Hello Morgo,
Although the JAR FCL regulations were supposed to bring common rules in Europe, the things seem quite different on the other side of the Channel (France). For the written ATPL we have 2 options:
- distance learning with no ground courses at all
- 100% ground courses, which means several months in a row in a school.
I chose option 1 to keep my job and revenues but the sacifice is huge, here his the life I had for 1 year or so:
- after 9 hours at the office you get home to work your atpl for 3 hours or so and then it's time to go to sleep
- you work more on saturday and sunday to catch up because 3 hours a day during the week is not enough compared to the 6 or 8 hours done by student in full time ground school.
- all your vacations are dedicated to your ATPL, especially the ones before the exams.
I saved time to do sport because I consider that health is essential to pilots but as far as social life is concerned it is a disaster. I had no girlfriend at this time and for those with wife and children it must be even harder.
In conclusion, the distance learning is intersesting for those who need to keep working but it works if you are very motivated, able to work on your own and preferably with a previous technical bacground. Not many people chose this option in France and the rate of failure is not zero. I was happy to pass all the 14 exams at first attempt, to move to the next step: the flying one.
For the flying courses it's a different story, I'm affraid it will be very difficult for you to do the CPL IR and MCC without leaving your job. In France if you have been working more than 2 years in a company, you are allowed to take a leave for a training and not only your wage is still paid by the government but they also give money for the training. After the training, your company is obliged to take you back. Personnally I left my company 5 months for the CPL, IR MCC, I was still paid and the social services paid me 10% of the training. Some people are granted much more: 100% of the training and sometimes even a type rating !!!
I don't know if such things exist in the UK, but for sure it is much easier to get a pilot job there than in France, especially when you are a low time CPL IR MCC without rating.
Best Regards to all of you and enjoy your flights.
B