i thought the Bristol sexist jokes were pretty funny, but I was quite shocked at first because where I´m from (USA), you´d lose your job pretty quickly making jokes like those, haha

BGS...
 

Bristol Ground School... One of the best ... I think so.
Tom and Tony @ BGS...again two of the best instructors.

Tom -wrt Flight Planning and making Op Procedures interesting
Tony -Gen Nav the dreaded Polar Stereo questions... making them simple to take on and conquer!

Regards.

Has.

ATPL Ground School
 

Hey guys and girls. I'm currently 19 and doing a BSc degree at the moment and absolutely hate it.

I'm thinking of going to do my ATPL theory instead after speaking to lots of different schools and pilots.

There is Bristol Ground School which many of you have already heard of and Propilot which is fairly new and provides the ATPL notes on an iPad.

I'd just like your opinion on what ground school to go for.
PS: I will be getting a degree in something or the other before or even after my flight training. :rolleyes:

A BSc will always open doors irrespective of the pilot job market, so I am pleased you are going to get one, ideally BEFORE your flight training. If it's in anyway aviation related this will help you during the ATPL theory.

Unless you wish to go down the Integrated route you must already have an ICAO PPL prior to starting your JAA/EASA ATPL Ground School.

Do you want full time or distance learning? as this will reduce your options.
In the end you must do what is right for you in terms of your own ability, time & budget. Do not be fooled by clever & slick marketing.

Your type of question has been asked time and time again on this forum so search the forum and do some more research.

I would personally recommend BGS. Fantastic notes, awesome instructors, great support and they made me laugh during the two brush up courses.

If they can get my through those awful exams they can get you through easy ;)

Just make sure the school you choose teaches you the subject matter and that you don't end up rote learning the QB!

Good Luck

If you choose to go distance learning, as someone else said, don't be wowed by shiny things. All of the courses can be accessed on an iPad, for example, and second hand iPads can be bought for much less than the school price if you really want one.

Also bear in mind how many chunks the course is broken up into, and the structure of the study weeks. I couldn't afford to take three weeks off at a time (two week brush-up plus one week exams) so went for the three chunk approach. This gave me three lots of two weeks leave as opposed to two lots of three weeks leave. Also made the exams a bit easier.

I've been with CATS, they've been great. Last set of exams next week so fingers crossed. First time passes so far, so hoping to keep that record!
Good luck...

Ricky4892

Normally I am bullish about the aviation industry having benefitted from 21 years of commercial aviation. However I'm sorry to be a doom-monger but with airlines going under (and in my opinion we have not reached the bottom of the cyclical boom / bust that always affects commercial aviation) now is NOT a good time to start training to be a pilot.

Look at the other threads in this forum. See what other experienced pilots are saying. Look at other forums such as Terms and Endearment and read the posts in there.

I admire perseverance and tenacity in pursuing a goal - and I mean a goal, not a dream! However you will see that some in this forum have learned the hard way that obstinacy is not a virtue; they are in debt with little chance of a job.

Airlines need to save money and they will take on fully qualified, experienced pilots who, through no fault of their own are out of work, and may even be type rated already. They are employing a 'known' product and, thanks to the principle of joining a company at the most junior position and working your way up, there is no financial benefit to the airline in hiring (and line training) a newbie. The only time they will employ Direct Entry Captains (DEC) is when they can't promote experienced folk within the airline.

I advise strongly against starting down the long path until you start to see jobs advertised in Flight. By all means change the subject of your degree but steer clear of the commercial aviation world for a while.

Halfwayback

I went to an open day at ProPilot last month and was actually really impressed even tho they're new. Talked to some current students who were v positive and the iPad manuals are fab- animated graphics and videos in with the text and revision layers as well. Plus they were really nice and friendly, small classes etc and I got to go on a 737 walkaround with a training captain and have a sim session!!!

Ring round the different schools and try and visit them, that's my advice, then you can see them in action. I'm going to sign up in the new year. Hopefully Santa will bring me an iPad...;)