ATPL distance learning under 6 months?
 

Hi everyone,

I am currently working on the FAA syllabus and hopefully finish with a FAA part141 IR/CPL/ME then back to the UK for the conversion. I hope to start my my JAA ATPL sometime soon and do the exams once I get back to the UK. I have backgrounds to a CPL level, so it wouldn't be as bad to face the 14 ATPL exams. I wish to do the distance learning course.

Could you give me some advice on when I should enrol and how I should tackle this as I aim to obtain my f.ATPL ASAP.
The ultimate question: Can I finish the exams under 6 months or preferably less? If not then may be I should be doing it full time

Any information or advice is very much appreciated and thank you in advance

When can you sign up for distance learning?
-- With Bristol, you can sign up as soon as you have your PPL. I signed up the day after I did my FAA PPL checkride.

Can you finish in 6 months?
-- Yes, it is possible. It has been done before. Everybody is different, and like I tell everybody, it is what you put into it.

Be advised, don't underestimate the JAA ATP studies, like a lot of people do, including myself! The JAA ATPL theory is the most comprehensive and difficult exam in civil aviation! It will take a lot of determination and dedication! Average time to complete the ATP studies is around a year, that's full time studying! If one has to work besides studying it'll take accordingly longer. I'm studying for the ATP exams myself, besides working a full time job. I must say it's extremely tough! I've completed 8 out of 12 subjects so far (doing the "conversion" FAA to JAA) and I've been studying for 18 months now! It also depends on the what kind of QDB (Question Data Base) you're using (e.g. Bristol GS around 9000 questions, Aviationexam around 16000 questions). Anyway, good luck to all of those who are struggling their way through the ATP studies, hopefully the hard work will payoff some day!!!

I can second the message from the above poster. I did it full time and it took my about 8 months from start to finish for 14 exams (I was also doing a FAA to JAA conversion), but I also had lots of distractions to include the birth of a child, a toddler that I had to take care of while my wife worked, holidays which took a lot of studying days away, and being distracted by youtube videos. I had a friend who was a CFI in the US, and English is his second language, and he finished in 5 months (studying full time). We both did Bristol.

I managed to get through it all in about 5 months start to finish. I used Bristol Ground School and self studied full time at home. It's tough, but if you have the motivation, I don't see why you couldn't get it all done in less than 6 months. I did my hours building at the same time to keep me sane and to remind myself what an aircraft actually looked like!

I did it in under 6 months as well while holding down a full time job.

The stuff you have to learn isn't actually that hard its more the volume.

Its about the same level as aged 16 school exams

I started in September last year and finished last month, so that's around 8 months studying part-time with an awful lot of distractions (job, kid, house purchase/move etc...). I guess I averaged around 2 hours a day.

I suppose you can study 8 hours a day for short periods (i.e. a couple of weeks before the exams) but realistically you're probably not going to get more than 4 hours of productive studying done per day. I wouldn't choke on my cornflakes in suprise if others had completed in 4-6 months.

Everyone is different, but you already have a strong background so I would have thought that 6 months was perfectly achievable.

Agree completely with Drakestream and Mad_jock, keeping motivated is massively important so if you can fly a little take the opportunity and the volume of the information is the biggest hurdle.

Good luck.

Yes it is possible, with hard work and dedication!
 

Hi guys,
First post ever after trawling through the site for a while! I have completed my first 8 out of 14 exams with Bristol GS. 91% average. I work full time and found that I had to pretty much give up my social life so I take my hat off to guys with family/mortgage commitments etc. Sometimes I had to remember to eat haha.
It's possible to pass in 6 months providing you do not have a full time job or other commitments.
A couple of bits of advice I would give (for those using BGS anyway) Dont get bogged down on the hard bits (polar stereo' etc.) the instructors will teach you to nail those questions on the brush up and I feel I wasted a fair bit of time trying to get my head around a couple of things when I should have just left them for the brush up. Dont take pages and pages of notes while studying, just jot down formulas, conversion factors etc. Many notes you will not use after going to the brush up as you will take down more important ones whilst you are there.
I know many people cheated through all the progress tests and passed the course very quickly but i like to understand the subjects rather than just learning how to pass the exams. Occasionally i would jot down answers and re-do progress tests just to get them out of the way. As i said, dont get stuck on one thing otherwise you end up loosing faith and :ugh: Again its what you make of it.
Many of the guys on my course said that they could have passed the exams just from the brush up course without needing to learn any of the distance learning content so they just cheated through the PT's and got themselves down to BGS ASAP. I dont think its the best way but if you want to get them out of the way quickly it is possible.
It was a hell of alot to take in but if you love flying and everything that goes with it then you will already have the will to learn.
Booking MOD 2 this week :8
Hope this helps.

FAA to JAA conversion
 

Hi,
I was triggered by your sentence "I am currently working on the FAA syllabus and hopefully finish with a FAA part141 IR/CPL/ME then back to the UK for the conversion". Could you please mail me those UK possibilities. I hold a FAA CPL with SEL/MEL/IR and live in the Netherlands. No possibilities over here. Just do all theory over again (JAR-FCL ATPL theory or CPL).
Thanks in advance.
Dakota1940

All 14 exams also need to be completed to convertin the UK as well.

I wouldn't advise it. It is very time consuming, take a lot of dedication and will power. I was working full time and it took me 16 months to complete the exams.

Frozen ATPL
 

Hi,

I am holding CPL Multi IR. I have been offered a job and they require Frozen ATPL. I have to hold the Frozen ATPL as soon as possible.

I was wondering if you could advise me how to finish the exams quickly with Bristol Aviation Academy.

Any advice on other Aviation Academies?

Looking forward to hear from you.