As a fixed wing pilot who qualified under the "old" system I can assure you that first I got my CPL, then I got my I.R. then I did some air taxi stuff (P1) then I did some night freight (single crew - P1) then I flew a Twin Otter for a scheduled airline (single crew P1) then the airline decided to get some bigger aeroplanes so I had to get my ATPL if I was going to remain a captain. The idea in those days that you would have difficulty in passing the writtens for the ATPL if you hadn't got some experience of commercial flying with your CPL/IR. Like everyone else, I had to do every exam from scratch at ATPL level with the exception of air law. I remember one question in flight planning - where the time constraints were severe - was made much easier for me as I had actually flown the route in question. Hands on experience was also very helpful in many other questions - particularly in met practical.
Subsequent to this, the ground schools found that it was possible to instill sufficient knowledge in candidates to enable them to pass the ATPL theory papers without having done any "apprentiship". This saved candidates money in exam fees and the problems of having to do a load of exam work in mid career. Thus "frozen" ATPLs have now become the norm which has been taken on board by the JAR system.
Whether the modern licencing system is better I would not like to say, but these days you don't have to perform mercator plotting or draw a synoptic chart from a map containing met station symbols and then write TAFs and METARS for various points on the map e.t.c. e.t.c. err... not that I am suggesting that it is necessary these days to be able to do this!
Last edited by P.Pilcher; 16th January 2003 at 22:49.