Taking EASA PPL theoretical exams in English outside of England.

[baleares]

I am currently taking a PPL(a) course in Spain and I am going to sit the theoretical exams here in English.

I would like to know if the exams will be exactly the same as the CAA exams or whether they will be made up of questions written by the Spanish examining body and translated into English.

Would love to know how the EASA theoretical exam system works for those taking the EASA PPL(a) in English abroad. Are questions borrowed from the CAA or do they make up their own?

I would really appreciate any insight. :8

[S-Works]

Depends on who the state issuing your licence will be. If its UK CAA then it will be UK CAA exams. It won't be the Spanish CAA as you can only take the exams at a Spanish CAA centre and they are only four times a year.

I offer UK CAA exams in Spain.

[patowalker]

Six sessions in Palma this year:

En la Oficina de Seguridad en Vuelo de Palma de Mallorca, se dispondrá de seis sesiones durante 2014:
Del 27 de enero al 7 de febrero.
Del 17 al 28 de marzo.
Del 12 al 23 de mayo.
Del 7 al 18 de julio.
Del 15 al 26 de septiembre.
Del 10 al 21 de noviembre.

I would imagine that AESA's English version has been translated from the Spanish original.

[S-Works]

Looks like they have added some sessions. Still not exactly on demand!

I am also told that the AESA exams are not available in English. It's why we do so many exam sittings.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Not a problem if you want to do EASA exams in English outside of England. There are numerous schools in Scotland and several in Wales.

G

[mad_jock]

Don`t say that G the welsh assembly with want them translated into welsh.

[baleares]

The AESA (Spanish equivalent of CAA) exams are definitely available in English, I have a paper from them in front of me telling me so.

I really would like to know if the English version are just recycled CAA questions or whether they are from the Spanish interpretation of the syllabus and translated. I would have though it would be much cheaper for them to use CAA questions rather than pay for translation. I hope so, anyway, as:

I have been doing some practice questions from AESA and it seems pretty different and often much harder than the typical CAA questions I have found on the internet.

I wonder how much scope for interpretation there is of the AESA syllabus and how 'standard' the international versions are.

[S-Works]

Exam papers are national not EASA so the Spanish papers will not be the same as the UK papers.

I had no idea they had been translated though.

[xrayalpha]

Does this mean that my Spanish wife can ask the UK CAA for her exams to be translated too?

[S-Works]

Its unusual for them to be translated. As they are national papers rather than EASA they are normally only in the national language. I had a guy here last week doing Ground school and Exams from Norway because the Norwegian exams are not available in English.

Most European CAA's I have encountered will accept the UK PPL exams in lieu of national exams.

[patowalker]

The AESA theory exams manual, MUPET (!), makes it clear that the questions come from the ECQB, where they will be available in English, so there is no reason for them to get them from the CAA.

http://www.senasa.es/demosfcl/pdf/MUPET.pdf

Las preguntas que se pueden formular a los alumnos/as que se someten a exámenes para la obtención de licencias de piloto reguladas por la reglamentación AirCrew están almacenadas en el ECQB, (European Central Question Bank = Banco Central Europeo de Preguntas), custodiado por las Autoridades de la EASA y al que tienen acceso exclusivamente y en determinadas condiciones las Autoridades Nacionales. La construcción de las preguntas obedece a un procedimiento establecido por las propias Autoridades Europeas.

[baleares]

thanks very much for that, great link.

I am not totally sure that this refers to PPL rather than CPL, ATPL etc..

I heard a rumour that the PPL questions are not drawn from the the ECQB but hopefully not!

[patowalker]

Definitely includes PPL.

5. ALCANCE
LICENCIAS, CERTIFICADOS Y HABILITACIONES A QUE SE REFIERE EL PROGRAMA
...
ii.
Licencias privadas
Licencia de Piloto privado de avión
Licencia de Piloto privado de helicóptero
...

[mad_jock]

Bose there are a couple now that don't even do the exams in the local lingo, only in English after EASA.

I had a bit of a laugh when I found that out. The local caa dude said that they couldn't be bothered making there own up for EASA so got the UK ones. And then the boss decided that all the kids start learning English from the age of 5 and they will have to fly internationally otherwise there is no point having a license. And as there are not a lot of people speak the local lingo outside the country they might as well have the exams in English. And from the pilots I have heard there ICAO 4 is pretty well ICAO 5 everywhere else. Apparently everyone gets 4 on the first shot at the test and then gets 5-6 afterwards. The local kids can have a conversation in English at 7-8 so I don't think the idea is to far fetched.

[patowalker]

I have been doing some practice questions from AESA and it seems pretty different and often much harder than the typical CAA questions I have found on the internet.

This explains it.

V. Annex VI to Regulation (EU) 1178/2011 - Part-ARA - Subpart FCL, Section III, Theoretical Knowledge Examinations.
Exemption Reference – E3573
1. The Civil Aviation Authority (“the CAA”), on behalf of the United Kingdom, pursuant to article 14(4) of Regulation (EC) No. 216/2008, exempts the CAA from the requirement at ARA.FCL.300(b)(2) of Annex VI of Regulation (EU) No.1178/2011 (Part-ARA) that the examination questions for the qualifications specified in the requirement shall be drawn from the European Central Question Bank provided that the examinations shall comprise questions taken from the UK JAR-FCL Question Bank.
2. This Exemption has effect from 24 April 2013 until the derogation under Article 14(6) of Regulation (EC) No. 216/2008 applies, unless previously revoked.
C Whittaker
For the Civil Aviation Authority 24 April 2013

[baleares]

fantastic, thanks so much patowalker!

You wouldn't know where I could find example/practice questions from the PPL ECQB by any chance!

I am registered with airquiz.com and pplcrusier.com.. but I really am not at all sure of the provenance of their questions.

many thanks for your help

[xrayalpha]

So, to get this correct:

To get an EASA licence you need to pass EASA exams - and all the questions, from a central, European, resource, are available in several European languages, including English.

But... the UK CAA have given themselves a dispensation to write their own questions.

And... now other EU countries who want questions in the English language are using the UK CAA questions rather than the proper EASA ones?

You can't make this up!

[patowalker]

baleares
I think you will be alright with those two. All recent updates must come from ECBQ 01, which started out as the JAR QB.

Good luck!

PM if you need anything looked up in Spanish.

xrayalfa

EASA took over the JAR question bank and it morphed into the ECQB. The UK is simply using the JAR question bank until it adopts the ECQB.

Some like to think that other EASA countries use the UK CAA questions, but that is not strictly correct. They were JAR questions and now they are EASA questions.

[Whopity]

To get an EASA licence you need to pass EASA exams - and all the questions, from a central, European, resourceThe JAA never produced a PPL question bank neither has EASA. The closest you could get to that is to extract quesions from the ATPL CQB that might be deemed to be at PPL level.

[patowalker]

That's interesting. The Spanish definitely say their PPL on-line theory exams, which are the only ones acceptable for a Spanish licence, come from the ECQB.

On the other hand the Poles are clear that theirs do not.

Exams for CPL (A) / (As) / (H) pilot license an airline transport pilot ATPL (A) / (H), a multi-crew pilot MPL and IR (A) / (As) / (H) rating will be provided in English, based on the European Central Question Bank O1.

Exams for private pilot license PPL (A) / (As) / (H) glider pilot SPL, balloon pilot BPL, recreational pilot LAPL (A) / (H) / (S) / (B) will be held in Polish based on the National Question Bank. PPL (A) exam is available in English.

I suspect the JAA CBQ and the ECQB include a lot of material from the UK nation question bank anyway.

[S-Works]

The Spanish CAA accept the UK exams for a Spanish licence......

[patowalker]

Fine. I am only repeating what I read in AESA's on-line theory exam manual, dated April 2013. Having lived in ex-Spanish colonies for most of my life, I would not be surprised if the published rules did not match current practice.

[S-Works]

I am Head of Training for a school in Spain. The stuff I have seen with the Spanish CAA bewilders me at times.

I have had several students who have done UK exams and then finished off with a Spanish licence with the UK exams being accepted.

The main issue with the Spanish exams is they only do them at test centres on specific fixed dates. It used to be 4 times a year but your link now suggests 6 which is an improvement but still not really conducive to the on demand type training that PPLs require.

Another example of dealing with ENAC, I did a type rating renewal for one of our company pilots not so long ago and our SOPS require a navigation section regardless of whether its needed or not. I filled in the test paperwork accordingly and the Spanish rejected it saying they had not been given evidence of the ten sectors despite the navigation requirements being covered as part of the test. Took ages of arguing with them to get them to agree.

[patowalker]

The main issue with the Spanish exams is they only do them at test centres on specific fixed dates.The intention is to change that to "when students are ready to take them", but that will be mañana, I suppose.

Además se pretende con este Programa facilitar a los alumnos/as la posibilidad de examinarse cuando reúnan las condiciones y estén preparados, sin limitación de convocatorias cerradas en determinadas fechas de calendario.


Having only three locations in Spain where students can take the on-line exams seems daft, but not surprising.