ATPL distance course ??
 

Hi there!

Somebody having some experience on ATPL distance courses? Are they much harder to succeed? Is it something I can manage to suceed in?

Pos'tive and negative things about it later on. Do they care if you've read on distance or 100% in a classroom?

Thanks!

Distance learning
 

Krallu

Yes it is hard and no i dont think they care how you did it, would be suprised if anyone did. They my ask though .

I cannot comment on how easier it is in the classroom because i completed a distance learning course which was very good, but difficult, not so much in general but the quantity that you had to absorb and the way you had to train your thoughts on what the CAA / JAA are trying to ask you in the questions.

The only negative for distance learning is you have to be dedicated to complete it that way, i would have gone 100% to groundschool if i had no house, no kids and a dog to support. That is probably the main reason most people do it like that!!

The airlines i would imagine, would be more concerned on attempts at IR and you as a person fitting into there company.

But a practising professional or airline person would be best answering that one

Hope this helps

:cool:

Ok, my situation
 

Ok I see.

My situation is that here in Sweden we now have a university school that are providing ATPL course on distance for free. It is a university(college?) course that's why it is free of charge.

And the others that are in classrooms are stand alone courses on different companys so they have a charge on it. About 6600$ in todays dollar value.

So when it is free if you get into the course it saves me a lot of money. But the only thing is that it is distance course. So that's why I'm looking into what difficulties it is to take a distance course. How much harder it is? Would you recommend a distance course or did you think it was very very hard?

How much more time do you need to spend?
I'm also interested in did you have a teatcher you could contact and ask questions? And how much were you needed to be in a classroom anyway?

Thanks!

A PPL pilot that is becoming an airline pilot.

Krallu

I've recently completed a distance learning course, and it was no problem at all. OK, so you're not necessarily in a classroom within touching distance of a teacher at all times, but it does mean that you can study at your own pace, and spend more time on things that you, not the rest of the class, might be finding tricky.

If you pick your school right, it won't be hard to get in touch with an instructor, and all JAR distance learning ATPL courses require 4 weeks in the classroom.

For the record, I studied with GTS, who were very good. Cheap, but not as cheap as free!

HTH
CC

Classroom 4 weeks
 

Ok. That 4 weeks in the classroom. What were you talking about there? Did you go trough the whole course and looking at difficult points or how is it done?

Did you find it easy to pass the exams for the authority after the course, were everything included that you needed to know?

Thanks!

Krallu, allthough I haven't yet started a course, I have spoken to many people who have studied for the exams by either supported self study (distance) or by enrolling for a full time course.

The 4 weeks of classroom for distance learning (2 weeks per module) are a brush up, where you go through practise exam papers. They are not designed to teach you the syllabus - you must have read /studied all the books before attending.

If you are a highly motivated self starter, and can commit to at least 15 hours of study per week, then you should cope with the distance learning. As I understand it, the volume of material is far more daunting than the technical level of the contents.

Hope this helps.

15 hours
 

Oh only 15 hours a week.

I was preparing me for 40 hours a week. 8 hours a day on weekdays.

:)

Thats good too, the more time you can put in the quicker you will have it completed.
If its free and adheres to the required standard then have some confidence in yourself and go for it before all the spaces are gone.

Good Luck

Work while studying
 

Is it possible to work while studying a distance ATPL course, or is that too much?

Yes, thanks for your comments all. I am first going to try the full commercial airline pilot course that they have for free, and that I can apply for on February. So I need to wait and try that, if that's not the way then I will probably apply for the distance ATPL and take it modular way next year.

Currently holding a PPL and are going to take a NQ this winter when it gets dark.

Out of interest, how similar is the Swedish groundschool (in terms of depth and breadth of the syllabus, difficulty, and so on) to the British equivalent?

I did a distance learning course, while working full-time, so I'm probably in a position to offer some general advice... but my advice might not be so helpful if we're doing a completely different syllabus!

FFF
----------------

You did!
 

You completed a full ATPL while working full time. That sounds interesting, I really would like to hear more about it. As far as I know the most Swedish ATPL schools use Jeppesens syllabus.

About 10-12 parts I think.

Air law, General Navigation and so on.

Is that the same?

Alot of distance learning students work full time while studying,
have a look at BGS for the full syllabus details, i am just starting and it does look alot of work but FFF is better to comment on how to manage work and studies as i might crack up yet:{

Yes, it's definitely possible to do a distance learning course while working, plenty of people do it, but no one is going to tell you that it's easy.

I generally worked 6-8 hours each weekend, as well as a couple of hours several nights a week. Sometimes I'd work less, sometimes more, I didn't keep an accurate log of how much work I did so these are really just guesses.

It took me nearly exactly 12 months to complete the course. For those 12 months I didn't really have a social life. I didn't watch tv. Going out for a beer with my mates was ok occassionally on a Friday or Saturday night, as long as I had enough time to put in plenty of work for the rest of the weekend.

Of course it's not possible to carry on like that for 12 months solidly, and occassionally if there was something happening over a weekend which I particularly wanted to do or somewhere I particularly wanted to go, I'd put the studying on hold for a week. It's important to have a record of how much progress you're making, though, so that if you start to take too many weekends off you can spot it and put it right. And I'd try to fly most weekends, too - even if it was just 1/2 hour in the circuit it helped break up the monotony.

I passed all 14 exams first time. with an average of over 90%, so there's the proof that it can be done. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you don't have any choice.

Good luck!

FFF
-------------

I'd pretty much echo what FFF has said. It is certainly "do-able", but be prepared from the outset to commit the vast majority of your time to it and not much else.

Took me about 13 months with BGS (with F/T job, like many others), mainly studying between 2 to 4 hours every night after work, but generally took weekends off. Obviously you do have to have the odd night off otherwise you will end up going stir crazy.

As already said, do not expect too much of a social life/TV/beers (tragic I know) for that year, but it is only a year, worth it in the end.

The flying training after the studying is excellent though, and although demanding, very, very enjoyable.

All the best with it.

General Navigation
 

I currently have a General Navigation syllabus and reading on my own for fun.

I contains a lot of mathematical formulas. Am I supposed to remember them all if not are there any document or paper that contains the forumals that I need to keep in mind, and the rest I only know where to find?

Thanks!

Krallu

You are expected to remember rather than look up formulae in the exam, but when it really comes to it, there aren't that many that need to be memorised. Your groundschool brush-up should point out those that do, so for the moment, relax.

CC

On the exam
 

Yes, on the exam I'm not supposed to look up anything. But just curious to know what formulas I do need to keep in mind for the exam and what are not supposed to remember.

But you are right I don't need it at the moment, just was curious to see how much it was. But the ground school will certainly point it out.

Thanks!