JAA ATPL (A) Modular Course - Distance Learning
Hi everyone,
I'm in Vancouver, Canada right now and I have a Candian CPL and just about to finish my IFR in the next couple of months. Also, it's worth mentioning that I have dual Canadian / EU (won't mention what country) citizenship, so I have the right to work in the European Union.
My plan is to get my ATPL course done at Oxford Aviation Academy, more specifically the Distance Learning course. I have some questions, so please scroll down and see, if you don't care to know details about the course.
Details of the course (hopefully I understood this correctly)
Here is the breakdown of the cost:
Distance Learning course: £2300 ($3500 Canadian Dollars) + £924 ($1410 CAD)exam fees.
Of course on top of that I have to add:
£150 ($231) = Aviation medical JAR
$2000 = Two flights to and from UK
£100 ($152) = Shipping of the JAA ATPL Oxford Manuals
£1080 ($1650) = Accomodations (for 2 months)
$600 = Food (estimated for 2 months)
$500 = various things... (a beer here and there, transportation to and from Heathrow to Kidlington, etc)
So how does this work?
You have 18 months to finish this course. It's broken down in two phases
Phase 1.
1. Study 1/2 your courses (not sure which). Each phase is broken down into 18 frames and each frame takes about 15 hours to complete. That means about 270 hours of self study... (minimum). This should take about 90 days if you study 3 hours / day; so let's say three months.
2. You have to go to UK to take part in their classroom training. That is 2 weeks of "review" / phase. This is a JAA requirement that you complete at least 10% of the course in an actual classroom. On top of that two weeks, you have another week to study / review, then the fourth week, you write 7 exams.
You are now done half your course and Phase 2 wil repeat in pretty much the same manner.
All in all, it should take about 8 months to complete the JAA ATPL and cost me about $10,000 Canadian (£6500) including Airfare, accomodations, food, medical, exams, etc.
If all goes well, I will start my training in July 2010 and Finishi by March 2011. So here are the questions:
1. Has anyone here attended Oxford Aviation Academy?
2. Has anyone done the JAA (A) ATPL Modular - Distance Learning?
3. How did you find OAA?
4. Is their training worth the money?
5. What do I need to do once I finish my ATPL exams? I will have to convert my Canadian IR correct? I heard that if you have an ICAO IFR you just need to do 15 hours of IFR Training in Europe. Is that true?
Thank you very much everyone... I'm looking forward to your answers.