• What is the CPL Commercial Pilot Licence exam like?

    Our student Samuel tells you about it in a video.

Once the multi-engine and instrument rating has been obtained, the next step for any student pilot is to obtain the CPL or Commercial Pilot License, the last stage of training.

The main difference with the Commercial Pilot License is that it allows you to get paid, either as pilot in command or co-pilot of any aircraft.

Below, we leave you with our student Samuel Pérez, in which he explains first-handly what the course consists of, what the CPL exam is like and some tips on how to pass it successfully.


The CPL exam, the last stage of pilot training

As you know, during instrument flights you learn to navigate with information obtained exclusively from the instruments inside the aircraft. However, the CPL exam is a return to visual flight rules: we go back to seeing and being seen.

In these flights, traditional navigation based on time and direction is practiced, but with greater precision than in previous stages.

For example, if during the PPL we used towns and cities as references, in the CPL we use more specific points, such as a church or a castle within the town itself. You can imagine that the precision must be even greater.

In addition, manoeuvres are also practised and, as with navigation, these must be performed with a much smaller and more precise margin of error.

What are the requirements for the CPL exam?

In addition to the conditions required to access the CPL rating course, one of the requirements to obtain the Commercial Pilot License is to take your CPL exam in a complex aircraft, i.e. with retractable landing gear.

At One Air, our students do 10 hours of flight in Cirrus SR20 and the remaining 5 hours in Diamond DA42. According to the regulations, it is not necessary to do these hours in a multi-engine aircraft, but we like to do so in order to provide that extra experience in this type of aircraft.

Once the exam has been passed and the requirements set by the authorities have been met, the student pilot obtains the Commercial Pilot License.

This marks the end of one of the most beautiful stages for any pilot; and although it is now when the real adventure begins, the flight school stage is always remembered nostalgically.

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