For those thinking of becoming a commercial pilot in the UK or Europe, whether it be in the next year or 5 years, this is a brief overview of the subjects you’ll need to learn to pass the ATPL exams.
Following up on my post where I laid out the strategies I used to pass the ATPL exams quickly. I want to briefly give you an overview of the subjects you’ll need to get good at.
Whichever way you go about it, you’ll almost certainly have to sign up to an Authorised Training Organisation (ATO) in order to take the exams.
For those planning to do their flight training on a modular route, you have a lot more control and responsibility over how you study. I hope this guide, which I plan to keep updating, will give you an idea of what to expect.
1. Air Law
Let’s start with my least favourite. Air law is, in my opinion, one of the driest subjects of the lot. Hence, I want to cover this first. There’s obviously some sense and logic to the laws themselves, but a lot of this is mostly a memorisation game at the end of the day.
At my current job as an airline pilot, we work in accordance with these laws, and we have to be pretty knowledgeable. However, never once did I need to recall the name, year and what was discussed at a notable convention like the Tokyo Convention of 1944.
Free Resources:
List of ICAO annexes: https://skybrary.aero/articles/icao-annexes-and-doc-series
2. Meteorology
This is a monster subject. Obviously very useful and relevant to aviation. However, the sheer number of weather phenomenas and other things you have to remember is just a lot to take in.
I felt like I ended up filling out a thick A4-size notebook during my revision and went through a tonne of questions in the question banks. Making mistakes and learning from them was more or less how I learnt meteorology.
Free Resources:
Met Office UK- Aviation Met Resources
3. Operational Procedures
This exam, I would say, is also a memorisation game, very relevant to commercial airline operations.
I failed this exam the first time, in fact. There were a lot of questions that I just hadn’t seen before, and I recommend leaving this until towards the end because the knowledge from topics like Air Law, General Navigation and Radio Navigation are all very useful.
Free Resources:
I recommend you download ICAO Annex 6 and read through it. Also check out Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 and ICAO PANS OPS 8168.
4. Communications
Communications is one of the easier exams. It combines VFR and IFR communications. If you’ve flown in general or commercial aviation, many of the terms should be familiar.
Free Resources:
CAP413 Radiotelephony Manual. It’s free to download. Highly relevant and something you should get good at before even getting your Private Pilot’s License (PPL).
5. Aircraft General Knowledge – Airframe / Systems / Power plants
Aircraft General Knowledge is a good subject to get really good at. It’s a big subject covering areas like electrics, pneumatics, hydraulics, piston-powered aircraft, and turbine-powered aircraft.
In commercial operations, we review the aircraft status all the time, especially in the simulator during abnormal and emergency situations.
Also in airline interviews, you’ll almost certainly be expected to demonstrate a solid understanding of aircraft systems. So this is a great subject to get good at.
Free Resources:
– YouTube Channels. Air Crash Investigation channels covering technical failure are a good source of information.
– Aircraft Flight Manuals (Search for an aircraft type, e.g., PA34, followed by “AFM” + “PDF”)
6. Performance
Performance is a very maths-heavy subject. Get used to reading graphs and deriving values. There’s quite a bit of understanding required, and practice more than anything else will help you get better. This is NOT one of those subjects where you can just memorise the banks. You need a good understanding of what you’re doing. As a commercial pilot, we’re dealing with performance all the time, but long gone are the charts; pretty much all the calculations we do are with our Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs – or iPad).
Free Resources:
– Aircraft Flight Manuals (Have a look through SEP and MEP aircraft. Go to the sections with the charts and graphs.)
7. Radio Navigation
Radio Navigation is a good subject to get good at, especially for IFR training. It’s not a very long or difficult subject, and the knowledge here is very useful to know even before you do your PPL training.
Learn as much as you can about navigation aids and systems like NDBs, VORs, ILS, Radar and GPS. Get a good understanding of how they work and the errors they can produce.
Free / Cheap Resources:
– Youtube
– Flight Simulator – X Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator
8. General Navigation
I won’t lie, some parts of the subject feel super outdated. However, there’s a lot of stuff you need to know, especially as a VFR pilot. Get good at reading charts and doing calculations with coordinates. If you can, learn as much as you can about the Earth’s geometry.
This subject requires equipment like a compass, ruler, flight computer (also known as a “Whizz Wheel), a Jeppesen Manual in the UK, or access to some kind of charts.
9. Mass and Balance
Mass and Balance is one of the easiest subjects of the lot. Do this before performance. A lot of it is simple maths and just being careful, because it’s easy to make silly mistakes.
Start with looking over flight manuals for an aircraft you expect to fly. Learn how to derive the masses and the limitations of an aircraft. Then learn about the masses used in Commercial Transport Aircraft, like Dry Operating Index (DOI), Dry Operating Mass (DOM) and Centre of Gravity (CoG).
Free Resources:
Skyway Code – Highly recommend reading (UK pilots should have a copy on their phones or tablets.)
Aircraft Flight Manuals
10. Human Performance
A good subject to know in general. It’s not just about biology but also delves into psychological aspects of flying, such as decision-making, crew resource management, and aviation accident statistics.
To prepare for this, try to learn about how various parts of your body work, like the eyes, auditory system, respiratory system, and the effects of decompression. The question banks will be one of the most useful methods to prepare for this exam.
11. Flight Planning and Monitoring
This subject is very relevant, especially as an aspiring pilot planning to get a PPL and eventually a CPL. Your flight training will require you to fly cross-country routes. For that, a good understanding of VFR charts, IFR charts, and maintaining pilot logs is required. Only simple maths is required, but it is a subject you should practise.
Free Resources:
CAP 694: Flight Planning Guide
12. Instrumentation
This subject is not very easy, especially for those who haven’t flown an aircraft. It requires a good understanding of aircraft systems and reading instruments, as you can infer from the name of the subject.
If you can finish Aircraft General Knowledge and Radio Navigation, you will see a lot of the terms repeated again.
A flight sim and a good model of an aircraft will give you some idea of how both old and modern aircraft work.
Read a Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM), watch videos, or better yet, fly an Airbus in a sim. In EASA exams the examples and questions used examples of PFDs and NDs which were clearly from an Airbus.
A lot of things are a continuation of basic physics, science and technology. Things you’d learn in a high school science lesson on electrics, and also things like gyroscopes, how they precess and so on.
If you can understand more or less how pretty much every instrument works in the cockpit of a small aircraft and eventually a large one, like an Airbus. Then you should be in good shape to take on this exam.
Free / Cheap Resources:
Aircraft Flight Manuals. Old and New
Flight Simulator – X Plane or Microsoft Flight Simulator
13. Principles of flight
This subject is like going back to maths and physics in high school. Expect to do a lot of calculation in this subject. Fortunately, none of the calculations are too complicated.
There’s a lot of theory involved about wing design, induced drag, and low-speed and high-speed airflow. So if you can, try to learn about how wings generate lift, stall speeds, mach number, and the other aerodynamic surfaces on an aircraft.
Free Resources:
Maths and Physics Lessons – Khan Academy
I hope this gives you an idea of what to expect. Of course, you will definitely need more study material to pass the exams. Do check out my blog to read my other posts to see other recommended resources.