TB,
Sorry, no easy answer to that.
As far as the ground-school is concerned, there is no way around it - you will need to take time off work. For most schools, Bristol included, this means 6 weeks (well, 5 weeks and 3 days - you don't actually need to take off the Friday of the exam week). If you're really pushed for time, then have a look at LGU. When I started investigating, their shorter brush-up, and the way they scheduled the modules, meant you only needed 2 weeks and 4 days off - they've since re-organised their course into 3 modules instead of 2, I think the total time off work is slightly longer now, but still shorter than others. I decided that I'd prefer the extra brush-up time that Bristol offer, but it was a close call.
Once it gets to the CPL/IR, it is possible to do these at the weekend - if you ask around, you'll find a few schools who do this - but I don't like the idea, personally. I'm planning on going somewhere sunny
later this year to do the CPL - it has to be somewhere sunny because I will be taking 3 weeks off work, and I have to do everything I can to maximise my chances of getting a CPL in this time.
I will be doing the IMC rating over weekends between now and then. The IMC is not required for an fATPL. But, since I'm going to be flying at weekends anyway (just because I love flying) I figured I may as well do something useful while I'm in the sky. The benefits of the IMC when it comes to the IR are obvious - there's no hours reduction, but knowing a lot of it already is bound to help. I also think it will help with the CPL, since it will get me into the habit of having to fly very accurately.
The IMC also opens up another option when it comes to the IR, and one which I will investigate next year: although it doesn't reduce the hours for a JAA IR, it
does reduce the hours for an FAA IR. So, although the total time and cost might be higher, I may end up doing an FAA IR, then converting this to a JAA IR later in the year - the advantage of doing it this way is that I won't need to take 4 weeks off work in one go, which my boss probably wouldn't be too happy about.
So no, it's not fast or easy. It's going to take me a couple of years - and I'm fortunate enough to be working with more annual holiday than most (6 weeks). But - the market is so bad at the moment, that I'm really not in any rush. Who knows - by the time I actually have my fATPL, the war in Iraq may well be over, the market will be picking up again, and everyone will be begging to give me a job! (Oh look, there's a flying pig....
)
Good luck!
FFF
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