After obtaining a private pilot license (PPL), a number of pilots consider raising their qualifications to a level that would allow them to fly for a living. For professional flying it is always necessary to obtain a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), and in most cases also an instrument rating. Aviatický Klub provides the required training (MEP, IR and CPL) allowing you to apply to the airlines or other commercial flying work. In cooperation with our partners we also provide multi-crew cooperation (MCC) training courses.
Before you can start training towards a professional pilot license, you must comply with certain pre-requisites, notably in terms of flying experience. A minimum of approx. 125 flying hours are required before you are able to commence CPL training, and you must have accumulated a total of at least 200 hours before applying for a commercial license. We offer personalised hour building packages aimed at consolidating your skills and improving your confidence while acquiring the necessary experience. We propose, for example, night flying (a night qualification being one of the requirements for a commercial license), cross-country flights within the Czech Republic and abroad, practise approaches to controlled airports, aerobatic flying, etc.
A Commercial Pilot Licence may be gained via two different routes: “integrated” or “modular” training, of which ATO Aviatický Klub only offers the latter as we believe it to be the most favorable option for our students. Modular training, aside from being cheaper, permits the candidate to work through the course at his or her own pace, be it quicker in case of those with the ability to learn fast, allowing them to start applying for jobs earlier and saving on incidental expenses such as accommodation and food, or at a slower pace for those with other responsibilities to attend or who are raising the funds for their training as they go. With modular training, it is possible to study the theory part via distance learning, further reducing costs.
If you are planning to train for the complete set of qualifications normally required to apply for commercial flying jobs (this is known as a “frozen ATPL” and consists of ATPL theory, CPL, IR, and MEP), you will have to work through the full ATPL theory course consisting of fourteen subjects, and sit an exam for each one of them at the offices of the Czech Civil Aviation Authority in Prague.
In case you are considering instead only one of the IR or CPL qualifications, the number of study topics is considerably reduced—however, you should weight this against the inconvenience and additional costs of having to resit some of the same subjects should you, at a latter date, decide to further your qualifications (e.g., by obtaining and IR having previously gained a CPL or vice-versa). For this reason, we generally recommend candidate pilots with commercial aspirations to take the full ATPL theory.
The Multi-Engine Piston (MEP) qualification does not require testing at the Civil Aviation Authority, consisting entirely of internal training and examination at our organization, including a short theory test related to multi-engine aircraft.