Originally Posted by
pilotjimbo
According to their website the £500 additional cost for paper manuals is a 'discounted' cost when brought with the full course, to add insult to injury.
Whilst an ATPL isn't documented as such like a degree, in 10 years to come, I personally find it quite valuable to have copies of the materials I studied for. Besides, in 10 years I expect the software BGS are using won't be compatible with any new operating systems that are around.
I contacted PadPilot (ironically) today, along with CATS, and have been informed that paper manuals are included with both courses.
I'll be contacting Bristol.GS with my concerns, let's hope I can get a positive answer and hit the buy button!
I think you may be overestimating things a bit
As the poster above me says, once you get your license, the last place you'll be going is back to your books. I don't know of any pilots that have done. It has been said to me that you will forget over 50% of the stuff almost as soon as you pass the tests, another 40% within a year ... then you will spend the rest of your career with about 10% of it knocking about among the grey matter.
I am attending an integrated school and we are using BGS and the ATPdigital, the notes are fantastic. I too at the start wanted the paper copies (i like to write additional notes in my books, highlight definitions etc) as this is how i studied for my A Levels. But part of being a pilot is being able to adapt, 10 years ago everything on most flight decks was paper based, now over 90% is computer/tablet based ... we are in a career in which we must be able (and willing) to adapt regularly and be pushed out our comfort zones.
You may not even need the books for all modules, does the school your attending have a library where you can perhaps borrow the books for the modules you do need them for?