Airline Pilot Training and Checking

A licence and a type rating make a pilot legally able to fly an aircraft type, but not ready to fly it for a particular airline, with its routes, procedures and manuals. Every commercial air transport operator therefore runs its own approved programme of training and checking, which turns a newly hired or transferred pilot into a line pilot and then keeps him or her proficient.

In Europe the programme is governed by the flight crew section of Part-ORO (the ORO.FC rules) in the Air Operations Regulation and written into Part D of the operator's operations manual. In the United States, 14 CFR Part 121 sets out the training categories, operating experience and checks for airline pilots, with the Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) as a proficiency-based alternative. The vocabulary differs, but the sequence is the same: induction, ground school, simulator training and checks, supervised line flying, then a repeating cycle of training and checks.

Licence training and operator training

Two layers of qualification are involved. The type rating belongs to the licence. Under Part-FCL it is gained on an approved course at an approved training organisation (ATO), ending in a skill test; it is valid for one year and revalidated by a proficiency check in the three months before it expires (see class and type ratings). The operator's qualification sits on top: the pilot must also complete the operator's own courses and checks, and keep them current.

FAA rules divide an airline's training programme into categories: initial training for a pilot new to the operator's aircraft, transition training for a pilot moving to another type in the same seat, upgrade training for a first officer becoming captain, differences training between variants of one type, and recurrent training to keep qualified pilots current.

Indoctrination and initial training

Indoctrination training, universally shortened to indoc, is the first part of a new hire's course. It covers the company rather than the aircraft: the operations manuals and policies, flight and duty time rules, security, dangerous goods, and crew resource management. In the United States it is the basic indoctrination ground training that every Part 121 crewmember completes, and it typically takes about a week.

Initial training on the aircraft follows: systems ground school, often preceded by computer-based training, procedures training in a fixed-base or flat-panel trainer, and then sessions in a full flight simulator, ending with the checkride. The whole course from class date to first line flight is known in the US industry as the training footprint. For a new first officer at a US regional airline it typically runs six to ten weeks, with eight to twelve simulator sessions of about four hours.

In Europe a new hire without the type rating first completes the type rating course, often at the airline's own ATO, and then the operator conversion course; the two are frequently run together. ORO.FC.215 adds an initial operator's CRM course, which must be completed before unsupervised line flying (see crew resource management).

Operator conversion training

Under ORO.FC.220 a pilot completes an operator conversion course before flying a type or class unsupervised for that operator, whether new to the company or an existing pilot converting to another fleet. The course normally comprises ground training on the operator's procedures and the aircraft as operated, emergency and safety equipment training and checking, flight training in a simulator, an operator proficiency check, and then line flying under supervision followed by a line check. The length of the course depends on the pilot's previous training and experience, as set out in OM Part D.

Type conversion training, which the FAA calls transition training, moves a pilot from one type to another. A move between variants that share one type rating, such as the A320 to the A321 or the 737NG to the 737 MAX, needs differences training or a shorter familiarisation, whose content comes from the manufacturer's operational suitability data or the FAA Flight Standardization Board (FSB) report and the operator's differences tables. The 2003 JAA evaluation of the A320 family, which EASA adopted as its operational suitability data, for example allows the type rating course to be flown on any family simulator, followed by familiarisation on the variant the pilot will fly.

Where the type rating was gained by zero flight time training, entirely in a full flight simulator, line flying under supervision must begin within 21 days of the skill test, unless the operator provides equivalent training described in OM Part D.

Line training and IOE

Line flying under supervision (LIFUS), also called line training, is the European pilot's first commercial flying on the type: scheduled sectors with passengers, under a training captain who can take over at any time. The number of sectors is set in OM Part D and adjusted to the trainee's progress, and the phase ends with a line check. A first officer upgrading to captain completes the operator's command course, which includes at least 10 sectors of line flying as commander under supervision for a pilot already qualified on the type.

In the United States the same phase is operating experience (OE) under 14 CFR 121.434, called initial operating experience (IOE) at most airlines. It is flown on revenue flights with a check airman in the other seat. For a pilot in a two-pilot turbojet the minimum is 25 hours, and the check airman signs the pilot off only when ready, which may take longer; a new captain also completes a line check. FSB reports adjust supervised line flying between related aircraft: the 737 report requires none between the 737NG and the 737 MAX, but two legs and at least 5 hours between older series such as the original 737 and the 737 Classic.

Consolidation period

Skills learned in the simulator fade if they are not used on the line. The FAA therefore requires consolidation of knowledge and skills: under 121.434(g) a pilot must fly at least 100 hours of line operating flight time within 120 days of the checkride, and a pilot who falls short must complete refresher training. A new captain is also held to high minimums under 121.652: until he or she has 100 hours as pilot in command in the type in Part 121 operations, the published MDA or DA/DH is raised by 100 ft and the visibility by 1/2 mile or the RVR equivalent.

European rules approach the same risk through crew composition. Under AMC1 ORO.FC.200(a) a pilot counts as an inexperienced flight crew member until he or she has flown 100 hours and 10 sectors on the type within 120 days, or 150 hours and 20 sectors, after the type rating or command course, and no flight crew may include more than one inexperienced member.

Recurrent training and checking

Once released, a line pilot enters a repeating cycle of recurrent training and checking under ORO.FC.230. Ground and simulator training refresh systems knowledge and normal, abnormal and emergency procedures, and CRM and upset prevention and recovery training are built into the programme.

Validity periods are counted from the end of the month in which the check was taken. When a check is renewed within the last three months of its validity, the new period runs from the old expiry date, so the cycle is preserved: this is the three-month rule. The operator keeps recurrent training and checking records for 3 years.

The operator proficiency check (OPC), a proficiency check in FAA language, is the core of the cycle. With a six-month validity it comes round twice a year, and many operators arrange for one of the two to serve also as the licence proficiency check for the type rating. The line check is flown on a normal commercial flight: a line check captain observes the whole flight, from preparation and briefings through procedures, communication and decision making.

Many operators now run evidence-based training (EBT), following ICAO Doc 9995, in which recurrent sessions are designed around the pilot competencies, such as communication, leadership and teamwork, problem solving and decision making, and situation awareness, rather than around a fixed list of manoeuvres.

In the United States, the equivalent periodic simulator check is the proficiency check of 121.441. FSB reports add type-specific special emphasis items; the 737 report, for example, requires stabiliser trim and runaway stabiliser training at least once every 36 months in recurrent training.

LOFT, LOE and maneuvers validation

Line-oriented flight training (LOFT) is a full-mission simulator session flown in real time, from the briefing to shutdown, with the paperwork, weather and threats of a real flight. The instructor does not intervene, and the crew reviews its own performance at the debriefing, often from video. LOFT aims to improve the quality of crew performance rather than individual stick-and-rudder skill, which is why it sits at the centre of CRM training.

Under an AQP, evaluation is split in two. The maneuvers validation (MV) checks individual manoeuvres and procedures, such as engine failures, rejected take-offs and approaches, to a set standard. The line operational evaluation (LOE) is a graded full-mission scenario, like a LOFT flown as a check, in which both technical performance and CRM are assessed. For a new hire the MV and LOE, with the oral examination, form the type rating checkride.

Emergency and safety equipment training

Emergency and safety equipment training and checking teaches each crew member where the aircraft's emergency equipment is and how to use it: exits and escape slides, life jackets and rafts, portable oxygen, protective breathing equipment such as smoke hoods, fire extinguishers and the procedures for fire, smoke, decompression, evacuation and ditching. Practical elements, such as donning a smoke hood or using an extinguisher, ensure that no one uses the equipment for the first time in an emergency. The training and check are part of the conversion course and then recur, valid for 12 calendar months.

Refresher training and recency

Refresher training brings back a pilot whose skills or qualifications have lapsed. Part-FCL requires three take-offs, approaches and landings in the preceding 90 days on the type, or in a simulator representing it, before a pilot operates in commercial air transport (FCL.060). The operator may extend that period to 120 days by line flying under the supervision of a type rating instructor or examiner; beyond 120 days, a training flight or a simulator session is needed. A cruise relief co-pilot, who flies only in the cruise, receives simulator recency and refresher flying skills training at intervals of not more than 90 days. A type rating that has expired can no longer be revalidated: it is renewed by refresher training at an ATO, to whatever extent is needed, and a proficiency check.

In the United States, 121.439 requires three take-offs and three landings in the type within the preceding 90 days. A pilot who lapses re-establishes recency under the supervision of a check airman, normally in an approved simulator. Refresher training also follows a missed consolidation period or a long absence.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.