My Journey to getting fATPL

By Fajja at 9 November, 2006, 7:14 pm

At the end of this summer I am planning on starting flying school in order to get my Airline Transport Pilots Licence. This is a VERY expensive business costing in the region of £60,000 – £75,000!

There are quite a few places to choose from if you want to learn to fly. Here in the UK the minimum licence you can get is the National Private Pilots Licence (NPPL for short), next is the Private Pilots Licence, Commercial Pilots licence and the Airline Transport Pilots Licence…

Airbus A380

Training for the Airline Transport Pilots licence is intensive and covers a vast amount of information. My preffered place to go is Flight Training Europe in Jerez, Spain. Just to show how much work is done at the course, here is a wee rundown of some of the sections:
• Single Engine Flying Training – 118hrs
• Single Engine Simulator Training – 8hrs
• Multi Engine Training – 72hrs
• Ground School Training – OVER 890hrs!!
• MCC/JOC Training – 16 or 44 hrs depending on option chosen
• Course Duration 60 weeks

Entry requirements vary for each school but are usually around the same grades required for entry to a university.

Once you have the grades, you then have to get a medical, costing around £400 from CAA to make sure you are in good enough health to fly a plane. The next step to the process is to send of the application forms, if you are successful at this stage they will invite you to take an aptitude test and an interview. If, after the aptitude test, they offer you a place, you’re in! Then you have to pay the course fees in instalments prior to the commencement of each stage. If you can afford it you can pay the fees out of your own pocket but funding help for the course can be obtained with loans or, if you’re lucky enough, sponsorship!

I shall keep this site up to date with my progress on my way to gaining my fATPL