Wozza
The old CAA PPL etc does not exist now, well when I mean exist I mean people who are to undertake training, it will be a JAR PPL.
As for timescales etc it really is person specific, I’ll try and answer as best I can giving my personal timescale.
Obtained PPL in July 2003, spent some time deliberating about ATPL training, happily flying friends & family around, then I saw the chance to be sponsored by PPRuNe for my ATPL studies, so I applied and was successful, the whole process took over a year because the interviewers were all aircrew and it was difficult getting everyone together at the same time, once I got through the interview stage I had to pass the GAPAN aptitude test, and only then was I allowed the sponsorship, so come Feb 2005 I had the go-ahead, I then ordered my ATPL Module 1 books from Bristol Ground School, they arrived late Feb, in the meantime my wife was 4 months pregnant as well as having an 8 month old baby, so rather than get stuck in to my books I spent alot of time decorating the nursery etc, before I knew it my 2nd child arrived in July and I had hardly touched the books, I then had to knuckle down and start some serious study, the only way I would do this is if I booked the 2 week intensive brush-up course & exam week, so I did this for the October & November last year, so from the end of July I was studying non-stop every day until the brush-up & exam 3 weeks, once the first 8 exams were out the way I ordered my Mod2 books, these arrived early December, and again the only way to really get motivated was to book the brush-up & exams, so I did this for April with exams in May this year. I passed the exams so now I have to do 35hrs of hr building to start the CPL, you need 150hrs to start it with certain criteria within those 150hrs, I took the time in Feb to do my night rating as you cannot get the CPL issue without the night rating, a bit of forward thinking would see me doing the CPL in the summer hence no chance of a night rating due to the long summer evenings. I hope to start the CPL in August which will be 3 weeks solid, then after than start the ME IR, and then the MCC to which I am hoping to be all done by Christmas just before I get made redundant.
You can see the general picture building here as far as timescales go, all this is the modular route, and bearing in mind I have 2 children under the age of 2 & a full time job, if you went integrated you should be able to complete it a fair few months earlier than me, the ATPLs took me about 10 months by the time I knuckled down to them, which for modular is pretty good.
As for costs I’ll try to be as objective as I can, bearing in mind alot of what I put is generally with 1st time passes & minimum hrs for everything.
PPL, 45hrs, – £5k – £7k in the UK, cheaper if you go abroad
Hr building, £120 per hour for 100hrs, can do it cheaper if you go abroad or get a good package, be careful about group ownership, it may not work out cheaper in the long run, hiring can be just as cheap, I have been quoted £90 per hr for a PA-28 140.
Night Qualification, 5hrs at about £150 per hr
ATPL exams, £2000 modular, £60 per exam x 14 = £840, plus 2 weeks brush-up accomodation, plus 1 week exam venue accomodation and food for the 3 weeks, then you have to double this because you have to do this twice, basically double the £2000 it costs for the ATPLs. (unless you get sponsorship 😀 but it’ll still cost you £2000 for the accom. etc)
SE CPL, £4500 should take about 3 weeks
MER, £2500, can get this done in 1 week
ME IR, £11,500 – £12,500, should take about 6 weeks or more
MCC, £2500 – £6000, a 2 week course.
If you go modular, you should be able to complete the whole thing in around 2½ years, maybe earlier, it all depends on you, remember with modular the only thing driving you forward is your own self motivation. If you go Integrated you should be able to complete it within 18 months – 2 years, dependant on who you do it with.
Modular, you should be able to do the whole thing for about £35-40k
Integrated, anywhere between £50 – 75k, the good thing about integrated is that generally the airlines prefer this route, so they tend to recruit direct from integrated schools, some airlines say they have no preference, some say that if you do go the modular route then they prefer continuity of training, i.e. all flight training with the same organisation.
As for finance, well HSBC used to do a career development loan, you had to come up with a business plan on how you see yourself over the next 10 years etc, or basically have rich parents, or just plain & simple hard work from yourself, I would suggest to you to not even think about moving out of your parent’s house if you wish to undertake the training, their 100% support is something you will need, and that of any loved ones you may have, it can be done, even if you don’t earn a fortune, but you have to make sacrafices and be prepared to make them, one thing I can guarantee, it’s a looong hard road with lots of hurdles, you have to be 110% committed, anything less will not do.
Good luck, and if there is anything at all I can help you with please mail or PM me
Dean
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