Living in EASA land it assumed passing 13 ATPL theory exams before making any further step. Initially, I hoped some subjects from my IR training would be recognized because they are the same for EASA IR and ATPL but due to change of regulations only Communications I didn’t have to repeat. ATPL theory in EASA means combined CBT and ground school with total of 650 hours of studying with various progress tests required to be passed before advancing across topics and subjects. Luckily now you can sit the first exams after completing studying first 6 subjects and then continue with rest after completing studying the rest.
So I started attending distant learning course (90% CBT and 10% of ground school) and managed to finish the first part end of June. I applied for this set of subjects and passed first six exams beginning of July. The rest I completed by mid September and passed next six exams beginning of October. After that I passed AUPRT course, MCC course on KingAir simulator and CPL skill test by mid November. Then I took one month break because I felt pretty tired.
Mid January this year I started CBT for type rating, followed by ground training beginning of February and full-motion simulator sessions mid February. Yesterday I passed skill test for Saab 340 type rating and next month I’m starting to fly one in cargo configuration. I guess I’ll enjoy it
