I have only just started my PPL but at the end of the long road I do want to fly commercially. I have been looking at what needs to be done and what needs to be flown and what needs to be sat (exams) etc but I can find a definitive guide that answers my question: what route do I need to take??
all I come across are abbreviations, some I know cpl-ir, imc, night rating, multi engines…. others I haven’t got a clue about atpl (h), atpl frozen…. this that and the other….
my goal is to fly professionally, be it as instructor, small commercial company or 737’s!
how do I go about it and what do I need to do??
please and thank you
T.
By: Deano - 14th December 2004 at 15:42
The MER is a seperate entity, then comes the MEIR if you choose to do so, to be honest a SEIR wont go down well on a potential CV, do the MER first, then choose whether you want to do the SEIR or MEIR 🙂 Id choose the MEIR any day 🙂
Dean.
By: John C - 14th December 2004 at 14:38
So is the MEIR a combined thing, or is it two separate courses grouped for convenience?
In other words, would I do the ME rating and then the IR or would I just do a MEIR course?
JC
By: Tony Norman - 14th December 2004 at 12:27
cheers guys – that was really helpful. 🙂
By: DME - 9th December 2004 at 16:27
Hi Tony,
ATPL (H) is Air Transport Pilot Licence – Helecopter.
Once you have finsihed your PPL you will have about 45-60 hours depending on how often you fly, from there you will have to accumulate 150 hours before you can start your commercial rating.
You can build upto the 150 hour mark in various ways, i.e. night rating which takes 5 hours, IMC which takes 15 hours. The IMC is similar to an Instrument Rating, it allows you to fly through and above cloud, but it’s not as intense and also not a requirement.
If you only want to fly commercially then you would start looking at studying for you CPL exams, this should take about 9 months and ideally you should sit the exam by the time you have around 200 hours.
If you want to fly for an airline then you would substitute the CPL with the ATPL exam, which takes about 15 months study.
Regardless, you will start your CPL at around 150 hrs. The CPL flying takes 25 hours, which leaves another 25 before the CAA will issue the licence, so you would start your Multi Engine Instrument rating which takes 50 hours.
All in all you will have 225 hours, a frozen ATPL which includes and CPL / MEIR and a Night Rating along with a Class 1 Medical and then you can look for a job. If you want to instruct only you just sit the CPL/IR and then sit an Instructors rating which costs about £6500.
So in short;
PPL 45 hours
Hour building to 150 can include Night Rating 5 hrs
IMC 15 hrs
Total 65 hours
General flying upto 150 hrs and study for exams
CPL flying training at 150 hrs takes you to 175 hrs
MEIR training at 175 hrs takes you to 225 hrs CPL issued as long as exams are sat.
P.S. The frozen part of the ATPL is taken off after you have 1500hrs including 500hrs Mulit Crew Time.
There is more indepth parts but bascially that’s it.
DME
By: Deano - 9th December 2004 at 16:15
Personally Tony I would do the CPL the way Im doing it
PPL
ATPL exams
IMC
Night
Hr building (cos you need 150hrs to start the CPL)
CPL
MER
IR
MCC
Once Ive done all that I will assess whether or not there is a need for me to undertake a TR, but basically if you are going down the SS route then above is about what you need to do.
Hope this helps
Shout up if you need any more info
Dean
By: Deano - 9th December 2004 at 16:10
Hi Tony
Basically theres 3 roads you can take
1st one is Self sponsored, you will then be known as a SSP (self sponsored pilot)
2nd is part sponsorship where you will pay for a portion of your training and probably be bonded to an airline
3rd one is full sponsorship, which is VERY rare today
this is a list of what you need to be able to fly commercially:
PPL (Private Pilot’s Licence)
NR (Night Rating)
ATPL Ground exams (Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence) 14 subjects, a commercial licence without this is basically worthless
MER (Multi Engine Rating) not much use not having this as you will have to fly a twin at some point
IR (Instrument Rating) Speaks for itself, you need this to enable you to fly commercially, just remember the IR has nothing to do with what the weather is like outside, it can be night or day, rain or shine, if you fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) the weather can be anything, its the flight rules you follow
CPL (Commercial Pilot’s Licence) it’s with this that you can earn money when flying, without it you cannot sit on any revenue earning flight.
fATPL (Frozen ATPL) basically once you have gained your CPL/IR and have passed the ATPL exams you then hold a fATPL, it becomes unfrozen once you have reached 1500 hrs flight time, and I dont think you can be a commander of an aircraft on a revenue earning flight with a fATPL, it has to be unfrozen, and your ATPL exams are valid for 7 years? if you have not unfrozen your licence in this time you will have to resit all the exams.
MCC (Multi Crew Co operation) this rating speaks for itself, you need it to fly multi crew aircraft, airlines generally require you to have this before you are hired
JOT (Jet Orientation Training) Again, this converts you from piston/turbo props to Jets, this also is generally required by airlines before they will look at you but alot of the time this comes within your Type Rating Course
TR (Type Rating) any turbo prop or jet aircraft require you to have a TR before you can act as part of the crew, this is becoming more and more needed on your CV before airlines will even look at you
Thats all I can think of for now Tony, shout up if Ive missed anything
Dean
p.s. ATPL (h) is your ATPL exams for helicopters, obviously ATPL (a) is fixed wing aircraft
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December 9, 2004 at 3:47 pm