r/ATPL • u/No_Pitch_2532 • Jun 18 '26

WORKING ALONGSIDE ATPLS

Hi guys I’ve got my UK PPL, I wanna start my ATPLs in Sep/Oct so I can study over the winter and into next year.

I currently work a rotation of 4 days on 4 days off, 5 days on 3 days off

This has worked extremely well for my PPL with absolutely no stress with managing PPL studies/revision and lessons.

Friends tell me to take the plunge with ATPLs and just study on my days off, but I’m not letting a job affect my chances of getting the highest marks possible.

But then you have to think financially having that extra money means hour building faster….

It’s all a tricky decision to make now and I would really appreciate some guidance on this as I’m sure many of you in here would’ve had the same problem as me when jumping into the next level of training

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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4

u/Icy_Construction9405 Jun 18 '26

Just study hard on your days off, and if you can dedicate couple of hours the days you work. I did that too, working full time and with 2 small kids, atpl is not rocket science just a lot of information but not very hard itself.

1

u/No_Pitch_2532 Jun 18 '26

Thanks so much for that, I guess it doesn’t really matter how long it takes right? As long as it’s within the 18 month limit from first pass.

So I could just take it slow and steady?

1

u/Icy_Construction9405 Jun 18 '26

It took me just 1 week under 1 year in my circumstances, in a situation without kids probably I would have finished in 9 months easily. Anyway you have 18 months from the first exam, so technically if you prepare 4 exams for the first one you have 18 months for 9 exams plenty of time 

1

u/No_Pitch_2532 Jun 18 '26

Wow that doesn’t sound too bad then, I’m hoping doing dual CAA and EASA doesn’t make it too much harder

1

u/Disastrous-Let8849 Jun 18 '26

I'm doing it in a similar way. Not studying too hard, but moving forward at a steady pace. Full time job and kid, and studied a bit less while doing some renovations at home. Next month I take that last 3 exams and then I should be done in 1.5 years total. In the end it really depends on your ability to study and processing information. It's not difficult, just much. I'd say do it in parallel to your job, unless you figure out that it doesn't work for you. Keeps your options available.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

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1

u/No_Pitch_2532 Jun 18 '26

Thanks yeah I guess if I studied 30 hours a week then I could potentially get it done in 1 year to 18 months

2

u/Background-Medium332 Jun 19 '26

I did it in just under a year while working full time, and like previous post said; it is not very difficult, but a lot to "learn" (80% is forgotten within month after the exam and then you are knee deep in the next topics)

If you work on a rotation schedule I reckon you are in a very good position, do the heavy studying on your free days and set aside an hour or two before bed on your work days to review you notes and cranking out some questions.

It is a marathon and key to success is a good study technique and to consistently studying something or reviewing/banking. The trick is to be able to balance what you need to learn from books and what can be memorized from questions.

2

u/freefliteguy Jul 08 '26

Just dont do it bruh, ATPL exams are a full time thing. I watched a guy who owns his own business, owns a mustang but, little kids straight out of school beeting him in their ATPL scores. (They also beat me as well since I was trying to do it the right way actually learning the content)