should I fly during ATPL?

[Pilot16]

Hi, I have been wondering whether I should do any flying during my ATPL course which is due to start shortly.

After gaining my PPL, I havent done much flying, now at
70 hours TT.

I really feel like flying (I have flown for a long time) but Im not sure if it will interfere with my ATPL study. I have the weekends free.

I realise I need 150 hours TT with 100 solo.

I need your advise as to whether I should completely abandon flying for the next 8 months or should I fly every now and then during ATPL?

Many thanks for reading.

[rotatrim]

I intended to keep current during the groundschool phase but didn't quite manage it - too busy studying/too tired and I used any spare time to catch up on other things.. I think I only flew 3 hours in 9 months which was expensive because every flight required a club check with an Instructor - and I wanted P1 time, not Pu/t time.

Bear in mind that the exams are time-limited. You have 36 months after the exams in which to do the MEP/CPL/IR and in your case, build quite a few hours.

I don't think there's any harm in not flying, but if you do, it'll chip away at some of the hours.

[glider]

If I hadn't flown during my studies I'd gone mad!

There's never EVER anything wrong with flying!

Good luck with your studies, and fly as much as you can!

[Pilot16]

Seems to be two very different response.

Thanks for those.

Can I ask the two of you whether you passed all 14 first time or not, which ones you had to resit if any etc.?

thnx

[parris50]

Did my hours building alongside ATPL didstance learning. On the the good weather days, I'd fly. On bad weather days I'd read. I think you should try to keep current and use the hour building time to practice your nav and general handling. You will need to be good at these for the CPL course.

[Tinstaafl]

Unless you particularly wish to go for a yippee flight then don't bother flying. Your skill level will return within a couple or few hours when you start your next flying stage. The overall cost for an hour two to refamil. yourself when you next start training will be less than flying for an hour per week or a couple per month.

[silverknapper]

Whatever suits you best, everyone has different views.
I intended to knock off a few hours while studying but in the end it didn't happen. There were other things away from aviation I had to catch up on. Once the exams were over I went straight for it in 6 weeks and had a great time. Very intensive flying really sharpened up the whole affair, and being involved in the flying club scene was great fun. I would recommend everyone to get away from people just doing it as a career step and spend time with guys doing it for fun. It is a real eye opener how much enthusiasm they have and they always have some pearl of wisdom to pass on.
Good points above, P/UT time is wasted when hour building. Don't just go at it sporadically.

Cheers

SK

[Air Born]

It's a issue of sanity...after a few months of studying I needed a bit of flying to remind myself why I was doing it all.

I took a break half way through the groundschool to go and pick up another 70hrs and then came back and blasted the last few exams.

I would definitely go flying - you need to build quite a few hours - try and build it into your programme to fly regularly - remember some will drop out due to weather. If you have free weekends, they will vanish repidly as the workload increases, unless you come up with a plan now to fly every fortnight or so.

Another vital bit - grab an instructor and ask him/her to give you some challenging exercises for your hour building, with a view to your CPL/IR. It's no use poddling around on some easy stuff - you need to work hard and hone skills - it'll be much more enjoyable that way.

Try not to compartmentalise flying - studing - training etc etc - otherwise this will become a job too soon and you'll lose the fun in the hard slog.

Good luck and enjoy.

[Northern Highflyer]

I have flown all the way through my ATPL studies. Hit the books Sun-Fri and fly on Sat is the way I have done it. I have even done a night and IMC rating in that time without much problem. It does remind me why I am doing all that hard slog with the books and I have found the practical learning has helped with the theory side of things. I passed all Mod 1 first time and am about to sit Mod 2 so yes it has worked for me.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[trevelyan]

Im doing my ATPLs with bgs and ive kept flying, main reason is that when the studying gets a bit much and i feel like burning the books a nice hour in the air really helps to refocus and remind myself while I started doing it all in the first place!

[GuinnessQueen]

Why would you not fly??

Yeah I know the ATPLs are hard graft (especially with a day job as well), but do you only see yourself as flying in order to get the required hours?

If that is the case its a shame, because there is a lot of fun to be had, aerobatics, tailwheels, farm-strippin', flying because its great fun (and seeing the ATPL as a bonus, because it will mean you can be paid to fly)!!

Maybe I'm missing something?

GQ