Modular training for the CPL (A) Commercial Pilot Licence
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
Do you want to choose the best option to train as a Commercial Pilot?
I understand you, deciding to become a pilot is a choice that is not taken lightly, this profession is exciting, but expensive as hell!
A few years ago, I was at the same crossroads as you, how can I become a commercial pilot in the most “economical” way possible?
And of course, although “money” is extremely important, it is not the only thing to take into account when deciding how and in which school to study.
I’m going to tell you the ins and outs of pilot training, everything I know about Modular Training, which is the option I chose to train as a pilot and undoubtedly the best option to become a commercial pilot today, although many people don’t want you to know.
In this article I am going to share with you all the information you need to know to make the decision to become a pilot in your own right:
Table of contents
- What is Modular Training: structure, modules, duration and previous steps to obtain your CPL (A) licence.
- Why modular training is the best option if you want to become a Commercial Pilot.
- What PULSE Modular Training is like, why it is the most advanced on the market and why it is only for those who aspire to be High Performance Pilots.
- The Modular Training, in detail module by module.
What is Modular Training: structure, modules, duration and previous steps before you get your CPL (A) licence
Modular Commercial Pilot Training is the smartest training route to pilot training, because you have the option to do it with less financial investment, in less time, getting more hours of real flight time and in better coexistence with the rest of your life.
If you don’t know them,
I tell you in detail the 3 options to study how to become a pilot, you can read it here.
Unlike the other two options (integrated training and degree),
Modular Training is the only option where you can choose whether you want to study full time with exclusive dedication to obtain your CPL (A) Commercial Pilot Licence or if you prefer to study part time, organising it with other areas of your family, professional or training life.
The Modular Training is structured in 6 independent training modules that must be completed in order, although some of them can be combined and taken at the same time.
As soon as you pass the first module, you obtain the Private Pilot Licence PPL (A), which allows you to start flying recreationally long before you finish your commercial pilot training.
The modular training lasts approximately 30 months,
if you set your mind to it, during that time you will have passed each of the 6 modules or ratings, up to the Commercial Pilot Licence CPL (A).
In addition to studying,
to obtain the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL A) from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), you have to do 2 steps:
1. Obtain a Class I medical certificate (prerequisite for enrolment in any school).
2. Accredit your level of English by means of an exam in a centre authorised by AESA, you must obtain level 4, 5 or 6 as stipulated by ICAO. (note: it has no direct equivalence with other levels such as first-proficiency…, it is a scale that evaluates the level of English and knowledge with the use of aeronautical English).
And of course, study, fly, practice, test, question, observe, absorb and train, train and train, train and train, that’s how you’ll get there:
3. Pass the 6 modules of the training to obtain your commercial pilot licence, these are the following:
-
- Module 1.- Private Pilot Licence PPL (A)
- Module 2.- Time Building
- Module 3.- ATPL Theory (A)
- Module 4.- VFR Night Flight Hours
- Module 5.- Multi Engine Piston (MEP) Class Enablement & Multi Engine Instrument (IR) Enablement
- Module 6.- UPRT & CPL Flight Practices
PROFESSIONAL PILOT TRAINING ROUTE (MODULAR)
FROM PRIVATE PILOT ( PPL - A)
_TO_
COMMERCIAL PILOT (CPL - A)
| Private Pilot Licence | > | > | > | > | Commercial Pilot Licence | Airline Oriented Course |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PPL |
TIME BUILDING |
ATPL |
VFR Night |
Multi Engine
& Instrumental IR
|
UPRT
&
CPL
|
APS
(MCC)
|
|
Theory + 45h Flight |
90h Pilot in Command
|
Theory |
5h flight night single-engine
|
Flight Practices
|
Flight Practices
|
Flight Practices
|
|
6-12 months |
At the same time, 9-12 months
|
3 months |
15h/1 month |
15 days
|
||
Why is Modular Training better than other options?
Modular training is not only the freest and most flexible option of all and at all levels (including economic), but it is also the best option for those who want to become Pilots.
Convince yourself:
In short version,
in the Modular Training for the CPL (A) Licence, “Being a Professional Pilot”:
- The financial investment is lower and the training includes more hours of actual flying.
- You pay for what you learn & fly.
- You have more Flexibility & Freedom to organise your time.
- You can be a Pilot in less time.
- Same, if not more, employability opportunities.
In detailed version:
- The cost is lower, according to the school the cost of the CPL (A) Licence with Modular Training is between 60.000 € – 80.000 €, and you pay it little by little, per module, “pay as you learn-fly” .
- More cost effective, you achieve your CPL (A) Commercial Pilot Licence with more hours of actual flight time, more in-depth study of the theory and less money than with integrated training.
- Modular training gives you the option of becoming a pilot in less time, YOU SET THE PACE of your learning, faster or slower depending on your personal needs (full-time or part-time).
- CONSIDERING the financial outlay involved in training for this profession, it is good to be able to pull back in time. Either because being a pilot is not for you, or because school is not going well for you, or because life is inviting you to take a break.
- More adaptable and more possibilities to make your training compatible with your needs in terms of time, energy and economy.
- Same, if not more, employability opportunities.
…indeed, you have discovered the main reason I was telling you at the beginning… The Modular Commercial Pilot Training is the least known because, in general, schools prefer to sell the integrated training, as it gives them less management work and yet they dare to have more expensive prices.
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
How is the Modular Training at PULSE: why it is the most advanced training, the methodology and why it is only for those who aspire to be a High Performance Pilot
If you want fish you're going to have to get your ass wet.
You will see.
We will not train you to weigh apples and pears, with all due respect to fruit growers.
We will train you not only for an exciting profession with the best views ever imagined, but also to take lives on board and to operate an aircraft which, if it crashes, can make a hell of a mess.
Wherever it falls.
That is why, at our pilot school, we are committed to our own teaching model, in which we add personalised mental and emotional training to the formal training, so that you learn to resolve extreme situations quickly and intelligently.
This unique methodology, which includes online study of the theoretical part, will allow you to confidently lead your training from the moment you enter the school until you walk out the door with your pilot’s licence.
We will help you in any way we can, but you are the one who is going to have to work.
Because we believe that only by making you responsible for your own training process will we be able to shape the great pilot in you.
The same pilot that companies want to hire and that passengers and crew want to fly with.
By the way, we are so rare that only aspiring pilots who leave us their e-mail address have access to our training information.
Can we have yours?
COMMERCIAL PILOT MODULAR TRAINING IN DETAIL
FROM PRIVATE PILOT ( PPL - A)
_TO_
COMMERCIAL PILOT (CPL - A)
| Private Pilot Licence | > | > | > | > | Commercial Pilot Licence | Airline Oriented Course |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PPL |
TIME BUILDING |
ATPL |
VFR Night |
Multi Engine
& Instrumental IR
|
UPRT
&
CPL
|
APS
(MCC)
|
|
Theory + 45h Flight |
90h Pilot in Command
|
Theory |
5h flight night single-engine
|
Flight Practices
|
Flight Practices
|
Flight Practices
|
|
6-12 months |
At the same time, 9-12 months
|
3 months |
15h/1 month |
15 days
|
||
MODULE 1 : PRIVATE PILOT LICENCE PPL (A)
The Private Pilot Licence PPL (A), is the first and indispensable training step for those who want to continue their training as a Commercial Pilot.
This means that if you have the PPL (A) and you want to continue training to become a commercial pilot, you can, because you have 1 of the 6 training modules necessary to achieve the Commercial Pilot Licence CPL (A).
This licence entitles you to fly daytime flights (from sunrise to sunset) in European territory, aircraft up to 5700 kg, you can carry passengers-family-friends but do not receive any financial compensation, this licence does not entitle you to fly commercial flights.
It consists of 9 theoretical subjects including: meteorology, navigation and principles of flight… plus a minimum of 45 hours of flying, of which at least 10 must be “flying SOLO” before you take the practical exam, your instructor will inform you when you are ready to take the exam to pass.
Most students in most schools need more than these 45 hours to be fully prepared (between 5 and 10 hours more), which means that they end up paying more for their training, between 1000 € and 3000 € more.
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
In Pulse, there are no surprises.
High Performance students do not need to fly or pay for more than the required 45 hours to be fully prepared to pass their exam.
How to obtain a Private Pilot Licence?
You can obtain your licence by passing the theoretical part and a practical flight test of your PPL (A) Private Pilot training. The theoretical part consists of 9 exams (1 for each subject), to be passed in 6 sittings in a maximum of 18 months, and 4 attempts for each subject.
The flight training programme includes the practice and learning of all the manoeuvres required by the regulations, through individual sessions.
- minimum 45 hours of actual flight time, of which at least 10 must be solo or PIC.
- Pre-flight and post-flight briefing
- In-flight safety
- Normal procedures
Emergency procedures
How long does it take to pass the PPL (A) Private Pilot Licence?
The time it takes you to complete your PPL(A) Private Pilot training and obtain your licence is up to you, as a guideline, in most schools:
- 70% of the students achieve their PPL (A) licence in 6 months
- 20% of students obtain their PPL (A) licence within 3 months,
- 10% of trainees achieve their PPL (A) within 6 to 12 months,
As soon as you have passed 4 subjects in the Spanish examination centre SENASA (Services and Studies for Air Navigation and Air Safety), you will be able to start your flight practice, being able to combine the theoretical and practical training during the PPL (A) Private Pilot training.
However, in your time forecasts to achieve your PPL (A) licence you have to take into account that there may be factors such as flight conditions depending on the weather, periodic reviews of the aircraft required every 50 hours of flight and, although it is not very common, breakdowns may occur. Therefore, if your training period coincides with any of these factors, they could influence your expected time to complete your PPL (A) training.
An unwritten rule to keep in mind is: “For every 5 hours of flight time you have scheduled, calculate that 1-2 hours could be cancelled for one of these reasons: weather, periodic aircraft check…”. PULSE’s recommendation, don’t fall short of scheduling weekly.
Do you want to be a Pulse Pilot?
Plan your flight route, as High Performance pilots do: 
in the most cost-effective way and with the most advanced methodology without having to go to class every day and with end to end follow up
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
MODULE 2 : TIME BUILDING (here you are already PPL, you fly SOLO) 😉
To start the Time Building module you must have a PPL (A), this module consists of 90 hours of solo or PIC (Pilot in Command) flying.
Completion of the 90h PIC of this module is a prerequisite for access to the last CPL (A) module.
Before starting the CPL (A) module you must have at least 100 hours of flight time (PIC), but don’t worry, because when that time comes you will already have at least 45 hours of PPL(A) flight time, of which 10 hours will be PIC, plus your 90 hours of Time Building, so once you finish module 2, you will already have your 100 hours (PIC).
MODULE 3 : AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT LICENCE ATPL (A)
This training module is the ATPL (A) theory module required to obtain a CPL (A) Commercial Pilot Licence.
You can start studying ATPL theory at the same time you do your Time Building hours, because the only requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is to have your Private Pilot Licence PPL (A).
We recommend that you take both Time Building and ATPL (A) Theory hours at the same time, for 2 important reasons:
- It is the way to maintain proficiency in flight practice and stay motivated by what you really like to do “flying”, this way you will not have to fly with an instructor again, it is a fact that if you stop flying from the time you have your PPL (A) until you pass the ATPL (A) theory, you will lose proficiency in flight, as you will have spent many months on the ground in between.
- Because it is much easier to learn by doing, flying facilitates and consolidates the learning of ATPL theory because by experiencing the theory on each flight, it is easier to understand and retain the knowledge when you are applying it in practice.
The ATPL (A) module consists of 14 subjects, 9 of which you have already studied in the theory of Module 1 of your PPL (A) Private Pilot Licence, and in this ATPL (A) module you study them in more depth.
You have a maximum of 18 months to pass your ATPL (A) module subjects, starting at the end of the month in which you sit your first exam.
You have 4 attempts to pass each subject and a total of 6 exam sittings to pass the exams in all subjects (AESA calls the maximum period of 10 days between the first and the last exam a sitting).
If you need more than the 18 months to pass all subjects, more than the 4 attempts to pass each subject or more than the 6 sittings in total, you will have to re-sit all exams including the subjects you have passed.
For all these reasons,
Before taking the exams, I recommend that you organise the subjects in 3 blocks to prepare them in 3 exam sessions, grouping them as you choose, bearing in mind that there are subjects that share the same fee, so if you register for them in the same exam session, you will only pay one fee.
Don't worry about this now,
at Pulse we guide you to find your personalised formula. To choose your own learning pace, in an active way, without school timetables or uncomfortable chairs...
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
MODULE 4 : VFR NIGHT
This is a short 5 hour module, which is normally completed in 1 or 2 days. 4 hours will be done with an instructor and 1 hour will be done ONLY completing 5 take-offs and take-offs.
This module can be done at the same time you are studying ATPL Module 3 and doing your Time Building hours from Module 2.
MODULE 5 : MULTI ENGINE PISTON (MEP) + MULTI ENGINE INSTRUMENTAL RATING (IR)
It makes sense to do these 2 training together and in the same type of aircraft.
It consists of flight practice: 40 hours of instrument flight instruction (IR) in single-engine aircraft + 6 hours of visual flight in multi-engine aircraft + 15 hours of instrument flight instruction (IR) in multi-engine aircraft.
This is the difference in hours between the integrated training route and the modular training route, as in the integrated route for instrument training there are up to 35 hours of simulator practice, whereas in the modular route there are 40 hours of real flight time in total.
At Pulse you are the protagonist of your training.
Train yourself to achieve the obstacle-proof success mindset of the High Performance Pilots who train with us. Are you one of us?
3 Obstacles That Can Crash Your Commercial Pilot Career
(HOW TO OVERCOME THEM AND BECOME THE PILOTS AIRLINES ARE LOOKING FOR)
MODULE 6 :
Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) & CPL
UPRT is a module of 5 hours of theoretical classroom training and at least 3 hours of instruction and consists of teaching pilots skills necessary to avoid, prevent or recover from in-flight mishaps in unusual situations.
The UPRT training can be done at any time during your modular training, but it is recommended to do it just before your CPL training because you will already have many hours of flight time behind you and therefore enough experience to undergo this training course.
CPL (A) the last module of your training. This is a totally practical training in which you will have to do 15 hours of flying with an instructor, 5 of which will have to be in an advanced aircraft (retractable gear and variable pitch propeller), the other 10 will be in a single-engine fixed pitch aircraft.
After you have completed the training, you will have to pass the practical exam with an EASA approved examiner to obtain the CPL (A) commercial aircraft licence.
And after that, you can CELEBRATE!
because you would have just achieved your “Commercial Pilot Licence CPL ( A )
In a nutshell,
The Modular Commercial Pilot Training is the option to train as a pilot in the smartest way: cost-effective, with the best academic preparation and mentality, as well as the most free and flexible way,
but you will only have all these advantages if you become a PULSE Pilot.
If you want to be one of us, you might be in time to join the next promotion, check it out here.
To conclude,
AIRLINE COURSE:
Airline Pilot Standards Multi Crew Cooperation (APS MCC)
The Airline Pilot Standards Course for Multi-Crew Cooperation (APS MCC) is a 40-hour theoretical training course and 40 hours of simulator flying.
You must do this, most airlines will require it in order for your application to be considered for the airline’s job vacancy.
But before you need this course, you know, you have to have your CPL (A) Commercial Licence.
If there are still places available, we can do it together here.
