Earning Your Pilots License
Earning Your Pilots License
Introduction
Marketing Vs Regulatory Course Names
The first thing you need understand is to recognize is the difference between Marketing and Regulatory course names.
When it comes to regulations there are only a handful of recognized courses / routes to deliver training towards issuing a pilots license.Those courses are strictly regulated by the authorities. Hence, training organizations are restricted to delivering said courses in compliance with the regulations.
The need to administer strictly regulated courses leaves little wiggle room for training organizations to make changes to their own courses. The problem for training organizations, from a marketing perspective, is that this limits their individualistic identities.
Imagine a situation were you and 5 different competitors had to sell the exact same product to virtually the exact same customers. It wouldn't make sense to say "buy my product, its exactly the same as everyone else's product". But it would make sense to call your friend, who's a marketing guru, to write an impressive name and description for your product in an attempt to outsell your competition.
Think about the last time you went into a grocery store looking to buy bottled water. You would have noticed that every brand has different packaging and labels for their bottled water. Some brands advertise having a higher PH level, some advertise lower sodium levels, but at the end of the day you are still buying essentially the same product ... bottled water.
(To all the water connoisseurs out there, we all know some water brands taste better than others but lets ignore that for a minute!)
This is exactly what training organizations are doing when they give their courses different names. They are only trying to stand out from the competition.
Does this mean that all courses offered by different flight training providers are the same?
The answer is simply NO, but they are very similar when it comes to the flight hours required to complete training, theoretical classes / subjects and their content, and training / examination standards. This is because, as previously mentioned, this is all strictly regulated by the authorities.
So how are they different and what should I be looking for when I am looking for a course?
A few points that come to mind are:
First and most importantly talk to previous student pilots that completed their training from that school (maybe get in touch through social media if you don't know anyone personally). Ask them about the instructors (this is extremely important), ask them about management, ask them about the general atmosphere at the academy, and ask them about what employment opportunities can the academy/flight school help with. Try to get them to be as realistic as possible with their answers.
Second, try to figure out what kinds of aircraft's they use, and how well maintained they are. Once you start your training you will quickly realize that training delays are an issue and aircraft serviceability plays a big part in that. You want to look for training providers that have a reasonable fleet to student ratio, a reasonable average age of aircrafts, and preferably at least some of their aircraft should be equipped with a glass cockpit. You want to look for training providers that ideally have their own maintenance facility or work with a maintenance facility that is in the same airport. All of these will contribute to having an uninterrupted training experience.
Third, understand the different courses that are available, I'm talking from a regulatory point of view (discussed later in this article) and understand what option is best for you. Consider the payment structure, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable paying a big sum upfront and instead would prefer making small installments as I progress through my training. Also be weary of school that advertise unrealistically short times for course completion (average course times are discussed later in this article).
Understanding The Training Process
Theoretical Training and Examination:
This is the part of the training where a student
student learns the theory required to carry out the privileges of the
desired license. It may be conducted through self study, online platforms,
or most commonly in a classroom. Every country or regulating authority
decides on what forms of study it approves. Classroom training is approved
by all authorities, but only certain authorities credit and accept self
study, and online training.
After completing the training a student pilot
would have to sit for official exams at the civil aviation authority of the country where they are attempting to earn their license from. The number of subjects, and the length
and depth of information for the subjects required depends on the desired
license a student pilot is training for. Hence, for a PPL it would take a
lot less time and the course would cover less subjects than that required
for an ATPL.
Flight Training and Examination:
As the name suggests, this part of the training is completed in an aircraft. Once again, the number of hours required by the course, the complexity of the exercises, and the aeroplanes used would also depend on the desired license that the student pilot is training for.
Flight Training, in general, is structured as listed below.
- Maneuver Training: You would start out by learning how to control an aeroplane (how to climb, descend, turn etc..).
- Circuit Training: This stage is mainly about consolidating maneuvers learnt previously in addition to practicing take-offs and landings.
- Circuit Solos: Once you and the instructor are confident enough with your skills, your instructor will send you out for a short flight, in the circuits, on your own.
- Advanced Maneuver Training: This is where you will learn how to handle the aircraft during more demanding maneuvers.
- Navigation Training: Once you have gained confidence with your hand flying skills you would move on to navigation training where you would learn to navigate to and land at different airports.
- Navigation Solos: As before, once you and the instructor are confident with your skills your instructor would "clear" you to begin flying navigational flights on your own.
- Instrument Training: At this point you will begin learning how to fly and navigate by reference to your instruments only. A simple way to explain instrument flying is that instrument flying allows you to navigate the aircraft when weather conditions would make it difficult to look outside (such as flying in clouds).
Paths to Earning a CPL or Frozen ATPL (The Regulatory Structuring of Courses)
Any student who is aiming for a career in aviation would persue either a CPL, an MPL, or a frozen ATPL.
As mentioned before, MPLs will be discussed in details in a separate article. So for now I will focus on earning a CPL or frozen ATPL.
Regulatorily there are 2 main paths to earning your CPL or frozen ATPL (regardless of what training organizations call them):
- Modular Course
- Integrated Course
Modular Course
A modular course is the more conventional route to earning your CPL / Frozen ATPL. When the regulatory framework for flight crew licensing was originally written by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this was the main path to earning a pilot's license. A modular course is named as such because a student pilot would have to complete one regulatory requirement at a time.
During a modular course a pilot would:
- Earn a PPL by completing PPL theory classes and examinations, then they would complete the PPL flight training;
- Hours Building: this is were a pilot accumulates flying time, either by renting an airplane 1 hour at a time, or paying for a structured hour building package (paying for flying hours in bulk), or even flying a friend's airplane. This is done to accumulate enough hours to begin their CPL flight training;
- Complete night flying training;
- They would complete the CPL theory and examinations (or ideally skip the CPL theory and complete the ATPL theory and examinations), complete the CPL flight training and earn a CPL.
- Complete Instrument flying Training.
The advantages of a modular course is that it allows you to carry out the training at your own pace and allows you to complete different parts of the training with different training providers.
Additionally, a modular course could be suitable for those who are unable to commit to a full-time course due to professional or personal commitments.
Another reason why a pilot may decide to follow a modular course may be due to financial reasons, since on a modular course a pilot may pay for individual flights / courses whenever the money is available instead of committing to a payment schedule that is common for an integrated course.
The disadvantages of a modular course are:
- It generally takes longer to complete due to the need for completing an PPL theory course;
- Generally a higher total flying hours are required to earn a CPL (or Frozen ATPL) which could result in an overall higher cost;
- If you are aiming to finish different parts of the training with different organizations you may notice a lack structure in your training. This is because every time you move to a new training organization you would need to begin with new instructors who have no knowledge of your past performance.
For a frozen ATPL, a
student pilot would follow the same route except they would attend an
ATPL theoretical course and complete the ATPL theoretical examinations instead
of doing those for a CPL.
Integrated Course
In general Integrated
courses are designed to earn a Frozen ATPL.
The route to earn a
Frozen ATPL may slightly vary from one Flight Training Organization to the other, but in
general it is as follows:
A student pilot would
skip the PPL theoretical Training and attends the ATPL Theoretical training and
completes the ATPL theoretical examinations first. Then, they would complete a
flight training course specifically designed approved by the authority of the
country to issue a CPL License.
The idea behind skipping the PPL theory is
that by taking the ATPL theory (which is more intense and covers a wider array
of subjects than a PPL or CPL course) the student pilot would have gained
higher level of knowledge to gain their CPL License.
The advantages of an
Integrated Course are:
- It is shorter in overall duration ,an integrated course could take as little as 14 months while a modular course would take at least 18 months (these time frames would depends on multiple factors including, and not limited to, individual performance);
- The overall flying hours requirements are lower (which makes it cheaper in most countries);
- Some academies and flight schools allow for some flight training to be completed during the theoretical training phase;
- Training is more consistent since your records and progress is monitored by the same school from the beginning of your training.
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