CPL, IR, and MCC
 

well this question is basicaly what are the above???!!!! what do they entail, at what part of the courses do i do them, where do i do them - do i do them at oats? or with my ppl?

Brief descriptions (I am assuming that you wish to fly for an airline some day):

CPL - Commercial Pilots Licence - allows you to be paid for flying e.g. airline flying.

IR - Instrument Rating - allows you to fly in the strictest controlled airspace (e.g. the airspace around Heathrow) under what's known as Instrument Flight Rules (IFR).

MCC - Multi-Crew Cooperation - roughly 20 hours sim time and 35 hours ground school time. You need to have it in order to add your first multi-pilot type rating to your licence (an aircraft which requires 2 pilots to fly it).

The normal way to do it is PPL, Hours Building, ATPL written exams, CPL and Multi-Engine Rating and then the IR. These are musts if you plan to fly for an airline. Once you have done your ATPL theoretical knowledge exams, and obtained your CPL/IR, you are in a position to get an airline job.

Some people do the MCC course after their IR in order to improve their chances of being offered a job. Others do it when they join their first airline.

You can either do these courses at OATS or at any other Flying Training Organisation approved by the CAA to conduct them. There are probably around 15-20 that offer the CPL/IR and about 8 that offer MCC.

From reading a few of your other posts, I would advise you to get hold of a copy of 'How To Become A Commercial Pilot' by Clive Hughes. It is available from all aviation retailers such as Transair (www.transair.co.uk).

Good luck.

cheers thats a great help, its cleared a few things up for me. just one thing what things do i do at oats (if i go there)? and what do i do with my ppl? and do i do some when/if i join an airline? cheers.

As THTF says,...BUY THE BOOK!!!
It will give you all the basics you need and save a lot of space here!
You will find details at:

www.ppl-atpl.demon.co.uk

Good luck!

The ab-initio course at OATS consists of three components
1. Ground study & flying tuition with exams/flying tests for the purpose of licence issue.(CPL)
2. Flying training/tests in order to gain Multi Engine Class Rating & Instrument Rating.
3. MCC training.

Don't do a PPL course if you intend taking this training route.
Do buy the book, and have a few hours flying prior to spending a very substantial amount of dosh!
Best of luck.

F3

If you dont mind me asking, can one not do a PPL and then move onto an ab-initio course and inform the school you hold a PPL. Or am I getting it wrong and should understand that an ab-initio course if for full-timers and not people who want to modular.

Just to let you know, I'm doing my PPL and hope do go on a modular course.

Thanks for any response anyone,

DWHLO?

DWHLO,- Sorry if I was misleading in any way.I wasn't thinking along the modular route- just giving info on the route I took (CAP 509) and pointing out one is not required to hold a PPL to commence the course (Ab-initio ; From The Beginning).
Yes you do a PPL taking Modular route, but as I understand it the Ab-initio course that has replaced CAP 509 consists of a similar sequence of events, but I stand to be corrected!

The Ab-initio course means simply that - from beginning (or something like that). If you take a PPL and then start the course you may only have ~10 hours attributed to it, not the 45+ which you have done for your PPL

Hope this helps, Gaz1

How is the modular course done, does it have to be with the same flying/training school. Can one take the ATPL exams, then use different schools for different parts? Also, how many hours do I need to sit the ATPL written exams? I've got 88

ickle.

Ab-initio means you are a Virgin, you haven't done it before.

There are two types of course, Integrated and Modular. Integrated is a continuous course where modular is a series of short courses.