Top 30 PPL Air Law Questions (with EASA-Sourced Answers)

EASA PPL Air Law is the easiest of the nine papers to leave until last, and the worst one to revise that way. It is not conceptually hard — it is precise, and precision is what a multiple-choice paper tests well. You need 75% to pass it, and all the papers for the licence must be passed within 18 months of your first attempt (FCL.025). These are 30 questions on the material that genuinely appears: the Chicago Convention and the ICAO Annexes, SERA right of way, airspace and VMC minima, altimeter settings, low flying and signals, documents, currency, flight plans and reporting. Every answer names the regulation or ICAO document behind it, so you can check us — and so you know where to look when the same rule turns up in different words.

International law: Chicago, ICAO and the EASA system

Where the rules come from, and how to read the reference at the end of an answer. For how this paper sits among the nine PPL theory subjects, start there.

1. Which convention created international civil aviation law, and what do the ICAO Annexes do? The Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed at Chicago in 1944, and the organisation it created, ICAO. Three of its articles are examined more than the rest: each state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory (Article 1); an aircraft may be on the register of only one state at a time, though the registration may be transferred (Article 18); and a state that cannot comply with an ICAO Standard files a difference under Article 38, which is then published in its AIP. The technical detail lives in the Annexes, adopted as Standards and Recommended Practices. Learn the numbers you actually meet: 1 Personnel Licensing, 2 Rules of the Air, 3 Meteorological Service, 6 Operation of Aircraft, 7 Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks, 8 Airworthiness, 11 Air Traffic Services, 12 Search and Rescue, 13 Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, 14 Aerodromes, 15 Aeronautical Information Services, 19 Safety Management.

2. Which regulation contains the rules of the air in Europe, and what sits above and beside it? SERA, Regulation (EU) No 923/2012, the European transposition of ICAO Annex 2. Above it sits the Basic Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, which gives EASA its remit; beside it sit the implementing regulations you meet daily — 1178/2011 (Part-FCL: licensing and medicals), 965/2012 (air operations, Part-NCO for the flying you do) and 376/2014 (occurrence reporting). As EU regulations they apply directly in every member state: they are not transposed into national law, they are the law. EASA also issues AMC and GM — Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material — and neither is law: AMC describes one accepted way to comply, GM only explains. National rules survive where the regulation delegates a decision to the competent authority — night VFR conditions, transition altitudes, prescribed visibility reductions — and those appear in the state's AIP.

3. What do an aircraft's nationality and registration marks tell you, and what proves them? ICAO Annex 7 is the source. The state of registry allocates a nationality mark and a registration mark, written with a hyphen between them — G-, D-, F-, OO-, EI-, HB- and the rest. They are displayed on the wings and on either the fuselage or the vertical tail surfaces, in a single colour contrasting with the background, and must be kept clean and legible; an identification plate carrying the same marks is fixed to the aircraft near the main entrance. The certificate of registration that proves the entry is carried on board (NCO.GEN.135), and under Chicago Article 18 an aircraft cannot be validly registered in more than one state at a time. Do not confuse the two certificates: registration says whose law the aircraft flies under, airworthiness says it may fly at all.

Rules of the air and right of way (SERA)

Who moves, and who holds. All references are to SERA, Regulation (EU) No 923/2012.

4. Does right of way let you ignore the other aircraft? No. SERA.3201 says nothing in the rules relieves the pilot-in-command of the responsibility to take the action best calculated to avoid a collision, and SERA.3205 forbids flying so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard. SERA.3210 then sets the duties: the aircraft with right of way maintains its heading and speed, so that it can be predicted (SERA.3210(a)); an aircraft that is aware that another's manoeuvrability is impaired gives way to it (SERA.3210(b)); and the one giving way must not pass over, under or in front of the other unless it passes well clear, and must allow for wake turbulence (SERA.3210(c)).

5. Two aircraft are converging at about the same level. Who gives way? The one with the other on its right (SERA.3210(c)(2)) — but the category hierarchy overrides that, and the regulation's word is aircraft, not aeroplanes. Power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft, helicopters included, give way to airships, sailplanes and balloons; airships give way to sailplanes and balloons; sailplanes give way to balloons. Power-driven aircraft also give way to anything seen to be towing another aircraft or an object. Learn the chain — least manoeuvrable wins — not the pairs.

6. What is the action head-on, and what counts as overtaking? Head-on or approximately so with a risk of collision, both alter heading to the right and neither has right of way (SERA.3210(c)(1)). An overtaking aircraft approaches from the rear on a line less than 70° from the plane of symmetry of the aircraft ahead — the sector in which neither forward navigation light is visible (SERA.3210(c)(3)). The overtaken aircraft has right of way; the overtaker alters heading to the right and keeps clear, and no later change in relative position removes that duty.

7. Two aircraft are approaching an aerodrome to land. Who has priority? An aircraft in flight, or operating on the ground or water, gives way to aircraft landing or in the final stages of an approach to land (SERA.3210(c)(4)). Between heavier-than-air aircraft approaching to land, the higher gives way to the lower — but the lower must not use that to cut in front of, or overtake, an aircraft in the final stages of an approach. Power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft, again including helicopters, give way to sailplanes, and everyone gives way to an aircraft compelled to land.

8. Who gives way on the ground? An aircraft taxiing on the manoeuvring area gives way to aircraft taking off or about to take off (SERA.3210(c)(5)). Between two taxiing aircraft the surface-movement rules apply (SERA.3210(d)(1)): head-on, both stop or, where practicable, alter course to the right; converging, the one with the other on its right gives way; the overtaken aircraft has right of way. The same paragraph fixes the holds — stop at every runway-holding position unless the aerodrome control tower authorises otherwise, and at any lighted stop bar until the lights go out.

Airspace classes and VFR weather minima

Where you may fly and in what weather. Classification is SERA Appendix 4; the minima are SERA.5001, Table S5-1.

9. Name the seven airspace classes, and say where a VFR flight needs a clearance and a radio. Class by class, from SERA Appendix 4.

The distinction examined most is C against D: in Class C a VFR flight is separated from IFR, in Class D it is only told about it. The same appendix answers the second half of the question: a VFR flight needs an ATC clearance in Classes B, C and D, and continuous air-ground voice communication in the same three. Classes E, F and G require neither under SERA, though states overlay radio and transponder mandatory zones on top. Class E is still controlled airspace — IFR traffic is in it on clearances, separated only from other IFR — so you can share it with an aeroplane in cloud without either of you talking.

10. State the VFR visibility and distance-from-cloud minima. SERA.5001, Table S5-1.

11. What does "whichever is the higher" mean, and what changes in Classes F and G? Two separate ideas, which the paper likes to fuse. First the band: its top is 3000 ft AMSL or 1000 ft above the terrain, whichever is the higher, so over ground rising to 2500 ft the top of the band is 3500 ft AMSL, not 3000 ft. Second the relaxation: inside that band, and only in Classes F and G, the distance from cloud becomes clear of cloud with the surface in sight — the 5 km flight visibility is untouched. Separately again, the competent authority may permit flight visibilities down to 1500 m, or 800 m for helicopters, where speeds are low enough to see and avoid in time or traffic density is low (SERA.5001).

12. What is Special VFR, and when do you need it? Without an SVFR clearance a VFR flight may not take off, land or join the circuit at an aerodrome inside a control zone when the ceiling is below 450 m (1500 ft) or the ground visibility below 5 km (SERA.5005(b)). SVFR authorises operation in a control zone below VMC (SERA.5010): clear of cloud, surface in sight, flight visibility at least 1500 m — 800 m for helicopters — at 140 kt IAS or less. ATC may issue it by day only unless the competent authority permits otherwise, with ground visibility at least 1500 m and a ceiling at least 180 m (600 ft).

13. What upper limit and speed limit apply to VFR? VFR shall not be operated above FL195; between FL195 and FL285 only in airspace reserved for it, where the competent authority authorises this (SERA.5005). Below 3050 m (10 000 ft) AMSL, 250 kt IAS is the maximum for VFR in Class C and for all flights in Classes D, E, F and G — it is the speed limitation column of SERA Appendix 4 — and SERA sets no such limit in Classes A and B.

Altimeter setting procedures and cruising levels

The topic that produces the most confidently wrong answers in the paper.

14. What do QNH, QFE and 1013 each give you? QNH makes the altimeter read aerodrome elevation on the ground there, so in flight it reads altitude, the distance above mean sea level. QFE makes it read zero on the aerodrome, so in flight it reads height above that datum. The standard setting, 1013.2 hPa (29.92 inHg), gives a flight level — a pressure surface, not a distance above anything physical. En-route terrain clearance is worked from QNH. The definitions are in SERA Article 2, the procedure for using them in SERA.8015, and the detail behind both in ICAO Doc 8168 (PANS-OPS).

15. Define transition altitude, level and layer, say when you change setting, and explain why the transition level moves. The transition altitude is the altitude at or below which vertical position is controlled by reference to altitudes — QNH. The transition level is the lowest flight level available above it; the layer is the airspace between the two. Climbing, set 1013 passing the transition altitude; descending, set QNH passing the transition level. Inside the layer, vertical position is expressed as flight levels when climbing and altitudes when descending (SERA.8015), and nobody cruises there. The transition altitude is a fixed published figure — per aerodrome or TMA, so read it off the plate — while flight levels are pressure surfaces that move with the actual pressure: on a low QNH a given flight level sits lower in real terms, so ATC nominates a higher transition level to preserve the gap, and on a high QNH it comes back down. The layer is therefore not a fixed 1000 ft deep.

16. Which altimeter errors put aircraft into terrain, and in which direction? Fly towards lower pressure on an unchanged subscale and the altimeter over-reads: you are lower than it indicates. Fly into air colder than standard and it also over-reads, because the pressure levels have compressed downwards and your true altitude is below the indication. "High to low, or hot to cold, look out below" covers both. The familiar 27 ft per hectopascal near sea level is a rule of thumb, not a regulation, and it grows with altitude as density falls; the cold-temperature corrections themselves are tabulated in ICAO Doc 8168 (PANS-OPS).

17. What are the VFR cruising levels, and when do they apply? VFR flights in level cruising flight above 900 m (3000 ft) above the ground or water, or a higher datum set by the competent authority, use a level appropriate to the track (SERA.5005 and SERA Appendix 3). On a magnetic track of 000° to 179°, VFR uses the odd thousands plus 500 ft: 3500 ft or FL35, 5500 ft or FL55, 7500 ft or FL75. On 180° to 359°, the even thousands plus 500 ft: 4500 ft or FL45, 6500 ft or FL65, 8500 ft or FL85. Four traps: it is track, not heading; magnetic, not true; it binds level cruise only, so climbing through a level is not a breach; and the level is an altitude on QNH below the transition altitude — 3500 ft, not FL35 — with flight levels used only above the transition level. See variation and deviation.

Low flying, the circuit, lights and signals

The rules that apply within sight of the ground, and the signals that talk for a dead radio.

18. How low may you legally fly? Except when necessary for take-off or landing, or by permission of the competent authority, a VFR flight shall not be flown (SERA.5005(f)) over the congested areas of cities, towns or settlements, or over an open-air assembly of persons, at less than 300 m (1000 ft) above the highest obstacle within a radius of 600 m of the aircraft; and elsewhere, at less than 150 m (500 ft) above the ground or water, or 150 m (500 ft) above the highest obstacle within a radius of 150 m (500 ft) of the aircraft. Both limbs carry an obstacle datum, so the real distinction is the radius: 600 m over a congested area, 150 m everywhere else. Over congested areas and open-air assemblies only, SERA.3105 adds a qualitative test on top of the figure — the height must allow a landing to be made without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface should an emergency arise. It does not follow you over open country.

19. What does SERA require of you in the circuit? SERA.3225 requires an aircraft operated on or in the vicinity of an aerodrome to observe other aerodrome traffic to avoid collision; to conform with, or keep clear of, the pattern of traffic formed by other aircraft; except for balloons, to make all turns to the left when approaching to land and after take-off, unless otherwise indicated or instructed by ATC; and to land and take off into wind unless safety, the runway configuration or air traffic considerations make another direction preferable.

20. Which lights must be displayed, and when? Three requirements, and the paper tests the one students skip (SERA.3215). From sunset to sunrise, or any other period the competent authority prescribes, an aircraft in flight displays anti-collision lights and — except in the case of balloons — navigation lights, and no other light likely to be mistaken for them. By day as well, an aircraft in flight that is fitted with anti-collision lights shall display them: the anti-collision requirement is emphatically not a night-only rule, and that is the classic bank question. On the movement area at night an aircraft displays navigation lights, lights marking the extremities of its structure unless it is stationary and otherwise adequately illuminated, and, if its engines are running, lights indicating that fact — and an aircraft on the movement area fitted with anti-collision lights shows those by day too. The pilot may switch off or reduce the intensity of any flashing light that would subject an outside observer to harmful dazzle or interfere with the performance of duties. Navigation lights are red on the left wingtip, green on the right, white astern, each forward light covering 110° from the nose and the white light the remaining 140°, which is where the 70° overtaking sector comes from. Beware the two definitions: lights are required from sunset, but night runs from the end of evening civil twilight to the beginning of morning civil twilight.

21. What do the ATC light signals and the signals in the signal area mean? Both sets are in SERA Appendix 1. Learn the light signals as two columns, because each colour means different things in the air and on the ground.

Acknowledge by rocking the wings by day — not expected on base leg or final — and at night by flashing the landing lights twice, or the navigation lights if none are fitted. The ground signals cost nothing to learn and appear every year.

One marking that is not in the signal area at all, but is asked alongside these: a runway designator is the magnetic direction of the runway centreline rounded to the nearest ten degrees and written as two digits — 09 covers 085°M to 094°M — with L, C or R added where the runways are parallel (ICAO Annex 14).

22. You are intercepted. What do the signals mean and what do you do? The signals are in SERA Appendix 1, following ICAO Annex 2, and you are required to carry them on board (NCO.GEN.135) precisely because nobody recalls them under stress. The intercepting aircraft takes station slightly above, ahead and normally to your left, rocks its wings and flashes its navigation lights at irregular intervals, then makes a slow level turn onto the required heading: you have been intercepted, follow me. You answer by rocking your wings, flashing your navigation lights and following. An abrupt breakaway manoeuvre — a climbing turn of 90° or more without crossing your line of flight — means you may proceed; acknowledge by rocking your wings. Lowering the landing gear, showing steady landing lights and overflying the runway means land at this aerodrome. If you cannot comply, flash all available lights irregularly. Alongside the visual signals: follow the intercepting aircraft's instructions, notify the ATS unit you are working with, attempt contact on the emergency frequency 121.5 MHz giving your identity, position and the nature of the flight, and select 7700 unless the ATS unit instructs otherwise. If radio instructions from any other source conflict with the visual instructions, keep complying with the visual ones and ask immediately for clarification.

Documents, licensing and currency

Paperwork: aircraft documents from Part-NCO of Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, pilot documents and currency from Part-FCL.

23. What documents must be carried in the aeroplane? NCO.GEN.135 lists them for a non-commercial flight with an other-than-complex motor-powered aircraft: the flight manual or equivalent; the original certificate of registration; the original certificate of airworthiness; the noise certificate; the list of specific approvals; the aircraft radio licence, if applicable; the third-party liability insurance certificate required by Regulation (EC) No 785/2004; the journey log or equivalent; details of the filed ATS flight plan, if applicable; current and suitable aeronautical charts for the route and for any route along which the flight might reasonably be diverted; the procedures and visual signals for use by intercepting and intercepted aircraft; the MEL or CDL, where one applies; and any other documentation pertinent to the flight or required by the states concerned. Note what is not on the Part-NCO list: search and rescue information for the areas overflown is required of commercial and complex operations (CAT.GEN.MPA.180, NCC.GEN.140), and "which of these need not be carried on a private flight?" is a stock question built on exactly that difference.

24. What must the pilot carry, and how long is a Class 2 medical valid? FCL.045 requires a valid licence and medical certificate whenever the licence privileges are exercised, plus photographic identification; a student also carries the instructor's authorisation on solo cross-country flights. Class 2 validity under MED.A.045 is 60 months until the holder reaches 40, 24 months between 40 and 50, and 12 months after 50. The transitional wording is what gets asked: a certificate issued before the 40th birthday ceases to be valid once the holder reaches 42, and one issued before the 50th ceases at 51.

25. State the 90-day rule. Under FCL.060(b) a pilot shall not operate an aircraft in commercial air transport, or carrying passengers, as pilot-in-command or co-pilot unless, in the preceding 90 days, they have carried out at least three take-offs, approaches and landings on an aircraft of the same type or class, or in a full flight simulator representing it. For a PPL holder the practical effect is that the rule bites only with passengers on board — solo flying is unaffected — but do not learn it as a passengers-only rule, because it also binds a commercial air transport flight with nobody in the back. To carry passengers at night as pilot-in-command you additionally need one of those take-offs, approaches and landings to have been at night as pilot flying, unless you hold an instrument rating.

26. How is a single-engine piston class rating revalidated? Class and type ratings are valid for one year, except single-pilot single-engine class ratings, which are valid for two years (FCL.740). FCL.740.A(b)(1) gives two routes for single-engine piston class ratings and TMG ratings: pass a proficiency check within the 3 months immediately preceding the expiry date; or, within the 12 months preceding it, complete 12 hours of flight time in the relevant class including 6 hours as pilot-in-command, 12 take-offs and 12 landings, plus a refresher training flight of at least 1 hour with an instructor. That training flight is dispensed with if you have passed a proficiency check, skill test or assessment of competence in any other class or type. Let the rating lapse and you need renewal instead — refresher training as determined by an ATO or DTO, then a proficiency check.

Flight plans, communications failure and reporting

Telling somebody where you are, what has failed, and what went wrong.

27. When must a flight plan be filed, and how early? SERA.4001(b) requires one before any flight, or part of one, to be provided with air traffic control service; any IFR flight in advisory airspace; any flight in areas or on routes designated by the competent authority to facilitate flight information, alerting and search and rescue, or to avoid the possible need for interception; any flight across an international border, unless the states concerned prescribe otherwise; and any flight planned at night that leaves the vicinity of an aerodrome. The timing rule is SERA.4001(d), and it is scoped rather than universal: a plan for a flight crossing an international border, or for one to be provided with air traffic control or advisory service, shall be submitted at least 60 minutes before departure — unless the competent authority has prescribed a shorter period for domestic VFR flights, which many have, so read the AIP before you assume the hour applies to your local navigation exercise. Submitted in the air, it must reach the ATS unit at least 10 minutes before the aircraft is estimated to reach the intended point of entry into a control or advisory area, or the point of crossing an airway or advisory route.

28. What happens if you forget to close a flight plan? SERA.4020 requires an arrival report as soon as practicable after landing, made to the ATS unit at the arrival aerodrome, for any flight for which a plan was submitted; where there is no such unit, it goes to the nearest one by the quickest means available. Forget, and the alerting service starts without you. The phases come from ICAO Annex 11 and are carried into SERA: the uncertainty phase, INCERFA, when no communication has been received within 30 minutes of the time one should have been, or when an aircraft fails to arrive within 30 minutes of its last notified estimated time of arrival; then the alert phase, ALERFA, and the distress phase, DETRESFA — by which point people are searching for an aeroplane that is in its hangar.

29. Radio failure in VMC — what do you do, and what do you squawk? Squawk 7600, continue in visual meteorological conditions, land at the nearest suitable aerodrome and report your arrival by the most expeditious means to the appropriate ATC unit — the ICAO Annex 2 communication failure procedure, carried across into SERA. Before assuming failure, work the SERA Section 14 drill: another frequency, then other aircraft or aeronautical stations, then transmit blind. The codes are 7500 unlawful interference, 7600 radio failure, 7700 emergency. SERA.13001 does not oblige you to carry a transponder — carriage is imposed, where it is imposed at all, by national equipment rules and transponder mandatory zones — but if one is carried and serviceable it shall be operated at all times in flight, inside or outside SSR airspace; and SERA.13005 makes 7000 the conspicuity code in the absence of ATC direction.

30. What is an accident, and what must be reported, to whom and by when? Regulation (EU) No 996/2010 governs investigation, and the definition in its Article 2 is the one examined. An accident is an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which, for a manned aircraft, takes place between the moment any person boards it intending flight and the moment all such persons have disembarked, in which a person is fatally or seriously injured, or the aircraft sustains damage or structural failure adversely affecting its structural strength, performance or flight characteristics and normally requiring major repair or replacement, or the aircraft is missing or completely inaccessible. The exclusions are where the marks are. Damage limited to a single engine, its cowlings or accessories, or to propellers, wing tips, antennas, probes, vanes, tyres, brakes, wheels, fairings, panels, landing gear doors, windscreens or the aircraft skin, and minor dents or puncture holes, is not an accident; neither are injuries from natural causes, injuries that are self-inflicted or inflicted by others, nor injuries to stowaways hiding outside the areas normally available to passengers and crew. A fatal injury is death within 30 days of the accident; a serious incident is one involving circumstances indicating a high probability of an accident. Both go to the safety investigation authority of the state of occurrence. Regulation (EU) No 376/2014 covers the rest, its reportable list in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1018.