. If you want to do something useful at this stage get hold of a second hand copy of Trevor Thom's PPL books and learn everything in them, front to back. Have you done your PPL yet?

[pentatonic]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the info.

I do already have a PPL and the Thom books. The only other thing I was considering over the next few months was the IMC course. I have heard that it can help make the IR easier later on.

[StarbucksOne]

Hi

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if its permissable to change from one ATPL groundschool provider, after signing up, to another for whatever reason?...(financial considerations aside)
Cheers

[charlieflyer]

Interesting question. I would also like to know the answer.

[Keith.Williams.]

Yes it is possible and is not at all uncommon.

All you need to do is to select your new school and talk to them. They will want to know what parts of the training you have already completed and what exams you have passed and failed. The new CGI will use this information to advise you on how much of the course you need to do.

If you have already used up a lot of exam attempts, but have had lots of failures the new CGI will probably advise you to terminate your current exam series and start a new series. The CAA will usually agree to this if you are changing schools. If however you have used only one or two attempts and had a reasonable degree of cuccess, then it would be better to continue with your current series. Although the new CGI will provide advice, you must decide what you want to do.

Once you have signed up with the new school the CGI will inform the CAA of the fact that you have changed schools. The CGI or the CAA will then ask the old school for a copy of your training records to be sent to the new school. You will need to sign this request. The CGI will then use this copy to confirm that what you have told him about your previous training is true.

Then it is simply a matter of completing the training and passing the exams!!!

[StarbucksOne]

Many thanks for your informative reply Keith, much appreciated.

[Megaton]

I switched from PPSC when they bust. BGS picked up the pieces.....fortunately.

[Leezyjet]

I'm thinking about switching from BGS to London Met. I knew doing the course as a self study would be my weak point, so I'm considering taking 6 months off work to do the course full time as I've had mod 1 for over a year and I'm only half way through it.

This isn't due to any problems with Bristol, it would be great if BGS offered a full time option, but alas they don't. It is due to the fact that working shifts, I'm just too tired at the end of the day to even contemplate picking up the books and as time is not on my side, I need to get them done and dusted ASAP.

:zzz:

[StarbucksOne]

Similar position here. I work in London, dont get home til 8pm...I can manage 3hrs a day...but progress is just too slow. Shame there isnt somewhere which offers full-time courses one module at a time....

[Keith.Williams.]

There is no reason why a school should prevent you from doing one module at a time. If you choose one that runs a 3 module course each module will typically be about 2 months long. Provided you can get time off work for 2 months at a time you can spread the 3 modules over a year or more. You must of course take care to avoid breaching the 18 months limit for exam attempts. But I suspect that most employers would not agree to such long periods away from work.

If however you mean doing one of the 14 subjects at a time then most schools would have problems providing it.