Ground school Introduction and Exams

Europe EASA and the CAA

The examinations and ground school within Europe are regulated by the two principal aviation authorities EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and the UK CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). They document the requirements to obtain a SEP (Single Engine Piston) PPL (Private Pilot’s License) A (Aircraft) referred to as a SEP PPL(A). There is literally hundreds of pages of text dedicated to the PPL ground school that contains the subjects, the syllabus, who can teach it, who and how it is examined and all the necessary rules and regulations that we all must follow. Consequently, ALL flying training organisations in Europe follow the exact same syllabus and procedures, ultimately teach to the same standard and sit the same examinations. It is not easier to obtain a PPL in say Aberdeen or Cyprus, the standards are identical (although the sunny weather in Cyprus means you can fly all year!)

US and the FAA

The only exception to this rule is in the US where everything is regulated by the FAA and the PPL exams are considerably easier (and cheaper) but if you live in Europe, an FAA license is so restrictive and becoming increasingly more difficult to renew and revalidate, this is no longer a practical route to learning to fly. Additionally, FAA licenses can only be used on FAA registered aircraft, what we call November registered (ie the call-sign painted on the side will start with an N, something like N-1024L). Generally, the only aircraft you find based in Europe that remain November registered nowadays are complex twins, usually because they have modifications or go faster goodies that are not allowed on European registered aircraft.

PPL Study methods

The nine subjects must be conducted through a flying training organisation and they must in turn ensure that you have the necessary knowledge prior to attempting an examination. Some subjects can be learnt from a book, some from a web-based video learning course and others are more suited to attending ground school. The subjects are quite diverse, some theoretical, some practical.
Everybody learns differently, some may find the maths within Navigation a nightmare, some panic when they see a graph and may struggle with Principles of Flight and most find Meteorology difficult! It is important to find that correct balance, this is where your Flying Training Organisation and instructors will help and guide you through the examinations. You will be expected to home study and probably attend class room sessions so that the club can confirm that you are prepared for the examinations.

PPL Home Study

There are some EASA guidelines and they specify a minimum of 20 hours home study, in reality, it is not possible to pass with just 20 hours of home study! Traditionally double, treble, quadruple… that figure would be more realistic! It is not usually possible to pass the examinations solely by attending the ground school, in much the same way it is not possible to pass by just reading a book or watching YouTube! Prior to commencing the ground school studies you must be at a point in your life where it is sensible and realistic to physically dedicate the required effort!
There are additional considerations, a solid foundation of ground school knowledge will make it easier in the air to understand some of the concepts reducing expensive flying time and saving you money. Nobody finds the ground school examinations easy and some subjects go into depths that are beyond what you need to know to simply fly an aircraft. You have to appreciate that being able to fly carries a huge responsibility, there has to be a mechanism to filter out the undesirables with half a brain who may endanger other lives.

Prior knowledge required and language

It is possible to leave school with a bare minimum education and pass the examinations, however, not with 50 hours of effort and an 8 week time-frame! English must be spoken and written to a reasonable standard (English is the ‘language of the air’). There is a communication exam and an English proficiency test is an EASA requirement. The ground examinations can be taken in languages other than English (outside of the UK) but most of the words and phrases associated with aviation are English and have to remain ‘as is text’. I teach many students whose first language is not English, so far, they have all discovered that sitting the examinations in English is easier. Additionally, the text books, internet, You Tube and additional teaching aids (such as PPLmentor.com) tend to be written in English.

The examinations

The nine examinations are all multi-choice (with four answers) and the pass mark is 75%, there are no penalties for incorrect answers. ALL the examinations must be completed within 18 months (starting from your first attempt) and up to 4 attempts are allowed for each subject. If either the 18 months or 4 attempts is blown, you have to start again from scratch! Once, the ninth examination is passed, you have two years in which to complete your PPL and submit your license application. Consequently, it is possible to take 3 or 4 years obtaining a PPL but you will have to give a bit of thought as to how and when you sit the examinations. If you find that after say 15 months, completing the examinations in the required timescales becomes impossible due to your other workloads, your flying club can make an application to the aviation authority to artificially reset the clock so you can start again with a fresh 18 months.

Supporting Books

The ground school syllabus will probably be based around standard textbooks, typically the popular Pooleys Air Pilot Manuals that have become the industry standard all over the world (except the US). The ground school syllabus will probably mirror the sequence and chapters in the preferred books so that it is easy to supplement each ground school sessions with home reading. The books are revised and reprinted every few years; I would not recommend the 1970 Trevor Thom eBay version or the hand-me-downs that somebody in your flying club thinks is a generous gesture! (use a bit of common-sense here, a 15 year old Met book is fine, but the Met book also contains Air law and that must be within about 5 years.) You will also find that the more modern text books have all coloured diagrams, contain images, the index matches the page numbers and are just better in every way.

Ground school subjects

There are nine different subjects and nine different examinations to pass to obtain a PPL or LAPL, these are:

Air law and Air Traffic Control Procedures (Air Law)

The syllabus comprises: Rules of the air, Lights, Aerodromes, Airspace, Air traffic services, Flight rules, Altimetry, Registration & Airworthiness, Pilots licenses. Basically, the laws we all have to abide by to ensure safety. It is an easy course but a lot to get through. Most European countries (such as Cyprus) extend the Air Law examination to cover regulations unique to that country and where they may differ slightly from EASA especially airspace rules.

Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK)

The syllabus comprises: Basic aeroplane and controls, engine & Magnetos, Fuel & Carburettor, Oil, cooling system, electrical system, vacuum system. Landing gear, Pressure instruments, Gyro instruments, compass. AGK covers the fundamentals of what a single engine piston powered aircraft is comprised off and contains background knowledge for the remaining technical subjects, consequently, it should be done as early as possible in your flying training.

Communications (Comms)

The syllabus comprises: General operating procedures, Aerodrome procedures, En-route procedures, Emergency, Instrument departures & arrivals. This course is basically how to use the radio and communicate professionally using standard aviation phraseology. It is an easy course BUT to be a ‘good’ pilot, you need to have Comms mastered to a very high standard, this is the one subject where you need to strive for way beyond the 75% pass mark.

Operational Procedures

The syllabus comprises: Operation of aircraft, clearances, Wind shear & Wake turbulence, Emergency landings, Care of passengers, Ditching. This course is the common-sense of operating an aircraft, nothing too dramatic or complicated, an easy subject to get out of the way, however, because it is an easy and relatively small subject, the questions can be obscure so it does require practice exam sessions and some work to think along the right lines.

Principles of flight (P of F)

The syllabus comprises: Forces acting on an aeroplane, Stability & control, Flaps, Climbing, descending, Turning, Stalling. PofF is the physics of ‘lift’ and is an ‘understanding’ course as opposed to a memorising course, consequently, if you study it and cannot understand it, re-reading the book or watching the same video will probably not help and you might need from a specialised instructor particularly if physics and graphs are a little rusty.

Navigation (Nav)

The syllabus comprises: Charts, direction / speed / Altimetry. Calculations & CRP1, GPS & Radio Aids. This course is how to read a map and work out how to get from A to B., it underpins a huge part of the PPL flight training. The course is usually run about half way through flight training because it ideally requires background knowledge and some flying experience for it all to make sense. It is a huge subject with a lot to grasp and take in, however, nothing is complicated, the issue is that there is just so much to it, it is not unusual to spend months studying Navigation and the sister subject Flight Performance and Planning.

Flight Performance and Planning (FP&P)

The syllabus comprises: Airworthiness & aircraft limitations. Take-off and landing, en route performance, weight & balance. This course is the mathematics of operating an aircraft, will it get off the ground with 4 people on board? can I safely land it on a 400m grass field? If I fly to Santorini, can I get there without refuelling etc. It is a self-contained, relatively straightforward, practical and interesting subject that is the application of Navigation.

Human Performance and Limitations (HP)

The syllabus comprises: The human nervous system, circulatory system, lungs, vision, ear. Effects of acceleration, physical fitness, alcohol. Stress management, care of passengers, first aid. The course focuses on what flight does to the human body, it is relatively straightforward, logical and should not present any issues.

Meteorology (Met)

The syllabus comprises: The Atmosphere, Heat and temperature. Pressure, wind, clouds, Precipitation. Thunderstorms, icing, fog & visibility. Air masses, frontal systems, pressure systems, altimetry, Weather forecasting & reporting. This course is basically understanding weather to become a proficient and safe private pilot. Without doubt, it is the most complex course on the PPL syllabus and probably the hardest subject to pass first time.

The Examination Sequence and Program

The examinations can be studied and attempted in any sequence, however, there are subject overlaps and some subjects seem to flow from one to another. Some subjects will hugely benefit the flying training if they are studied and passed on the ground as opposed to learning in the air! Quite often clubs have common-sense rules in place over and above the EASA or CAA requirements with regards to the passing of examinations that may determine a logical sequence to the studying and examination program.

The Sequence

Aviation Law and Air Traffic Control Procedures (Law) is essential to flying training and is a sensible pre-requisite to Operational Procedures (OP), Navigation (Nav) and Flight Planning and Performance (FP&P). Although it is no longer a EASA requirement to go solo, many clubs still have Law as a requirement prior to going solo, consequently, Law should be one of the first subjects.
Aircraft General Knowledge (AGK) contains lots of useful stuff regarding how the aircraft works and can greatly assist the initial flight training. AGK contains the details on how the compass works, errors and the basics of instrumentation consequently, this is a sensible pre-requisite course to Nav and Nav is a pre-requisite to FP&P. It is no longer a requirement to have passed Nav prior to flying your first solo fly away, however, most clubs still retain this as part of their procedures. It does make sense and I know from my own experiences as a flying instructor, there is so much to take in when you get to the Nav stage of training, you do not want to be paying dual flying rate with an instructor to learn the basics that you could have picked up for a tenth of the cost in a warm classroom with the rain pouring down outside!
Communications (Comms) can stand alone. Much of the terminology discussed relates to the subjects taught in Air Law. Many clubs have the passing of Comms as a pre-requisite to solo fly-aways, particularly if the flying school is accessed via a VFR corridor or in the shadow of a military area. Usually it is sensible to place Comms soon after Law.
Meteorology (Met) is undoubtedly the hardest subject and the knowledge gained does not enhance your flying training because the instructor is always responsible for the ‘go’ or ‘no-go’ decision. Consequently, Met usually goes at the end and is your last exam to pass.
Human Performance (HP) is the easiest subject and is totally stand alone. If circumstances mean that your PPL training is going to take over three years, you will need to be strategic with one of the examinations and HP is the perfect subject for this. As soon as you pass ALL of your exams, you have 24 months to complete. However, if you leave HP un-sat, you can eke out the completion of the exams to a maximum of 18 months (from taking first exam). Then take HP as the final subject and then you have a further two years.

Integration of ground school with Flight Training

The exact mechanism of how ground school integrates with practical flight training will be determined by the resources available, your own enthusiasm and by far the largest extent, where the club is in the world and its size. In a very small club, training will probably be almost one-on-one for everything and if the weather precludes you from flying, you spend 2 hours with the instructor on ground school. In a giant club, ground school will be cycled every 6 weeks with many subjects on the go at the same time and you can just jump in as appropriate requiring no real plan. About 80% of clubs (and probably the type of club that will appeal to most people looking to take up flying as a hobby) are somewhere between the two. The entire sequence of ground school will only be cycled maybe 2-4 times in a year and this has to constantly be juggled by the club to synchronise with the progress of the various students.

The synchronisation law, rules and practical reality

All flying schools have to be on-top of a 1300 page document call FCL, particularly section FCL.020, FCL.025 and FCL.030 that documents exactly how exam passes (and hence ground school) has to synchronise with the flying training modules. Every year, the law gets a little less restrictive and recently ALL the EASA rules regarding synchronisation of ground school and practical flying training have been removed. However, in place of the law, flying schools have to produce their own procedures that have to be formally approved (frequently a lot more restrictive than the law), additionally, there will be rules relating to the airfield operation, insurance restrictions, a big dose of common sense and all this has to be commercially prudent for both the club and the student. Consequently, in all flying training establishments, there has to be some form of synchronisation between ground school subjects and practical flight training.

Synchronisation to Practical Flight Training

All flying training is divided into fixed exercises or small steps, these exercise numbers are more or less universal in the world and all flight training schools use the same numbering system. You flying school will have a relationship between certain ground subjects and the flying training program, typically:
Many flying clubs state that Air Law and Comms has to be completed prior to first solo. It can be a waste of time (and your money) trying to commence practical navigation without having completed the Navigation and Flight Performance and Planning ground schools. If possible PoF (Principles of flight) is useful to have the knowledge of prior to exercise 10 (slow flight and stalling). Certain subjects such as Met and HP, whilst essential, do not contribute a huge amount to the actual practical flying training, traditionally these are left to the end.

Synchronisation with the weather

There are certain places in the world near coasts, mountains, in valleys etc where it may not be realistically possible learning to fly at certain points in the year. Consequently, the ground school syllabus will be very much aligned around the seasons, for example Bristol in the UK is typically fog bound for about 6 weeks of the winter, to the extent that it’s not usually worth turning up and even getting the day-to-day weather! Other locations may have their own unique issues, for example, I spend a lot of time in Cyprus, there are not many twin engine, training aircraft that can do a go around at Paphos on one engine in 45°C! These periods are perfect for ground school especially since most of the flying instructors have nothing else to do! These weather based restrictions may determine how your ground school and practical flight training interact with one another and with a bit of thought and planning can hugely benefit your ground school learning and examination program.