ATPL issue
 

What age do you have to be before you can get an ATPL issued?

I read earlier on the forums that you couldnt get your ATPL issued until you were 21

I know that you can sit the exams at 18 and above but my intentsions were to have my ATPL by the time i was 21

hope this is not true

Cheers hangar chick ;)

I think with probably having time from leaving school to get a lot of proper groundschool instruction in, an amazing amount of flying experience- all at great expense (probably in the region of 50-60,000 pounds) if you have that amount of money available in the first place, then age is no barrier. Most people feel extremely fortunate if they can struggle to get their ATPL by the time they are 30- the dedication is quite extreme doing all that work and expense on top of trying to live a 'normal' life with that bug inside you. Bit like asking 'is there a minimum age for a degree?'- well no, if you're clever enough to get one. But if you are resourceful enough to worry about a minimum age for an ATPL, you will be resourceful enough to find where the answer is to be found?

For an Australian and JAR ATPL you must be 21 years of age.
Look up the LASORS on the CAA's website.
There's nothing stopping you from building your hours and gaining the experience required.

If you are in the UK you will be able to get the CPL/frozen ATPL before you are 21. Then when you have 1500 hrs you can upgrade to your ATPL, however these hours have to conform to certain criteria. You will be doing v well to have the hours by your 21st birthday. It's no biggie anyway unless you are planning to be a captain before you're 21 as you can fly as a co any jet-transport a/c with a CPL.

That's certainly how i remember it used to work - it may have changed with JAR-OPS