ATPL Exams
 

Hi All

Wondering if you could provide me with some advice.

Just passed the last of my CPL(A) subjects and want to continue with the ATPL whilst the material from CPL is still fresh in my head and I have the momentum with the study (working full time and studying after hours).

I recognise some of the ATPL subjects are easier than others and would like to know what people believe is reasonable in terms of the subjects that can be self studied and what should be tackled after attending a course such as with AFT.

Would appreciate any constructive guidance people may feel helpful.

Thanks

I self studied all of them. Study material from Advanced Flight Theory (Nathan Higgins.) I had a few months between each one mainly because I'm slack. A couple of hours study a day for a month was generally ample for each exam.

The one I had most difficulty with was flight planning, the concepts are easy enough but it's pretty much the only one where you run short of time in the exam. Being accurate and fast is not an easy thing. Anyway, I passed them all first go so there's no reason why you can't self study all of them.

If you would prefer to do some in the class room I'd go for flight planning definitely, maybe navigation, systems, and met. Met was the one I found the hardest in terms of coming to grips with the concepts and knowing the stuff. The easiest was a toss up between human factors and performance/loading.

Good luck.

I Likewise self studied all my ATPLs bar the Flgiht planning. Not sure how hard it is to self study that one, but was good to do it in class. The rest your shouldnt have a problem with...

I also used the AFT notes!

Good luck.

I self studied Met, law and HF, which weren't too hard. The rest I did with AFT and I can only give Nathan Higgins the biggest rap in getting me passes in the other 4. I found Flight planning the hardest, but got the highest marks for it...must have been good guessing!!

Good luck, you are doing the best thing in continuing the study....I did my ATPL's 18 yrs later - it was hard to get back to study mode.

Thanks very much for your comments guys / girls (don't you love anonymity)!

Really appreciate it.

They're easy (so far)...
 

Ferret,

I self studied Law, HF, and Met and had the Nathan Higgins self-study books for Systems and Nav. I did them all up here in Darwin in four months, while working full-time. All were very easy to do self-study :ok:

If I'd have known how easy the Systems and Nav were going to be, I'd have got the AFT self-study books for Flight planning and Performance and Loading. As it is, I'm heading off to Maroochydore tomorrow to do the last two. Should both be easy :\

Before you do the ATPL's, I'm pretty certain that you've got to do your IREX (I may be wrong here, others may confirm this?). For IREX, I'd recommend Bob Tait's IREX book. Very informative, easy to follow, and well set out.

Hope that helps.

DIVOSH!

I did the ATPL Human Factors exam before the IREX exam so you can start them prior to IREX. May have to complete IREX before all ATPL's done though.

You need an instrument rating before you can get an ATPL, I've never heard of any limitation about the exams though.

Self-studied the lot. Two a month. AFT notes supplemented by the all-knowing interweb. Passed them first time. Human Factors a doddle, do this one first to get into the swing of things. Then Met, followed by Systems. They start to get a little busier after that. Enjoy.

Choice bro!

You do not need IREX done before your ATPL exams, though you will find that questions in the ATPL's are all based on IFR. Therefore I would study and pass IREX first.

Agree on Bob Tait for IREX and Nathan Higgins for ATPL. A full time course will always be of much benefit, however all can be self studied if you have the motivation and no distractions.

Good luck with it all.

hey guys, im doing atpl course today, i haven't done the IREX exam yet thought because it didnt fit in well with everything else i was doing, will this be a disadvantage?? :}

Im sure you would be better off with the IREX done, however it doesnt mean you cannot pass your atpls either way.

Have fun

Hey mate,

you have some really good suggestions up there.

The way I did it, and it might not be the 'best' way, but I managed to complete them all in 6 months and all passed was:

Get Human Factors, Met and Air Law done now. Give Performance and Loading a go, it is not difficult at all, and actually quite interesting.

Head over to QLD and see the great man himself, Nathan Higgins, and sit Flight Planning, have a week off to recover, then smash out Nav and Systems, and you're done. I think doing all 4 will explode your brain however, still certainly acheiveable.

Alternative to Performance and Loading is Systems. Maybe get that done before you head over east. Reason being, Systems is purely based on you reading the "questions and answers" and then doing the exam. I say that in inverted comma's because, really, it's up to you to read the text then go through and do the q's. Whatever you get wrong, study the question and the answer, re-read the section you got wrong, and I guarantee you will have adequate knowledge to answer the CASA questions. Nathan can't really teach you much on systems, it's all there, you just have to read and do the q's.

Up to you, however, they are going to suck, and you're going to be sick of the study by the time you're done, but once you start, go hard, dont stop till they are all done and best of luck!!!!!!!!!

Ray