Piper88 The difference comes when you choose a course which encourages you to understand the material, not just learn how to make the right answers in a 4-option multiple choice exam.
Some of the stuff in ATPL theory isn't essential for a pilot career but a hell of a lot of it is.
Once, when interviewing for potential direct entry pilots, I came across an applicant who couldn't tell me the basic operating principle of a jet engine. I kept making my questions simpler and simpler. I gave up with him when he couldn't even tell me the fundamental purpose of fuel in an internal combustion engine.
Just one example out of dozens where a guy lost the chance to fly big shiny jets because he just learned and dumped.
Last edited by Graham@IDC; 23rd Nov 2011 at 19:30.