Ultimate Guide to becoming a Private Pilot in the UK

The most comprehensive guide to obtaining a private pilot's licence (PPL) for aeroplanes in the United Kingdom. Complete with real experiences, common pitfalls to avoid and tips to make the best use of your time and money.

Whatever the reason you want to take to the skies, we've got something that'll be useful to you in here. Warning: it is a long read; but it is the 'Ultimate Guide' after all. To make things easier, we've split the content into sections which you can easily navigate below. We wholeheartedly believe this article will save you time, money or both if you're wanting to learn to fly - definitely more than the 30 minutes it'll take to read!

Contents

Identify what your overall goal is

Important terminology

Understanding licences and ratings

Pre-requisites and entry requirements

Medical requirements and certificates

What sort of budget you'll need

Choosing a flying school

Introductory / experience flight

Buying study items

Theory training and exams

Practical flight training

Practical radio communications exam

The skills test

1. Identify what your overall goal is

Everybody gets into flying for their own reasons and at different stages of life. You could be a 16 year old exploring different career options, or a 65 year old wanting something more exciting to do in your retirement. The only thing for sure is that once you start, you're not going to want to stop!

If you know exactly what your end goal is, you can often save yourself some time and money by planning for the specific requirements that the end goal necessitates. If you don't - it's no problem - you can still enjoy the process and go step by step. An example of this is when you want to upgrade your licence or add additional privileges. For the most part, upgraded licences require the same manoeuvers and processes to be executed but at a higher standard, for a longer period of time, or over a greater distance. If you pass Licence A, spend a while flying by yourself (potentially picking up some bad habits) then want to do Licence B, you'll probably spend more overall time in training compared to training all in one block while it's fresh in your mind from the beginning. Make sure you tell your flight instructor what your end goal is; a good one will tailor your study package to what will give you the most long-term benefit.

Do you want to be...

• A hobby pilot, or somebody who just flies for pleasure or fun?
• A flight instructor on light aircraft, teaching the next generation of budding pilots, but without progressing onto larger aircraft?
• Somebody who flies light aircraft commercially (police, aerial surveys, etc.)?
• An airline pilot?
• Not sure, and just want to take each step as it comes?

Do you want to...

• Be able to carry more than 3 passengers?
• Be able to fly in poor weather conditions?
• Be able to fly at night?
• Progress onto larger, more powerful, potentially multi-engine aircraft?
• Be able to fly overseas?
• Fly into small grass strips and explore the country?
• Fly into major commercial airports, surrounded by big jets, and be confident on the radio with air traffic control?

Keep your choices in mind for the rest of the article, because we'll have information and tips that relate to some but not others. You might even change your mind halfway through!

Modular vs. Integrated

One important thing to mention is the difference between a modular course and an integrated course. This terminology usually only applies to licences above PPL-level, but we felt the need to mention it for those of you looking to progress beyond private pilot privileges.

An integrated course is an all-in-one bundle and they are often taught full-time Monday to Friday as well. An integrated ATPL course will kit you out with everything you need to get your Airline Transport Pilot Licence in the shortest possible amount of time so that you can start applying for jobs with the major airlines. That speed and convenience does come at a premium though, costing anywhere in the region of £80,000-£100,000.

A modular route is the DIY equivalent of an integrated course; you break your end goal up into chunks and work towards it piece by piece and at your own pace. This has the benefit of not needing to pay in full up front, being able to work another job full-time while doing your studies, and saving you money on accommodation expenses. You could save around £20,000 by managing and planning everything yourself. On the downside, it will (inevitably) take longer.

If you know for sure that you don't want anything more than a PPL, you don't need to consider integrated courses. A PPL is a single module by itself. There is no benefit to getting a LAPL and then progress onto a PPL since the requirements are so similar.

2. Important terminology

While training to be a pilot you'll come across lots of terminology, some of which we'll have to explain now for the rest of this article to make sense.

Term	Definition
Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) / Visual Flight Rules (VFR)	So as not to overcomplicate the guide, this basically means 'good weather'. You are able to fly the aircraft 'visually', meaning that you can see where you're going and can orientate the aircraft according to your visual picture of the horizon/ground. During your initial training and immediately after issue of your PPL/LAPL, you will only be able to fly VFR. This essentially means you are restricted by visibility, cloud height and precipitation.
Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) / Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)	The opposite to the definition above, this basically means 'bad weather'. You are unable to fly the aircraft visually and can't see anything outside, so you've got no idea which way is up and which way is down. This can be extremely dangerous for anybody not specifically trained. Flying IFR requires additional qualifications, for good reason. Being able to fly IFR will unlock more options and destinations for you, and also gives you a backup plan if you get caught out by the typical British weather.

3. Understanding licences and ratings

Licences

Each licence is listed below, in increasing order of difficulty, with a summary of the privileges that it grants you.

Light Aircraft Pilot Licence (LAPL).

The simplest but also most restrictive of the four licences. The LAPL allows you to act as pilot-in-command on single-engine piston-driven aircraft with a maximum take-off mass of 2,000kg or less, with an additional restriction that you can only carry a maximum of 3 passengers. You cannot fly in exchange for payment or any form of profit, although sharing of costs is allowed.

To obtain it requires a minimum 30 hours of flight instruction, at least 15 of which must be flown dual (with an instructor), 6 hours of which must be supervised solo (on your own) and at least 3 hours of solo cross-country flight time. Of that cross-country flight time, at least one journey must be of 80 nautical miles in length and you must perform a full-stop landing at an airport different to the one you departed from. The latter is known as the Solo Qualifying Cross-Country or Solo QXC trip.

There are nine basic theory exam subjects (exactly the same as PPL) and you also need to pass a practical radio communication examination.

Note: the LAPL does not meet international standards for flight crew licensing and hence it may not allow you to fly abroad. Check this beforehand if it's something you'd want to do. In addition, certain ratings are incompatible with the LAPL: for example, it is impossible to hold a LAPL with any sort of instrument rating, meaning you are only able to fly in good weather and visual conditions. If you want to be able to fly in poorer weather conditions, you'll need at least a PPL.

Another Note: The requirements, number of exams and ability to hold an instrument rating may be changing soon; there is a regulatory review underway by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority with the aim to simplify and standardise flight crew licensing.

Private Pilot Licence (PPL).

The PPL is the most common type of licence and also the first one that is internationally-recognised. It allows you to fly any type of aircraft (for which you have a valid rating) with the restriction that the maximum certificated take-off mass of the aircraft must not exceed 5,700kg. You aren't allowed to fly in exchange for any form of profit, unless you have a valid flight instructor rating, in which case you can be reimbursed for services relating to flight instruction only.

To obtain it requires a minimum 45 hours of flight instruction, at least 25 of which must be flown dual (with an instructor), 10 hours of which must be supervised solo (on your own) and at least 5 hours of solo cross-country flight time. Of that cross-country flight time, at least one journey must be of 150 nautical miles in length and you must perform a full-stop landing at two separate airports different to the one you departed from.

Same as for the LAPL, there are nine basic theory exam subjects and you also need to pass a practical radio communication examination.

Note: if you're wishing to exercise the privileges of a PPL in the United States, their requirements are slightly different. There'll be some paperwork to complete and you might have to complete a short conversion course. Otherwise, you can fly practically anywhere in the world.

Another Note: The requirements and number of exams may be changing soon; there is a regulatory review underway by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority with the aim to simplify and standardise flight crew licensing.

Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) / Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).

A CPL or ATPL allows you to fly any aircraft for which you have a valid class or type rating. They also allow you to fly in a commercial environment and allow you to earn profit from your flying, but are subject to some complicated restrictions beyond the scope of this guide.

Prior to issue of a CPL you require at least a PPL, Night rating and 200 total hours flying time.

The theoretical knowledge requirements for CPL or ATPL-level are far beyond PPL or LAPL-level and will take you much longer than the flying itself. CPL theory is essentially the same as is required for the ATPL, comprising 14 total subjects and going into significant amounts of detail on very technical areas. If you work a full-time job and only study at the weekends, it's not uncommon for the CPL/ATPL theory to take 2-3 full years to learn. A full-time residential course can do it in around 4-6 months.

Ratings

A rating is an additional privilege that complements your licence. We've listed some common ones below, as well as the ones that we've specifically referred to in this guide, but there's too many to provide a comprehensive list. Once you start flying more complex aircraft, there's hundreds of different ratings for every significant variation of aircraft.

Rating	Description
Night	Allows a pilot to fly an aircraft during night hours. You can start training for this as soon as you've got a LAPL/PPL.
Restricted Instrument Rating (IR(R))	Allows a pilot to fly under instrument flight rules (in poor weather) but is only valid within the UK, and subject to some additional restrictions, e.g. you are unable to enter Class A airspace. You can start training for this as soon as you've got a PPL, but it's not compatible with a LAPL, and you can't actually get the rating until you've completed a total of 25 hours flying time after obtaining your PPL.
Instrument Rating (IR)	Allows a pilot to fly under instrument flight rules (in poor weather) internationally and without restriction. As you'd imagine, the requirements for this are more intensive than for the IR(R).
Single Engine Piston (SEP)	Allows a pilot to fly any aircraft that falls within the category of single-engined aircraft operated by piston-driven cylinders.
Multi Engine Piston (MEP)	Similar to SEP, but allows a pilot to fly aircraft with more than one engine.
Flight Instructor (FI)	Allows a pilot to provide flight instruction to a student pilot up to the level that they have been approved or endorsed for.

Differences Training

Differences training is another important concept when you initially get a LAPL or PPL. You'll likely get your pilot's licence by flying a small, simple to operate aircraft such as a Cessna 150, Cessna 152 or Piper Warrior. Upon getting your licence, you'll also be issued with an SEP rating, allowing you to fly single-engine piston-driven aircraft. But that doesn't mean you can hop into a more powerful, 4-seat aircraft with variable pitch propeller and retractable landing gear straight away.

If you do want to fly a different type of aircraft to the one you've trained on, you'll need to do some differences training with a qualified flight instructor. The amount of training you need to do is not specified, but you need to get to a point where you're competent in operating the new aircraft. This could take an hour or two to upwards of 15 hours depending on the complexity of the switch and your own ability to learn.

4. Pre-requisites and entry requirements

A LAPL or PPL is realistically obtainable by anybody if you're willing to put in a bit of work.

The minimum age to hold a LAPL/PPL in the UK is 17, though you can start your training (and fly solo) at the age of only 16. Your spoken and interpreted English needs to be of a certain standard to be able to communicate via the radio, and there will be some basic technical subjects to learn. Having a good grasp of maths and physics will help you in your studies, but there are no formal qualification / grade requirements. You need to be in reasonable health, and the medical criteria will be covered in the next section.

If you want to progress to CPL/ATPL level, it's a different story; there are still no official qualification / grade requirements for holding a CPL/ATPL, but many courses will insist on you having grade C or above at GCSE or even A-levels in maths and physics. These subjects are heavily relied upon in any further studies and without a solid understanding, you won't pass. Airlines and prospective employers will also look at your ATPL theory exam grades, and anything below 90% can put you at a disadvantage compared to other candidates.

5. Medical requirements and certificates

Pilot medical requirements depend on the licence you're intending to use and your age.

There are different tiers (or 'classes') of medical certificate for pilots in the UK. You need a valid medical certificate to fly, even if you've got a licence and valid ratings. If your medical expires at any point, you are no longer entitled to fly aircraft until your medical is re-issued again.

If you're a student pilot, you'll need your medical certificate before your instructor allows you to fly solo for the first time. This is usually around 10-15 hours into your practical course of training. To avoid wasted money, we recommend getting your medical as soon as possible just after (or even before) your introductory lesson / experience flight.

If your end goal is a LAPL, you'll want a LAPL medical certificate. This is the only certificate that is specific to a single licence. It can be issued by an Aeromedical Centre (AeMC), Aeromedical Examiner (AME) or in some cases, your GP. If you are under 40, it is valid for 5 years or until the age of 42, whichever is sooner. Over 40, it is valid for 2 years.

If your end goal is a PPL or PPL with additional ratings such as IR(R) and FI, you'll need a Class 2 medical. These can only be issued by an AeMC or AME. If you are under 40, it is valid for 5 years or until the age of 42, whichever is sooner. Between 40 and 50, it is valid for 2 years, or until the age of 51, whichever is sooner. Over 50 it is only valid for 12 months.

A CPL or ATPL requires a Class 1 medical, the initial issue of which can only be done by an AeMC, renewals can be carried out by an AME however. The Class 1 medical is only valid for 12 months regardless of age. If you're over 40 and carry passengers in a single-pilot commercial air transport environment, it's only valid for 6 months. If you're over 60, it's also only valid for 6 months.

If you have an ATPL/CPL and become disqualified from your Class 1 medical, but you still hold a valid Class 2 medical that is unaffected by the condition that disqualified you from Class 1, you can still exercise the privileges of the lower licences that you qualify for (i.e. a PPL).

If you become aware of a new condition that might impact your flying at any point, you must immediately notify your AeMC, AME (or GP in the case of a LAPL medical). Until you get an all-clear from them, you must refrain from exercising any privileges of your licence. You need not submit a formal notification for transient illnesses such as colds, flu and minor musculoskeletal issues, but you should still refrain from flying until you are back in good health.

What does the medical examination involve?

Depending on the class of medical certificate being applied for, the examination could take a couple of hours and may include:

• A conversation about your medical history;
• Reviews of any history, notes or paperwork provided by your GP;
• A colour vision (Ishihara) test;
• An eyesight test (or alternatively you can have this performed at an opticians);
• A full physical examination - breathing, heart, blood pressure, etc.;
• An audiometry test (testing for hearing loss at certain frequencies);
• A conversational hearing test;
• An electrocardiogram (ECG);
• A lung function test;
• A haemoglobin / blood test;
• A urine test.

Requirements

If you 'fail' any of the tests or requirements, it doesn't necessarily prevent you from obtaining a medical certificate. Rather, a medical certificate can be issued with restrictions or 'limitations' attached to it. For example, if your eyesight isn't up to the required standard, you may have a medical limitation that allows you to fly but only while wearing a pair of current prescription glasses/contact lenses. If you fail the colour perception test, you may still be granted a medical certificate but prohibited from flying at night, where identifying the different coloured lights of a runway is crucial.

There are some conditions and medications which completely disqualify you from obtaining a medical certificate. These criteria are too detailed to cover here, so if you're concerned, we'd recommend doing some research on the official Civil Aviation Authority website, or even better, contacting an approved Aeromedical Examiner (AME).

Choosing an AME

When it comes to choosing an AME to use for your medical, it's worth speaking to your flight instructor or flight school first. They'll have experience of lots of students using different AMEs in the area, and some of which will be more highly reviewed than others in terms of cost, response time, appointment availability, etc. Word of mouth recommendations are great for finding the really helpful independent AMEs that don't have an online presence.

6. What sort of budget you'll need

Flying isn't only for the rich and famous - you can get a licence for the same money as a decent second-hand car. And once you've got it, you've got it for life - you just need to maintain your ratings and medical certificate.

The major cost of getting your licence comes from the hourly cost of your lessons - aircraft rental plus an instructor fee. These costs vary up and down throughout the country and are incredibly dependent upon fuel prices. For that reason, we can't tell you exactly how much it'll cost, but we can give you a ballpark figure.

£150-£160 per hour is on the cheaper end of the spectrum for aircraft hire and £50 per hour is a reasonably priced instructor. However, having a good instructor will save you multiple hours in training and therefore it's almost always worth paying a little bit extra for one you get on really well with or one that comes highly reviewed.

Many flight schools offer package deals with discounted rates if you purchase a full block of PPL training (45 hours) or LAPL training (30 hours) at once; this can be great if you know that your instructor is good and that the flight school is in a solid position. Beware, however - your instructor might leave to work somewhere else, leaving you with someone you don't like; the aircraft you're flying might suddenly develop problems, leaving you unable to fly; or the flying school might fail an ATO audit and lose their ability to teach you. We'd recommend not buying full, discounted rate packages and instead ask if the club offers discounted rates in smaller quantities (for example 10-hour blocks) to protect you from the greater financial burden and risk.

Another consideration is that the vast majority of students don't pass a PPL/LAPL in the minimum required hours. The national average for a PPL is around 60 hours and the national average for a LAPL is around 45. This greatly depends on your capacity to learn and the mindset with which you approach your lessons. Coming to a lesson well-prepared with an understanding of what you need to do before you even set foot in the aircraft will save you a lot of time and money. If you don't have that sort of can-do attitude, be prepared to spend more than the average amount of time to complete your course.

Using £155/hour aircraft hire and £50/hour instructor fee, you can expect to spend the following amount on your lessons:

• PPL (minimum hours pass) - £9,225
• PPL (average pass) - £12,300
• LAPL (minimum hours pass) - £6,150
• LAPL (average pass) - £9,225

We'd recommend saving up sufficient money to be able to complete at least one hour's lesson every few weeks at a minimum. The longer the breaks you have between lessons, the more you'll need to re-cover things you've already done to refresh your memory and the more overall time and money you'll spend learning. Be aware that lessons over the winter period may also slow down due to worsening weather conditions, although this can't be avoided and comes down to luck of the draw most of the time.

Other costs

In addition to the cost of your lessons, we advise that you'll need at least another £2,000 (spread over the course of your training) to cover things such as:

• A log book
• Training/theory manuals
• Membership at your flight school/club
• Charts/maps and other navigation equipment
• Your medical examination
• The fees for taking each of the theory exams and any associated classroom training
• The radio-telephony (FRTOL) exam
• The practical skills test
• The CAA licence application fee

You might also want to buy your own headset rather than borrowing ones from your club - a good quality pair such as the industry-leading Bose A20's will significantly help with your radio communications, but carry a hefty price tag of nearly £1,000.

7. Choosing a flying school

You don't realise how many small airfields and flying schools there are - until you start learning to fly.

On the subject of choosing a flying school, it pays to do your research, and not just in the sense of finding the cheapest rates. Students pass in a much shorter number of hours, and end up being better pilots, when they learn with an instructor who they get on well with. A good instructor for you might be judged on very different criteria to a good instructor for another person, who learns best in a different way.

A flight instructor might be a full-time flight instructor on light aircraft with no ambitions or intention to do anything else, or they might be a prospective commercial pilot who is using flight instruction as a means to build their hours so they can apply for a job elsewhere. One is not necessarily better than the other, and there are good and bad in both categories. What you want is an instructor that is willing to let you make mistakes and learn from them, rather than correcting you too early or never letting you outside of your comfort zone in the first place. An instructor that takes control every time you botch an approach isn't going to give you the hands-on time that you need to get over the learning curve.

You aren't going to know what sort of instructor you've got until you've started flying with them for a few hours, but if you ever feel that you're being held back, you shouldn't hesitate to ask for a different instructor or look for a new school entirely. You're making a large investment of your own time and resources.

You can make a more informed decision by undertaking an experience flight with the instructor that you're actually going to be flying with, by asking about their first-time-pass rates, or their average hours for a student to receive a pass. 80% is a good statistic for the former, and average hours are covered in the previous section. Don't be afraid to ask if the instructor is planning on leaving soon, because that's going to set you back.

Be very careful of flying schools which charge extra for routine parts of your training, such as briefing time with your instructor, landing fees or circuits at your home base airfield. These should (in most cases) be incorporated into the cost of the lessons. Ask the school whether they do this, and if they do, make sure you include for it in your financial planning. You'll probably need to pull off 150-200 landings for the average PPL, so you'd better hope you aren't getting charged £10 each time!

When landing, conducting approaches or performing circuits at airfields away from your home base, you are usually expected to pay for this, though sometimes there are reciprocal agreements in place between airfields which substantially lower or sometimes nullify these fees. In any case, you won't be landing at other airfields too often and it'll make up a relatively small percentage of your overall landings.

Another factor to consider is your distance from the airfield; how would you feel if you travel there, have a flight cancelled because of weather and then travel back? Would you be able to keep up your motivation if the travel time each way is over an hour? Flight training is also quite mentally draining - do you want to get back on the ground only to be greeted by a long drive to get back home?

Finally, what aircraft does the school use, and how many do they have? Aircraft are subject to rigorous regular checks and annual inspections; would you be able to keep your training uninterrupted if the school lost one or two of its aircraft to maintenance for a month or two?

8. Introductory / experience flight

The logical first step in your flying career is to go and fly on a training aircraft for the first time. Bonus points if its the same aircraft and same instructor that you'll be flying with in the long run.

If you've never flown on a light aircraft before, you definitely need to just get up there and try it! An introductory lesson or flight experience should consist of an instructor taking you out somewhere safe and handing over control for you to get a feel for the aircraft. The main question to ask yourself throughout is: do you enjoy it?

If the answer is yes, that motivation is pretty much all you need to get you through your training, provided the other pre-requisites are satisfied. If you already knew that you were going to enjoy it before you even left the ground, the experience flight gives you an opportunity to start learning about some of the aircraft's systems and core characteristics.

9. Buying study items

Now you know for sure whether you want to learn to fly, and you've hopefully got your medical certificate stamped. So we need to start prepping for the road ahead by buying some essentials.

The only thing you'll need to buy immediately after your introductory flight is a log book; that time in the sky officially counts towards the minimum hours for your licence, as long as you're old enough and as long as you flew with a qualified instructor. The log book, although a fairly old-fashioned concept, is the only record of your time spent on an aircraft.

We also recommend that you purchase the following:

• Pooley's Air Pilot Publishing - Air Pilot's Manual 1 - Flying Training
• The CAA 1:500,000 charts for the area in which you are flying. There are three editions: Southern England & Wales, Northern England & Ireland, and Scotland. If your flying school is near to the border of where these charts overlap, you might need two editions
• A nautical-mile ruler for your chart (also 1:500,000 scale)
• A pilot's protractor (a full circle or square marked with compass bearings)

The Air Pilot's Manual is the first edition in a series of books that you will likely study over the course of your flying training, but this one contains loads of information about the practical exercises that you will fly during your lessons rather than any theory test subjects. With this book, you can read in advance about your upcoming lessons so you understand what's happening and why, reducing the overall complexity and hopefully eliminating that feeling of being overwhelmed with too much information at once.

You will definitely need more study materials later on, but check with your flight school for a full list on what they use/recommend. Be careful of 'flight training packages' advertised online - sometimes they offer quite attractive discounts, but the contents might not be necessary or be out of date. Again, check with your flying school before making a big purchase.

If you're going to be flying near some big commercial airports, a notepad, pen and a 'kneeboard' (a clipboard that attaches to your leg) can be really useful for writing notes to help you remember and respond to radio calls.

Shop around and look on second-hand sites such as Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace if you want, but be careful that what you're getting is actually what you need and is the latest version. Check with your flight instructor before you buy if there's any doubt.

10. Theory training and exams

At least reading a book is cheaper than a flying lesson!

Note: the UK Civil Aviation Authority is currently undertaking a regulatory review with the aim to simplify flight crew requirements and licensing. At the time of writing, all of this information is correct, but it may change in the short-medium future.

You'll probably start looking at theory exam subjects a few hours before you get to your 'first solo' - some schools even mandate that you pass a couple of the exams before going solo. In total, there are 9 theoretical examinations, all of which are multiple choice, and the pass mark is 75%. The exams and pass mark are the same for both PPL and LAPL licences.

The nine subject areas are:

• Air law
• Human performance
• Meteorology
• Communications
• Navigation
• Principles of flight
• Operational procedures
• Flight performance and planning
• Aircraft general knowledge

Some of these topics are sensible to combine due to slight overlap or similarities in the content. Your flight school might recommend taking two exams in the same sitting for this reason. For example, 'Navigation' and 'Flight performance and planning' are often grouped together as a larger subject that looks at all aspects of planning a flight from start to finish.

Once you pass your first exam, regardless of what it was, you then have a ticking timer of 18 months to complete all of the other theory exams. If you don't achieve this timescale, you will have to re-take any theory exams falling outside of the most recent 18-month period.

Once all of your exams are passed (yay!), you have 24 months to complete your LAPL or PPL, including passing the practical skills test and the CAA issuing your new licence. This shouldn't be considered 'difficult', since the school shouldn't be recommending you to take the exams if they didn't think you were progressing at an adequate pace.

The exams themselves are relatively straightforward and you shouldn't encounter too much difficulty if you have the motivation to learn. In the sky, knowledge is power, and the more you know, the better a pilot you will be. Don't think about it as just passing an exam; it's definitely in your best interest to know how to read weather charts and diagnose technical problems with the aircraft!

Taking an exam will often incur an additional cost, and your flight school might offer 'ground school' instructor-led courses to prepare you beforehand if you think this would be beneficial. If the worst happens and you need to re-take an exam, you may need to undertake further formal training, and you may need to wait a period of time.

11. Practical Flight Training

Nothing beats the feeling of mastering one manoeuvre and moving onto the next!

This section is mostly down to your flight school, and specifically, your instructor. A good school will tailor your course to what you need, how you learn, what needs more work and what doesn't.

In general, every lesson between your initial flight experience and your skills test will be structured to cover these areas:

• Pre-flight preparation and checklists
• Taxiing
• The primary and secondary effects of each flight control
• Other flight controls: trim, flaps, throttle, mixture, etc.
• Flying straight and level with different power settings and configurations
• Climbing and descending
• Turning: normal turns, climbing turns, descending turns
• Radio skills
• Take-off
• Slow flight
• Stalling
• Spinning (if the aircraft is capable, some aren't certified for it)
• Circuits
• Flapless and glide approaches
• Go-arounds
• Handling crosswinds
• Short & soft field takeoffs & landings
• Emergencies e.g. engine failure after take-off
• First solo
• Steep turns
• Spiral dives
• Recovery from unusual attitudes
• Forced landings / PFLs
• Navigation
• Use of radio navigation aids
• Instrument flying (PPL only)

These areas are listed in roughly the same order that you will attempt to learn them for the first time, but there may be slight variation depending on your school, its location, and local weather conditions. 'Navigation', a single subject line in the list above, will likely be the longest section as your instructor starts gearing you up for your solo cross-country flight. Circuits and landings will also be a key area of focus and repetition.

Earlier subjects will rarely be repeated as you progress onwards in your training, because you'll be repeating them naturally as part of normally flying the aircraft. Emergency drills and situations such as diversions and go-arounds will be incorporated ad-hoc into your later phases of training, to keep you on your toes and to ensure you don't forget these critical skills that you otherwise wouldn't be practicing.

Preparing in advance for each lesson by reading about it will absolutely help your understanding of what's happening, and should help to reduce the amount of practical flying that it takes to learn that skill. It should also help to avoid that 'deer in the headlights' feeling of being completely overwhelmed and panicking. Debrief with your instructor at the end of each session to identify areas which you did well and areas that might need more attention, and have a more detailed conversation about it now that you aren't time-limited by airspace and fuel.

Another (often overlooked) source of help is to record video of your training flights. Don't worry about the audio, having a camera (such as a GoPro) mounted in the centre rear of the aircraft cockpit will allow you to re-watch everything you did and how you did it. Things that you don't notice in the heat of the moment will become immediately obvious when you watch it back, saving you time by allowing you to correct your technique. There's also the added benefit that when you pull something off perfectly, you've got video evidence and bragging rights!

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, don't be afraid of making mistakes. It is the instructor's responsibility to foster a comfortable learning environment where you can make those mistakes without causing danger to yourself or others. Yes, you'll sound like a complete idiot the first time you use the radio. Yes, the people in the car park will chuckle when you botch a landing and the aircraft bounces 10ft back into the air. But who cares - it's all a part of the learning experience, you have to start somewhere, and everybody else will be doing those same things as well!

12. Practical radio communications exam

You'll be speaking the Lima India November Golf Oscar in no time

Prior to taking your practical skills test, you'll need to obtain what's called an FRTOL - a Flight Radio Telephony Operator's Licence. This is effectively a licence to broadcast using the aircraft's radio systems, and up until now you've been using the radio off the back of your instructor's FRTOL licence under their supervision.

The exam will simulate a flight from one aerodrome to another, perhaps with an emergency, diversion or both. You'll make the radio calls as you would if you were actually operating that flight, but from the comfort of a classroom. Many flight schools have an in-house FRTOL examiner but sometimes you'll need to go somewhere else to do this exam.

Talk to your instructor or flight school training staff to learn more about how to prepare for this stage. You should be comfortable with most of the radio calls anyway, since this will come very late in your training.

13. The skills test

Take to the skies with an examiner on a roughly 2-hour long flight, where you'll be expected to perform almost everything you've learnt during your training up until now.

Here it is - the moment you've been waiting for. If you pass the skills test, your training is complete, and your PPL/LAPL will be in the post. Don't put too much pressure on yourself though; the examiners expect you to be nervous, the weather conditions are always variable, and there's a lot of stuff to do in a relatively short amount of time. What that means is: you will get some reasonable leeway. Not executing a manoevre to the required standard doesn't mean you will immediately fail. You can still get a pass as long as you don't consistently underperform expectations and as long as you aren't considered to be flying dangerously.

Make sure you've done at least one mock test with your instructor before doing the skills test, because there is a certain structure to every test, and they often fly similar routes. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, eat well and stay hydrated.

Your flight school may have an in-house examiner or you may need to pay for an external person to come out and assess you. The examiner cannot be your instructor, even if they are qualified to be an examiner.

You will be given a route before your flight, which you are expected to plan with the appropriate level of diligence. The instructor may also ask you a couple of questions about the planning process, or about the aircraft more generally.

The route you've been given will normally be made up of 3-5 legs, although realistically, you will only actually fly the first 2 or 3 before you are asked to divert or conduct an emergency procedure. The route will also normally involve a crossing of controlled airspace or a MATZ/ATZ if there is an appropriate area in the vicinity.

For the first portion of the flight, the examiner is assessing your ability to safely operate the aircraft under normal conditions. This includes more than just handling of the aircraft, and covers areas such as use of checklists, avoidance of weather or controlled airspace, local operating procedures, observance of NOTAMs, correct communication using the radio and more. For all intents and purposes you are the captain of the aircraft, and the examiner is just a passenger. They are not allowed to offer any specific help or assistance.

You will then go on to perform a diversion to another location which wasn't part of the initial plan, perform a simulated IFR turn (PPL only) and then demonstrate all of the drills and manoevres you've learned, such as safe recovery from stalls, spiral dives, and simulated forced landings.

Finally, you'll return to your airfield of departure for some circuits, landings, flapless/glide approaches and go-arounds. If there is a crosswind on the day of your test, you will be assessed on your crosswind technique.

The full list of standards for issuance of a PPL or LAPL can be found here.

Even if you royally screw up one part of the test, try not to let that affect your performance elsewhere; you can still get a 'partial pass' where you will only need to re-fly the failed sections. This will obviously make a subsequent re-test much easier.

Good luck, captain!