PPL Vs ATPL sylabus

[six-sixty]

I started my ATPLs about 3 weeks ago, and was a bit overwhelmed with the 3 rather large and heavy binders that contained just the first half of the course. I then got to thinking how overwhelmed I also felt when the full 15kg of Trevor Thom PPL books thumped onto my floor all those years ago!

I am intrigued to know how much overlap there is between the PPL and ATPL sylabuses - for the subjects that are in common anyway (met, nav etc). If I'd just finished my PPL exams now and were going straight into these ATPLs now, how far would that knowledge take me? How much of the ATPLs is new stuff on top of this? I remember when JAR came out everyone said they'd made the PPL exams more akin to the commercial.

Did anyone find it worth reading the PPL sylabuses again first before diving back in? I'd be interested in people's opinions.

cheers
S-S

[Send Clowns]

I certainly found it useful to return to PPL work (actually I sat the JAA exams, as this was February 2000 and the whole thing was new). Although I did so by sitting the 4-week course offered by the sadly-demised SFT Aviation, if you are good at lone study (I am not!) then Trevor Thom is an excellent series of books to work through with a content beyond the PPL syllabus. I have not used them but the Pratt books have a good reputation too.

The whole PPL syllabus is included in the ATPL in most subjects. The exception might be Air Law, with the PPL being UK law, and the ATPL primarily covering ICAO regulations. However studying this will never be wasted, as you need to know you are flying legally!