This section is aimed at pilots who are pursuing the modular route to their airline qualifications.
PAT offers five options for the order in which you do your CPL, Multi and IR training:
1. Single engine CPL, Multi Rating, Instrument Rating
2. Multi Engine CPL (combined single engine and multi engine course), Instrument Rating
3. Multi Engine CPL (all multi-engined flying), Instrument Rating
4. Multi Rating, Instrument Rating, Single-engined CPL
5. Multi Rating, Instrument Rating, Multi-engined CPL
The structures of each of these courses are detailed under the section Course structures.
Note that PAT now offers the Competency based IR (CBIR) course, rather than the 'traditional' IR course (see our News section for further information).
The CBIR course consists of 35 hours for options 1, 2, and 3, or 45 hours for options 4 and 5.
Which option you choose will depend upon a number of factors including:
a) your flying experience to date and
b) how many multi hours you want to achieve
The following table summarises the five options, showing the number of multi hours and the total price of each option. This price is fully inclusive of everything, i.e. course price, aircraft hire for test (first attempt), test fees (first attempt), all landings/approach fees, all ground briefings and VAT @ 20% (although the costs of the aircraft hire for test and that of the approaches elsewher are estimates). For the detail of these calculations please contact us.
The hours include the following approximate test times, 1 hour for the Multi Engine Piston Class Rating, and 2 hours each for the CPL and the IR tests.
Summary of the available options
|
Option
|
CPL hrs S/E a/c
|
CPL hrs FNPT1
|
CPL hrs M/E a/c
|
Multi hrs M/E a/c
|
IR hrs FNPT1/
FNPT2 |
IR hrs M/E a/c
|
Total M/E a/c hours
|
Price
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Option 1 |
22
|
5
|
|
7
|
15
|
22
|
29
|
£25,370
|
| Option 2 |
13
|
5
|
9 |
6
|
15
|
22
|
37
|
£26,410
|
| Option 3 |
|
5
|
22
|
6
|
15
|
22
|
50 |
£27,970
|
| Option 4 |
17
|
|
|
7
|
25
|
22
|
29
|
£24,730
|
| Option 5 |
|
|
17
|
7
|
25
|
22
|
46
|
£26,720
|
Although option 3 is more expensive than the route offered by most other schools, it is by far the most popular choice of our students. The main advantage of this route is that by the time you start your IR you have a minimum of 28 hours multi engine experience, so you are totally comfortable with the aircraft. The IR is a very high workload course and the more you can take out of that workload, the 'easier' it is.
The choice between options 3 & 5 is an interesting one. Option 3 is more expensive but is the 'traditional' manner of training, i.e. Multi/CPL first, then IR. The IR is probably more difficult than the CPL as it is all new training and there is a particularly high workload. The CPL has many elements of the PPL skill test, though the assessment is to much higher, more professional standards.
However, an Information Notice issued by the CAA in July 2013 (IN 2013-116) mandated that the experience requirements for CPL issue must be met BEFORE the CPL skill test is undertaken. This, in effect, means that you need to have a minimum of 175 hours before you start your s/e CPL training, or 169 hours if you are doing the m/e CPL, rather than the published requirement of 150 hours. Choosing option 4 or 5 will mean that you will not have the need to build these extra hours. On the other hand, in our experience, the overrun on the IR course is greater if it is done before the CPL.
Clearly we cannot cover all the pros and cons of the various options. In order to determine what is right for you, why don't you visit us to talk through the options and maybe talk to some of our current students about why they selected one of these options and how they found the training?
