What the Training Centre is
The Training Centre is a set of theory exams. Sit a paper, answer the questions, and if you reach the pass mark you are issued a credential that appears on your profile and on a certificate you can download. There are licences, ratings and aircraft type ratings, and they form a ladder: each one opens the next.
Where the questions come from
The question banks are written from published EASA and FAA material: the same subject areas a real student works through for the equivalent licence. Air law, meteorology, navigation, principles of flight, human performance, operational procedures and aircraft systems. Every question carries an explanation, which you see after the paper is marked whether you answered it correctly or not.
Each exam has a bank of roughly a hundred questions and draws a fresh selection for every paper, so no two sittings are the same.
Sitting an exam
| How it works | |
|---|---|
| Paper length | 20 questions, multiple choice, one answer from four. The instructor rating is 25. |
| Pass mark | 75%, so 15 of 20. The instructor rating asks for 80%. |
| Time limit | 30 minutes, 40 for the instructor rating. The clock is shown on the paper. |
| If the clock runs out | The paper is marked as it stands. Whatever you had answered counts; the rest are marked wrong. |
| Retries | Unlimited. There is no penalty for failing and no limit on how many times you sit an exam. |
| Waiting time | After a failed or expired paper that exam is closed to you for 24 hours, 48 for the instructor rating. Other exams stay open, so you are never stuck. |
Once you hold a credential you keep it. There is no expiry, no renewal and no revalidation.
The ladder
Three licences run up the middle, with the ratings and the type ratings branching off. The progression tree on the Training Centre page shows where you stand at a glance.
| Credential | What it asks for first |
|---|---|
| Private Pilot Licence (PPL) | 1 flight logged. The root of the tree. |
| Instrument, Multi-Engine, Night and Seaplane ratings | The PPL. All four open together and may be taken in any order. |
| Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) | The PPL, any one rating, and 10 flights logged. |
| Type ratings | The CPL. Any of them, in any order. |
| Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) | The CPL, any two type ratings, and 50 flights logged. |
| Flight Instructor Rating (CFI) | The ATPL, any five type ratings, and 500 hours logged. |
Flights and hours counted here are the ones on your JetStream Virtual record. A type rating in the Training Centre is not tied to the aircraft you actually fly: you may sit the Boeing 777 paper without ever having flown one, and you may fly the 777 without holding it.
Your credentials
Everything you hold appears in three places: as a badge on the Training Centre page, as a badge on your public profile, and as a certificate. The certificate is a PDF, is emailed to you when you pass, and can be downloaded again at any time from the exam's own page.
If a question looks wrong
These banks are large and written by people, and occasionally a question will not sit right. The wording may be ambiguous, the answer key may look wrong, or a question may be correct under one authority's rules and not the other's. If one raises your eyebrows, say so.
On the results page, every question you were asked has a Report this question option underneath it. Use it and tell us what you think is wrong, in as much detail as you can: which answer you believe is correct and why, and the rule or reference you are going on if you have one. The report goes straight to the training staff.
What happens next:
- Nothing about your paper changes when you file a report. Your mark stands as it is while the question is looked at.
- If the challenge is upheld, the question is withdrawn from the bank and every paper that ever carried it is marked again with that question credited. Nobody loses a mark they already had. If a re-mark takes an old paper of yours up to the pass mark, the credential and its certificate are issued to you then and there.
- If the challenge is dismissed, the question stays in the bank. You may be sent a note explaining why.
- You can report the same question only once while that report is open, so there is no need to file it twice.
Reporting a question is not held against you in any way, and it is the fastest way for us to find the handful of questions that need fixing. If something looks off, please do use it.
Questions we get asked
Does a licence unlock aircraft? No. Nothing in the Training Centre restricts what you may book or fly.
Do the exams affect my rank? No. Rank comes from the hours you fly. The two are separate.
Can I re-sit an exam I have already passed? No. Once a credential is held it stays held, and the exam closes.
Is there a study guide? Not a formal one. The explanation shown after every question is the study material: fail a paper, read the explanations, and sit it again tomorrow.