Yes, it's definitely possible to do a distance learning course while working, plenty of people do it, but no one is going to tell you that it's easy.
I generally worked 6-8 hours each weekend, as well as a couple of hours several nights a week. Sometimes I'd work less, sometimes more, I didn't keep an accurate log of how much work I did so these are really just guesses.
It took me nearly exactly 12 months to complete the course. For those 12 months I didn't really have a social life. I didn't watch tv. Going out for a beer with my mates was ok occassionally on a Friday or Saturday night, as long as I had enough time to put in plenty of work for the rest of the weekend.
Of course it's not possible to carry on like that for 12 months solidly, and occassionally if there was something happening over a weekend which I particularly wanted to do or somewhere I particularly wanted to go, I'd put the studying on hold for a week. It's important to have a record of how much progress you're making, though, so that if you start to take too many weekends off you can spot it and put it right. And I'd try to fly most weekends, too - even if it was just 1/2 hour in the circuit it helped break up the monotony.
I passed all 14 exams first time. with an average of over 90%, so there's the proof that it can be done. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you don't have any choice.
Good luck!
FFF
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