Practical Training

Practical Training

The practical part of the training also takes place in Lelystad. Each flight of the training course will be made from Lelystad airport.

During the flight trajectory, you will visit various airports in the Netherlands, but also airports in neighbouring countries. The practice is arranged in such a way that the level gets higher and higher.

As the course progresses, more and more is expected from the student. The entire practical training course consists of 128 lessons and is divided into the following phases:

1 VFR to first solo

This phase is meant to get acquainted with flying. You learn the real basics here from lesson 1 to lesson 14 on the TB-9. If all goes well you will make your first solo flight at lesson 15.

This means that you fly a small circle without an instructor. When you have completed this you will be welcomed by your fellow students in an old tradition. You will be received with a water baptism and many congratulations. Here you will also earn your 2nd stripe on your shoulder.

2 VFR navigation

After your first solo flight the next phase starts at lesson 16; navigating VFR on the TB-9. What means that you fly visually and think up routes that you can fly through recognizable route points on the ground.

You will do this route both solo and with an instructor, this alternates until you get to lesson 51. This is the last lesson before your internal final exam for VFR flying. This will be taken at lesson 52 and if you pass this you are at PPL level, the level of a Private Pilot License. You are now ready for the next phase!

3 IFR basic

IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules. Simply put, here you learn to fly in the clouds and above the clouds. You will fly in the same way as the big commercial aviation does. You navigate by means of your instruments and your GPS. You fly on so-called airways, and you make approaches in bad weather. This means that you learn to fly with little or no visibility and very low clouds.

This phase will start with lesson 53. You start in the FNPT II simulator where you are taught all the procedures. When you have mastered this well you will practice this in the air on the TB-10.

If this goes well you will go back into the simulator and you will get more complicated again. If this is going well again, you will also practice the scoop in the air. In this way, you will go through this phase until you reach lesson 79. Then you will proceed to the next phase; navigation!

4 IFR navigation

This will start with lesson 80. You will fly to different airports inside and outside the Netherlands. In this way, you learn to navigate from A to B on airways and with your instruments.

You finish the phase with an official practical exam at lesson 88. Here, you do an exam for your Single Engine Instrument Rating, also known as SE-IR. After this exam, you are done with instrument flying and move on to the next phase.

5 CPL

CPL stands for Commercial Pilot License. This phase is relatively short. It starts at lesson 89 and ends at lesson 94 with an official exam. For these few lessons we go back to the basics; navigating by sight (VFR). The only difference is that this is done on a higher level than before. You will perform the flights and the exam on a TB-20.

This aircraft is a lot more complex and faster than the aircraft you flew on before. After passing this exam you are an official commercial pilot and you will receive your wings!

6 Multi-engine flying

At lesson 96 you start with the multi engine part of the training. This means that you learn to fly an aircraft with more than one engine. This will first take place on the FNPT II simulator.

After intensive lessons in the simulator you finish the simulator part with an internal practical exam. Now the real work will start on the Crusader T303 or the Piper seminole.

Here you will train for 10 hours. You go to airports at home and abroad to learn all the procedures on a multi-engine plane. You finish this phase with an official exam at lesson 115, called the Multi Engine Piston exam and the Multi Engine Instrument Rating exam, abbreviated to MEP and ME-IR.

7 UPRT

UPRT stands for Upset Prevention and Recovery Training. Here you will learn to deal with unusual flight situations. You will learn how these situations arise and how you can recover from them. This phase is short and will take place from lesson 115 to lesson 117. When you have completed this, you will move on to the last phase of the training.

8 MCC

The final phase of training has begun. The Multi Crew Co-operation course, MCC. This phase will start with lesson 117 and here you will learn how to cooperate with a crew. You always do this with a fellow student. Before you enter this phase, you will be paired with a fellow student.

This phase will take place in the FNPT II simulator with the Cessna Citation Jet configuration. The MCC will be given by experienced pilots. We have several pilots with a lot of experience in commercial aviation who are specially hired for this purpose. There is no exam at the end of this phase. You finish this with an internal check flight at lesson 125. After this, you are really finished with the training and become an official pilot!