Pilots

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Getting your Australian Pilots licence

Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is Australia Government’s aviation regulator for all pilot licences. Licenses available in Australia are Recreational Pilot, Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot and Airline Transport Pilot. A Recreational Pilot licence is for recreational purposes only. You obtain a Private Pilot Licence, a Commercial Pilot Licence and an Airline Transport Pilot Licence, in that order.

To successfully obtain your Australian Pilots license you need an Aviation Medical Certificate and an Aviation English Language Proficiency assessment, both of which are certified by CASA. Your local flying school has a list of aviation medicine doctors in your area and the flying school can help organise your Aviation English Language Proficiency assessment.

Image: Salli-Ann Ward, Chief Pilot, PolAir

To obtain an Australian Pilot Licence you need to complete the following:

Private Pilot Licence (PPL)

An Aviation Class Two Medical
You must be at least 17 years old, pass the PPL theory exam and complete either:
An integrated flight training course of at least 35 hours of flight time, including 10 hours solo, five hours solo cross country and two hours instrument time. Or;
A non-integrated flight training course of 40 hours of flight time, including 10 hours solo, five hours solo cross country and two hours instrument time

Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL)

An Aviation Class One Medical
You must be at least 18 years old, pass the CPL theory exams and successfully complete an integrated or non-integrated course of training.
An integrated flight training course requires a minimum of 150 hours of flight time for the fixed wing aeroplane category rating and 100 hours for the helicopter category rating.
A non-integrated courses require 200 hours for the aeroplane fixed wing category rating and 150 for the helicopter category rating.

Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL)

An Aviation Class One Medical is required
You must be at least 21 years old and pass the ATPL theory exams and an ATPL flight test.
You must also hold a CPL.
Have at least 1500 hours experience for the aeroplane category rating or 1000 hours for the helicopter category rating.
Have completed a multi-crew cooperation (MCC) training course.