superdimona
[QUOTE]Please tell me how the ATPLs, which are certainly tricky, go into the same depth as a 4 year fulltime university program./QUOTE]
Hmmmm. Good question.
Lets take the average degree programme which takes three years. In that time each year your "in college" for 7-8 months as you get 4-5 months holiday so lets consider that at 24 months.
Within that time you are not in lectures all day every day but im not going to remove that from the equation so we'll keep that at 24 months.
The average intergrated course lasts some 14-16 months with only about 3-4 weeks time off within that so lets average it 15 months which is some 9 months behind your 24 months.
Then you have to factor in the two years it takes to attain/unfreeze your ATPL with 1500hrs of flying and you are still learning. Don't forget within those two years you still face a career ending two medicals, four simulator checks, two line checks, SEP's and one LST.
Ok so within those 24 months you may have around 3 months holidays so we'll call that 21 months.
Now by my estimation thats 36 months of training and experience and more exams and tests that you can shake a stick at.
You as an engineer concentrate on one thing....engineering in what ever form it might take.
As a pilot we study a variety of subjects that leads to a whole ranging from the arts like law to the sciences including electrical mechanical and hydraulic engineering let alone psycological and physialogical matters like CRM etc etc etc. As one whit put it a pilot is a jack of all trades master of one
So is a fully issued ATPL the equivalent of a degree....who's to say. Certainly the lecturers at my flying college with engineering (electrical and aeronautical) degrees thought so.
Personally i think the Spanish have it just about right.
Don't get me wrong im not trying to degrade your career but i certainly don't think you have a FULL understanding of what it takes to get an ATPL issued. There is noting ostensibly difficult about the ATPL's but just an awful lot of stuff to learn.....i ended up with 14 full foolscap folders full of stuff to know.
As for the original subject i still think this career has the cachet from the responses i get when people ask us what i do for a living.
Last edited by gone till november; 8th Jan 2010 at 13:52.