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Operational Procedures for pilots

49 articlesEASA & FAAUpdated Nov 2026

How commercial flights are run safely: operating procedures and checklists, non-normal situations, low-visibility and winter operations, dangerous goods, emergency equipment and the operator's rules, from EASA ATPL subject 070.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Aerodrome Operating Minima

Explains how takeoff and landing minima are established and applied, including system minima, RVR and CMV, required visual references and the approach ban.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Aircraft Ground De-icing and Anti-icing

Covers the clean aircraft concept and ground icing contamination, de-icing and anti-icing fluids and procedures, holdover times, pre-takeoff contamination checks and engine ice shedding on the ground.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Bird Strike and Foreign Object Damage

Covers the hazards of bird strikes and foreign object debris, how they are reported and prevented, and the operational response after a strike or ingestion.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Cabin Safety and Passenger Management

Cabin crew numbers and roles, the senior cabin crew member, cockpit-cabin communication and the cabin secure report, passenger signs and safety briefings, seat belts and infant restraints, passengers with reduced mobility and portable electronic devices.

PPL · CPL · ATPL · Type rating

Cold Weather Operations

Operating aircraft in very cold weather: cold soak, engine and APU starts, taxi on contaminated surfaces, ice shedding, fuel temperature and cold-temperature altimetry.

Competency-Based Training and Evidence-Based Training

The competency-based approach to pilot training, the pilot competencies and their observable behaviors, and how evidence-based training reorganizes airline recurrent simulator training and checking.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT)

Describes CFIT and approach-and-landing accidents, their contributing factors, the ALAR prevention strategies and the terrain escape maneuver.

Crew Coordination, Briefings and Callouts

Covers how a multi-pilot crew divides and transfers duties, conducts briefings, protects critical phases with a sterile flight deck, and uses standard callouts to monitor the flight path and automation.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Dangerous Goods

Covers the carriage of dangerous goods by air, from classification, UN numbers, packing and labels to documentation, acceptance, operator approval and the NOTOC, with lithium batteries, dry ice and mercury.

Decompression and Emergency Descent

Covers loss of cabin pressure, the emergency descent procedure, and the supplemental and first-aid oxygen requirements for crew and passengers.

Electronic Flight Bags (EFB)

What an EFB is, portable and installed EFBs, the types of EFB application, their uses from charts to performance calculation, operator approval, and the risks of wrong data, distraction and failure.

Emergency and Survival Equipment Requirements

The emergency equipment an airplane must carry under EU Air OPS and the FAA rules, from first-aid and medical kits, fire extinguishers, crash axes and megaphones to emergency lighting, life jackets, rafts, survival kits and ELTs.

Emergency Evacuation

When to evacuate, the brace command and position, door arming and disarming, escape slides, exit row seating restrictions, how an evacuation is conducted and the break-in markings used by rescue crews.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Engine Failure and Engine Fire

Covers engine failure after V1 and after takeoff, the engine fire and severe damage drills, single-engine approach and landing, and loss of thrust on all engines, including in-flight relight.

ETOPS and Extended Diversion Time Operations

Covers EDTO/ETOPS operations far from en-route alternates, redispatch planning, ultra long range flights and the contingency procedures used in oceanic airspace such as the North Atlantic.

CPL · IR · ATPL

EU All-Weather Operations Rules (2022)

The all-weather operations rules that EASA introduced in October 2022: Type A and Type B approaches, operations with operational credits, SA CAT I and II, LVTO and SPA.LVO.

Flight Deck Security and Bomb Threats

The reinforced flight deck door and the rules for keeping it locked, normal and emergency access, secondary barriers, how bomb threats are assessed, bomb on board procedures and the least-risk bomb location.

Flight Training Maneuvers

Covers the performance and ground-reference maneuvers flown in private and commercial pilot training, short- and soft-field techniques, and the safety checks flown before maneuvering.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Forced Landing and Ditching

Covers off-aerodrome emergency landings, from precautionary and forced landings, field selection and the impossible turn to ditching technique and the life jackets, life rafts and survival equipment required over water.

From EU-OPS to Part-CAT: What Changed in EASA Operations Rules

How European airline rules moved from JAR-OPS and EU-OPS to EU Air OPS, and the main changes since: Part-CAT, the 2022 fuel and all-weather rules, GRF, NAT HLA and SERA updates.

PPL · CPL · IR · ATPL

Go-Around and Missed Approach

Explains when and how to fly a go-around, the associated callouts and policies, and variants including low approaches, low passes and engine-out missed approaches.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Ground Handling, Pushback and Engine Start

The aircraft turnaround and its ground support equipment, ground power and air, marshaling, chocks, gear pins and steering lockout, pushback, towing and powerback, and engine starts with ground or crossbleed air, including aborted starts and start fires.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

High-Altitude Operations

What changes when flying high: the atmosphere and physiology, pressurization and oxygen, high-altitude aerodynamics, weather at cruise levels and the FAA high-altitude endorsement.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

In-Flight Fire, Smoke and Fumes

Covers recognizing and handling smoke, fire and fumes on board, from electrical, avionics, galley, lavatory and lithium battery fires to smoke removal, fire classes, extinguishers and protective breathing equipment.

In-Flight Medical Emergencies

How cabin and flight crew manage illness and injury on board, the first aid and emergency medical kits and first-aid oxygen carried, ground-based medical advice, the diversion decision and the crew meal policies that protect the pilots.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Landing Gear, Flap and Trim Malfunctions

Recognizing gear, flap and trim failures, emergency gear extension, tower fly-bys, gear-up and partial gear landings, flight with the gear down, flapless and reduced flap landings, and runaway trim or stabilizer.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Landing Technique and Crosswind Operations

Covers the landing flare and touchdown, landing faults such as floating, ballooning and hard or long landings, and crosswind techniques for takeoff, landing and taxi.

PPL · CPL · IR · ATPL

Covers deviations from the cleared altitude or flight level, why they happen, and the altimeter cross-checks and crew practices that prevent them.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Low Visibility Operations

Covers the EASA and FAA frameworks for low visibility takeoffs and CAT II/III approaches, SA CAT I and SA CAT II, aerodrome low visibility procedures, alert height, fail-passive and fail-operational systems and the cockpit geometry that governs the visual segment.

Managing Non-Normal Situations and Diversion

Covers the principles for handling failures and emergencies, from aviate-navigate-communicate and cross-checked actions to deciding how urgently to land and where to divert.

PPL · CPL · IR · ATPL

Mountain Flying

Flying in and over mountains, covering winds, turbulence and mountain waves, density altitude, crossing ridges and valleys, and route and weather planning.

PPL · CPL · IR

What changes at night: the rules for night VFR and night ratings, aircraft lighting and equipment, night vision and illusions, and planning a night flight.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Noise Abatement Procedures

Covers the procedures used to reduce aircraft noise around aerodromes, including NADP departures, noise preferential runways and routes, and continuous descent operations.

Operational Control and Flight Dispatch

Covers how operators exercise operational control over flights through dispatchers, flight following and operations control centers, and the types of flight and approvals this applies to.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Operations Manual and Flight Crew Documentation

Covers the structure and purpose of the operator's operations manual and the manufacturer documents crews use, including the AFM/POH, FCOM, FCTM, cabin crew manual and airport planning data.

CPL · ATPL · Type rating

Pilot Flying and Pilot Monitoring

The two roles on a multi-crew flight deck, what the pilot flying and the pilot monitoring each do, how tasks are shared in each phase of flight, what active monitoring involves and how control passes from one pilot to the other.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Pre-flight Preparation and Routine Checks

The pre-flight information a pilot must study (NWKRAFT), the exterior walkaround, cockpit preparation, the flight control and taxi instrument checks, and the FREDA routine checks made en route.

ATPL · Type rating

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM)

RVSM airspace and approval, from the flight levels concerned, aircraft equipment and altimetry system error to height monitoring, crew procedures, phraseology and contingencies.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Refueling Safety and Fuel Emergencies

Covers safe refueling and defueling, from bonding, fueling zones and fueling with passengers on board to misfueling, sampling and contamination checks, and in-flight fuel exhaustion, starvation and leaks.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Runway Excursions

What runway excursions are, why aircraft overrun or veer off runways on takeoff and landing, the risk factors behind them and the operational, performance and infrastructure defenses against them.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Stabilized Approach

Covers the criteria that define a stabilized approach, the stabilization gates, approach energy management and the hazards of unstable, steep or below-path approaches.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Standard Operating Procedures and Checklists

Why SOPs exist, how normal, abnormal and supplementary procedures differ, how cockpit flows, challenge-and-response and read-and-do checklists are used and disciplined, and the place of memory items, touch drills and the QRH.

Takeoff Procedures and Rejected Takeoff

Covers takeoff data preparation and checks, rolling and intersection takeoffs, the go/no-go decision and rejected takeoff speed regimes, and rotation technique to avoid tail strikes.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Taxiing and Runway Incursion Prevention

Safe ground maneuvering of aircraft, from turning radius, wing growth and 180-degree runway turns to exterior lights and deflated tires, and the prevention of runway incursions, LAHSO conflicts and wrong-surface events.

Technical Log, MEL and Deferred Defects

The aircraft technical log and the release to service, how defects are deferred, the structure of the MEL and its no-go items, (M) and (O) procedures, rectification intervals, deactivation and INOP placards, and dispatch with inoperative flight recorders.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Unreliable Airspeed

Why airspeed indications become unreliable, how to recognize it, the memory items and pitch-and-power flying that follow, and the accidents that shaped the procedures.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Upset Prevention and Recovery

Covers loss of control in flight and how to prevent and recover from upsets, including nose-high and nose-low recoveries, stall and spin recovery, overspeed, and flying pitch and power with unreliable airspeed.

PPL · CPL · ATPL

Wake Turbulence and Jet Blast

Covers the generation and behavior of wake vortices, wake turbulence categories and separation minima, avoidance techniques, and the related hazards of jet blast and rotor downwash.

CPL · IR · ATPL

Weather Deviation Procedures

How crews deviate around thunderstorms and other weather in radar and oceanic airspace: requesting a deviation, the oceanic weather deviation and contingency procedures, strategic lateral offsets, the distances to keep and the use of weather radar.

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