Hey guys, Im gonna be doing my CASA ATPLs by self study also. Which are the best books to use??

Has anyone got any advice on the Aviation Theory Centre books? Would they be enough?
The Aviation Theory Centre

I also notice you can do a distance course with AFThttp://www.aft.com.au/afthome.htm

The AFT course is $2300, whereas the Aviation Theory Centre books would only total around $500....

Really interested to see what people think of the ATC books.

Cheers guys

"...rote learning" :ugh::ugh::ugh:

What a great system we have! Hurrry hurry quick quick get your ATPL, where's my airline job? quick quick!

soseg, That is worrying mate. Hope that you are weeded out by the recruitment process at whatever airline you end up applying for.

I self-studied all 7 using the AFT course notes and got through them all first time, except Flight Planning which I passed after the second attempt. So, I'd highly recommend AFT. The notes are good with exercises at the end of each chapter. They also include 4 practice cyberexams for each subject which you can sit twice.

I used ATC for my PPL studies years ago, and I also had a quick skim through the ATC ATPL books at the pilot shop. They seem to cover the content pretty well, however they appear to be text books and not "a course" as such. Using the AFT course notes on the other hand felt as though you were working through a course as it showed you the techniques in finding solutions to problems. AFT also has email and telephone support which is great. I'm not sure whether ATC provides that or not.

Thanks for that ming. Anyone else used the ATC ATPL books?

Hey guys,

Question for those that have self studied the ATPL subjects...

I'm trying to plan my next six months of study through the ATPL subjects and I'm looking for a rough guide on how much time I should budget to study the four big exams. I've been flying air transport category aircraft for a few years now so I'm not new to the concepts, my initial thought was about a month per exam. (I'm planning on about 6 hours per day - during the working week.)

Can anyone share their experiences? Thanks in advance.

Hey mate,

I spent 2 to 3 weeks on each subject and studied 6 to 8 hours each day during the week and a couple of hours over the weekend.

The key is keeping a schedule and sticking to it. Just treat it like a desk job for a couple of months.

Cheers and good luck.

The one subject you simply must leave ample study time for is Flight Planning. Unless you're incredibly gifted, there will be a limit to how much you can achieve in a day before your brain turns to mush. For me, that was about 6 hours, or 2 practice exams.

With other subjects, such as Systems, you can study as much as you like in a day without becoming "overloaded" (this is how I found it, anyway).

I'd personally budget 4-5 weeks for Flight Planning, and a good 4 for Systems. I found Performance and Nav fairly straightforward, and comfortably studied for both in around 3 weeks each. This is all assuming, of course, that you're not working back to back 12 hour days while you're preparing for the exams.

Thanks for the reply appreciate it! :ok:

I knocked met out in a week so I'm building some fudge into my plan to use later on flight planning!

I did mine back when they only sat the exams bi-monthly and on paper. Did all 7 in 4 sittings (8 months). That included an IREX exam. Allowed one month per subject in a strategic order to reduce study. 2 months for FLT PLN and 1 week for AIR LAW in last sitting.

HUF and MET
AERO DYN and IREX
NAV an PERF
FLT PLN and AIRLAW

Use AFT for all.

All passed first attempt.

Or between

Beg, borrow or steal the money and do the AFT full time course.

I did it in '97 and admitting it was the most difficult and stressful 4 weeks of my life (until the 777 command), in the end, all subjects completed in 4 weeks and passed first time. Other guys tried to save a few $$$ by doing some themselves and whilst some eventually got through, non made it first attempt..

I was done and dusted in 4 weeks and was enjoying life stress free, whilst others were still studying many months later trying to pass. Thats worth the $$$ spent anyway. Some of the people on my course once back at work found it hard to study and took another year or so to pass. Other still to this day have not succeeded.

Nathan really knows his stuff. Whilst its great to read from a book, nothing beats a real instructor standing up front. Not only can you ask questions, but you benefit from other asking questions you may not have thought of. I had a great study buddy (sounds a little gay I know, not that there is anything wrong with that of course). I really sux'd and flight planning and he sux'd at...well everything else. I got 100 for the other subjects so we really helped each other out and both passed first attempt..

The methods taught by Nathan are not just designed to enable you to pass the exams.. The 727 Quick fuel SGR figures given also work on any aircraft type. Years later I worked out some quick SGR's for the 737 and was able to calculate a Brisbane - Perth on my calculator in less than a minute which was normally within 200 kg of the flight plan. Very handy and extremely accurate.

All 7 exams in 4 weeks? That sounds like a very high workload. How long does Nathan spend on Flight Planning alone? If you can do it though, great work.

I self studied them all, but to use FPL again as an example, even working through the AFT notes at a good pace, then many practice questions and exams, I needed 4 weeks for that one exam alone.

I think from memory flight planning was an entire week or maybe a week and a Half..

It was tough all right.. Not only did we do all subjects in 4 weeks, we sat all exams over 2 days back to back. I can't recall how many exams there were though. I can think of at least 5 but there may have been another one or two.

My point being if you can do a full time course, it will all be over and done with in a relatively short time..if your doing self study your going to be at it for a number of months or more.

It was one of the most unpleasant and stressful times of my life, but I worked my ass off, even on weekends when others were out getting pissed and falling over and the end result was I passed all exams first go. In all but flight planning I got 100%. Flight planning I was a little dense and only just scrapped through with 80% ish I think. I thing the minimum was 75% from memory?

I used a site called online aviation theory , passed aero with 90% first go .