Distance or Full time?

[liquidhockey]

Regarding ATPL ground studies.

I am an 18 yr old wanting to become a commercial pilot. I have 9 C grade GCSEs and 3 D grade AS-levels in business studies, design tech and media studies.
I have not done a degree in engineering like some have.
I am not well off in the slightest, in fact i have £430 to my name!


In everyones opinion which do you think i should go for when i have finished my PPL?

ATPLs distance learning or ATPLs full time at lets say oxford etc?

Please give reasons for your answers

Cheers

Dave

[Megaton]

Not very helpful but the answer is....it depends. You will obviously have to put some money aside since neither option is particularly cheap. Assuming you can afford either, your choice boils down to whether you are good at studying on your own or whether you require more of a motivational atmosphere. If you can happily study on your own and have the self-discipline to see it through I would recommend somewhere like Bristol. If, on the other hand, you found that studying was not your strong-point at school you might fare better at a full-time school like Oxford. Self-study will be cheaper but won't work for everyone.

As a matter of interest, how do you propose to pay for your training?

[liquidhockey]

I intend to pay for around half of my training through working my arse off and then hopefully a loan for the other half with a bit of luck. The way i see it is i have plenty of time in light of my age and i have more than enough determination to succeed as a pilot.

The only thing is, is that i really have never known exactly how much work is covered on the ATPLs. I have been told many a time that its not much harder than PPL ground school but its the quantity thats the hard bit. And i think this is the reason i cant make up my mind as to which route to take. I will have to research more into the ATPL workload and difficulty etc.

Cheers

Dave

[Megaton]

It's true that it's mostly an exercise in rote learning but the depth is also considerably more challenging that PPL level. If you're working your backside off and studying at the same time you will find it very difficult in that by the time you get to the refresher you will have forgotten what you learnt at the beginning of the course. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet but trying to give you a fair impression of the workload, I have double degrees (BEng & MSc) in engineering subjects from reputable universities and found the course hard work. Not impossible by any means but damn hard work. Most people when they arrive for the brush-up course are convinced they have no hope of passing but by the end of the fortnight many are actually quite confident. I worked harder than I did for either of my degrees or my professional quals and passed all of them first time but I would suggest anyone that tells you they're expanded PPL exams is blowing smoke......:rolleyes:

[FlyingForFun]

If there's any way you can afford it, do them full-time.

It's not impossible to pass with a distance learning course - I managed it. But it is difficult. The material is much harder than for PPL, and there's much more of it to learn.

Why don't you visit a couple of the schools? Any decent school will be only too happy to show you their notes. Then you can have a good look through, and decide whether you think you'd be able to learn it by yourself.

Good luck!

FFF
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[parris50]

Yes, I'm another one that did it by distance learning.

Be under no illusions, there's masses of work. I agree that there is a lot of rote learning and that you will need to put in the hours. It is, at least in theory, a 650 hour course and I think it must be said that some of the topics covered are not exactly 100% relevant (I wonder why you have to know the titles of all 18 annexes of the Chicago convention in order to fly a plane).

On the plus side, most of the material is very interesting and if you are motivated, you will enjoy the study. The bit you will enjoy the most is when exam No 14 is passed!

Good luck.