Yep Peter you're right. There are four Trevor Thom books (for ppl) not five. Nate, books are split so they cover more than one subject.
There are approximately four PPL books (there certainly were four from Trevor Thom), with the 5th one covering the IMC Rating.
The 5th book was written by several different people and was badly disjointed.
An ATO is a flying school.
p.S.S... You mentioned earlier their was 5 Jeremy pratt books, surely theirs seven, as theirs 7 exams or are the other 2 covered in the other books.....
Ok cheers, nice one mate, ive got the plan sorted though after speaking to both CAA in Norway and Uk, Norway is currently under JAR so that is automatically covered under EASA, hence i can do my flying practical their, as for the exams i have found a company that allows you to book up the exams at the students convenience but apparently they want to see evidence you have been doing revision ( Not a problem but sounds very wishy washy does it not!)
Sounds like malta was fun,
ps what what does ATO mean?
Nate, In my view the way I see this working, is that you call a UK ATO, talk to them about your plan i.e. you would like to take the exams at their school before september but do most of the flight training in Norway. They might not agree since they wouldn't be making any money of you since you'll only be paying for the exams (my school charges £26 per exam). So you might have to throw in a sweetener, i.e. book some flying hours with them, which is a good idea anyway since you'll learn how some things are different in UK. You could also tell them that you want to take the final practical in the UK with that school. This way it would look like you did the course here in the UK, with most flying abroad. Couple of months ago at the begining of my course (had around 5hours) I was in Malta (also EASA member) and went to a school there and asked if I could take a 1 hour dual training and if it would count towards my 45 hour requirement. The instructor over there said it's not a problem at all and my instructor here in the UK agreed. The instructor in Malta simply signed my log entry.
With regards to pointers on schools, I'm doing doing my course at denham at the pilot centre.
Funny story in Malta... when we climbed in the 152 we found that the previous student had broken the compass, possibly by pulling on to it. I thought that the lesson was going to be cancelled as it would be impossible to navigate. When we got in the air I realised that to go around the island on the coast in 45mins and land back where you started you don't need a compass.
ok brilliant thanks for your comments and best of luck to you
nate
I believe things are changing now so that at least some formal groundschool becomes mandatory for the PPL exams. Not sure when this comes in. Perhaps it arrives when the two new exams arrive.
It basically depends on what your flying school will allow, since they administer the exams.
When I did mine (spring/summer 2011) I didn't do a single minute of formal groundschool. I read the Jeremy Pratt books, got a feel for the exam questions using AirQuiz.com, and when I felt I was ready for a particular exam I turned up at ops desk and asked to sit it. Any instructor who had a spare five minutes would then take one out of the filing cabinet in the CFI's office and shut me in a room with it for the prescribed time. I'd then hand it in to ops if no instructor was available to mark it there and then.
They really aren't difficult. It is just a case of remembering stuff, some of it relevant to flying and most of it not. Watch out for double-negatives and various other trick questions. If you're interested in flying and the subject matter in general, it'll be easy to learn.
Geekyflyer, so you confirm it's perfectly allowed to self teach and book the exams when you wish? Also can you recommend a venue to book these at? Cheers Nate
Hi Nate,
I'm currently going through a ppl course myself (started back in nov/dec 2012) I have now done 5 out of the 7 exams. I'm studying during the week and sitting exams whenever the weather isn't good for flying in the weekends. My advice is to try to get them done before september, when the new 'rules' will require you to sit for 9 exams in 6 sittings and have some hours of formal classroom training. (see
The exams aren't hard at all. It's just a matter of understanding the subject and working out some mock pappers. I used the Jeremy Pratt books. Don't be intimidated with the fact that there are 5 books... I believe the entire syllabus could have been squeezed into one as there is a lot of repetition and general flaffing around.
I also used airquiz.com and Pilot's Manuals Q&A book 8 (borrowed one from the club). The book is really good and prepares you for the exam better than the confuser IMHO.
An FAA license is one issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States - only of any use if you want to own or fly an N registered aircraft post PPL, which you may well want to do as it can (so long as EASA doesn't try and kill them all off) convey more flexibility and more attainable privileges (e.g. an Instrument rating), but I wouldn't worry about that now. If you want to fly an N reg later, you can fairly easily get a FAA PPL issued based on your EASA PPL.
