ATPLs - that's a wrap

• 182 days
• 480 hours ground school
• 232 hours official self study
• Hundreds of hours of non-official self study
• 54 weekly tests
• 14 Consolidation exams
• 14 IAA exams

Done. Around mid day on Wednesday I walked out of the Hilton conference room for the fourteenth and final time.

The five exams over the three days were tough going. This module involved a lot more work in terms of hours than the previous two and I think we all started to notice that come Wednesday.

As the week before, we completed the same timetable however this time it was conducted by three invigilators who had traveled over from Ireland.

I think all five exams went OK. I most certainly found them more difficult than the two previous modules however I hope there is no cause for alarm.

When we first arrived here in Florida one of the first things we were told about the six months of ATPL subjects was how difficult, how time consuming and how exhausting they really were. I am being extremely honest when I don't agree 100% in what others have said.

One thing I have certainly learnt since being out here is how much time and effort you put in is very clearly seen in the final results. Sure, luck has it's way of helping people along or pulling them under when on other occasions it could have been avoided however if you're prepared to work hard, be motivated and devote a little bit extra of your time to a task then it can be extremely rewarding. 

I won't these past six months have been the most difficult I've had in my lifetime but they'll always be remembered as a challenge that on occasions really got one up on me and on others were, dare I say it, actually quite enjoyable!

Over the past week my instructor left to return to his previous job due to positive changes in his personal life - something I wish him all the best for! 

Getting myself back in to the air is now something I'll need to be thoroughly committed to over the new week or so. I have ten remaining flights to complete as soon as possible with around twenty five total hours. In addition to this we have recently heard we will be completing 5 hours of upset recovery training which should take place from Wednesday. This is likely to take up a significant amount of time so really pushing to get the remainder done around this will be ever more challenging.

So, a large part of the course is now complete. I have the Commercial Pilot's License (CPL) ground school which starts a week on Monday to look forward to. Following this we'll move to Ireland to undertake arguably the most important part of the course - the Instrument Rating (IR); something I am very much looking forward to doing and then finally the Multi Crew Course (MCC) around June time.

Things are moving fast - let's hope I can keep up!