Julian, whilst you consider the exams might be meaningless surely the majority of the subject matter is worth learning about.
Nope, not at 12 months study time and a lot of expense! I would also disagree in that a majority of the subject matter taught on the ATPLs is related to IR flying - 14 x A4 lever arch files taking up a small library space
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If I wanted to learn the excess information out of interest I would buy a book for £30.
As I have said before, what we need is a stand alone exam for the IR which concentrates purely on IR issues and not areas which are covered by other licences and/or ratings.
Julian.