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EASA PPL Exam requirements

That’s impressive, and an interesting approach.

However, another problem with mandatory classroom is that while it is OK for a usually very young (and usually de facto jobless) person doing the ATPL, it is a right PITA for the older person doing the private paper collection i.e. the Euro IR.

In 2012 I wrote up this somewhat tongue in cheek expose/pisstake of the JAA IR pipeline (the 15hr conversion route, in my case) and if you find the time to wade through it you will see the view that any mandatory classroom is a major issue for private IR candidates. Having spoken to countless people doing this, they all agree. Most are OK doing a bit of flying with an instructor, locally, but to shack up in some hotel far away for the classroom and then again for the FTO flying is a major no-no.

Everybody doing the IR, or the PPL for that matter, who is actually going to use it afterwards needs (a) time and (b) money, and most will be busy business/professional people, and for them self study is much better. I know of a good number of people who did the JAA IR but chucked it away because they had no use for it.

Maybe Germany does it a lot better but here in the UK the FTOs mostly just want to do the ATPL sausage machine, which drastically limits the typical private candidate’s options geographically and most would need a hotel residence to do the IR.

The conversion route is proposed to do away with the exams and the flight training but the ab initio IR will still have both, AIUI.

The PPL mandatory classroom proposal would not have been as bad, because most schools would have set up a classroom (and jacked up the cost ~20%) but it would have caused some schools to shut which would have reduced choice.

Last Edited by Peter at 10 Feb 09:02
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I took a month off in January 2011 to do the IR theory at a local flight school. 6 days a week from 9am until 4pm. Distance learning was an option and this reduced the classroom teaching to a few Saturdays. That is a good system, accommodating most people. However, it was a serious job and the ones that didn’t have time to study did not make it very far (one guy had a 60h job as GM and the other started a new job halfway — neither arrived at the goal). I think in Germany virtually everybody can reach a FTO on a daily commute.

The one thing I hated was what you call the “ATPL sausage factory”. The rest of the classroom were 18 year old writing love letters and throwing paper balls.

The PPL mandatory classroom proposal would not have been as bad, because most schools would have set up a classroom (and jacked up the cost ~20%) but it would have caused some schools to shut which would have reduced choice.

Here, the smaller schools usually have an agreement with one of the larger ones and will send students to attend the theory classes of the large school.

…you will see the view that any mandatory classroom is a major issue for private IR candidates.

This is why distance learning is very popular for that. This one here (https://www.cat-europe.com/en/courses) is very popular and does courses mainly over the internet. You only need a local FTO for a few mandatory classroom sessions (for an IFR or CPL this would typically take two weekends, for an ATPL about ten days).

EDDS - Stuttgart

I do not own (or ever did) a single study book, from gliding to ATPL.

I value my text books a lot, even post-PPL. I usually have one of them next to my bed to be able to brush up on some topic before going to sleep – especially in the winter season now that there hasn’t been much flying for me.

Besides, they (the Pratt series) are also incredibly funny and I still chuckle at some of the lines from time to time. I somehow doubt that would have been the case with any German “text book” though.

Hungriger Wolf (EDHF), Germany

As Peter mentioned, for anyone obtaining the PPL with a full time job and kids it is difficult to find the time to do an extra 100 hours of class room work. 100 hours end up being much more if you need to travel to the airfield/classroom and while the distance learning might work for some, it’s not great for a lot of people. The cost would also increase mainly because you would have to take time off work.

Speaking from my experience… (I just finished my PPL last Nov) there was no way to fit 100 hours of classroom. Learning from the books on my way to work and in my lunch breaks was the only choice for me. My gf/kid would have long left me if I spent more time at the airfield! I also believe that some people learn better when self though while others get more benefit from a class room environment. It’s nice to have the choice!

The first question that should be asked is “Is the exam a fair reflection of the knowledge acquired by the canidate?”

If the answer is no, (as might be the case if the question bank is public and questions reused, so they can be learnt by rote) then the exam should be redesigned as it’s not doing what it’s supposed to do.

If the answer is yes, then it matters not how the student acquired that knowledge. If they learnt the knowledge from partical experience, self study or highly professional tuition matters not a jot. They know their stuff, and are ready to proceed.

Mandatory courses suggest one of two things to me:

1. Money making scheme for schools, or
2. EASA isn’t confident that the exam actually reflects the student knowledge, so they want to make sure that they should have acquired it by ensuring course attendance.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

My experience of the JAA (PPL and IR) and FAA (PPL, CPL and IR) system is that just about everybody uses the computer study tools (or the old PPL Confuser, in the old days), but – contrary to popular belief – there are far too many questions in the QB to learn the answers.

All one manages to do – and this is very useful – is to

  • learn the general state of the question writer’s mind (which alone gives you many answers, for JAR, though not for FAA)
  • learn the general principles of the subject

There are maybe 5-10% representing really bizzare questions (e.g. the IR air law separation on parallel runway departures) on which you can simply memorise the answers, but I found those are best done on the morning of the exam, sitting in the car in the CAA car park

Last Edited by Peter at 10 Feb 13:41
Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
‘morning of the exam, sitting in the car in the CAA car park’

Been there on that one! Get up crack of dawn or earlier, battle round the M25 to Gatport Airwick, then fall asleep in the CAA car park!
Tip is to always take alarm clock just in case.

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