EASA PPL Flight Training Syllabus: What You'll Learn from Your First Lesson to the Skill Test
Your first flying lesson can feel busy even when the instructor is handling most of the flight. Within the same course, you will eventually plan a journey, take the aeroplane away on your own and explain your decisions to an examiner. The PPL flight training syllabus builds towards that independence in manageable stages.
This guide follows the aeroplane route, the EASA PPL(A). It explains what the exercises are teaching you and how they connect, from learning the controls to preparing for the skill test. Your school will adapt the sequence to your progress, the weather and the aircraft you fly.
Contents
How the course is organised
Flight training takes place at an approved training organisation (ATO) or a declared training organisation (DTO). The school uses a training programme based on the official syllabus, with records showing the exercises completed and the standard you have reached. Ask your instructor to explain those records early in the course, so you can understand what you are working towards.
The exercise numbers provide a reference and a broad teaching sequence. They do not mean that every lesson must introduce exactly one new exercise. A flight might combine climbing practice with turns and a return through the circuit. An unsuitable day for navigation may still allow useful local handling practice, subject to the conditions and your instructor's assessment.
Each lesson includes preparation and a debrief. Before flying, you should understand the objective and the procedures involved. Afterwards, discuss what you achieved, where you needed help and what to prepare next. That feedback gives a clearer indication of progress than comparing your logbook total with another student's.
Flight-time minimums and training progress
For a student starting without flight-time credits, the PPL(A) course requires at least 45 hours of flight instruction in aeroplanes or touring motor gliders (TMGs). The total must contain the required dual and solo elements. Dual means instruction with an instructor on board; supervised solo means you fly alone with an instructor's authorisation and supervision.
At least 45 hours of flight instruction overall.
At least 25 hours of dual flight instruction.
At least 10 hours of supervised solo flight, including at least five hours of solo cross-country flying.
Within that solo cross-country flying, at least one flight of 270 km (150 NM) or longer, with full-stop landings at two aerodromes different from the departure aerodrome.
Up to five hours of the overall instruction may be completed in an eligible flight simulation training device (FSTD).
The solo cross-country hours are included within the solo total, and both dual and solo hours contribute towards the overall minimum. Adding the minimum dual and solo figures produces 35 hours. The course still requires at least 45 hours overall, with the remaining instruction arranged to complete the syllabus and develop your skills.
Reaching the minimum does not automatically make you ready for the test. Your instructor must see that you can apply the required skills consistently. Extra lessons may be needed to consolidate a particular exercise or bring several skills together. Students with previous licences or qualifying training may have different crediting arrangements, which the school should establish individually.
Your first lessons: preparation and aircraft control
Training begins with the aeroplane itself. You learn how to adjust your seat and harness, locate the controls and understand the equipment you will use. The external inspection introduces the checks that help you establish whether the aircraft is fit to fly. Your instructor also explains emergency equipment and how to leave the cabin if necessary.
Starting the engine and taxiing need careful attention. On the ground, you learn how to control speed, steer and stop, while recognising markings and keeping clear of other aircraft. Wind changes how you position the flying controls during taxiing. Checks and radio calls become part of the routine alongside the physical handling.
In the air, the first task is to understand how the controls affect the aeroplane. You explore pitch, roll and yaw, and learn why a power change can require a control adjustment. Trim reduces the force needed to maintain the desired attitude. Looking outside remains central to visual flying, with instrument checks supporting the picture you see through the windscreen.
You also begin learning how a lesson fits into a complete flight. Parking safely and securing the aircraft are part of the syllabus. The paperwork records the flight and any defect that needs attention before the next departure. These habits start early because you will later carry them out independently.
Straight flight, climbs, descents and turns
Straight-and-level flight teaches you to maintain direction and altitude while making small, deliberate corrections. Changing speed or lowering flap introduces the relationship between power, attitude and aircraft configuration. Your instructor helps you recognise the outside picture associated with each condition, then use the instruments to check the result.
Climbing and descending extend those skills. You learn to enter the manoeuvre, maintain the intended speed and level off at a selected altitude. Different climbs serve different purposes, such as gaining height efficiently or clearing an obstacle. Descents include gliding and powered flight, so you become familiar with how available power affects the flight path.
Turns add coordination. Bank changes the direction of flight, while pitch and power may need adjustment to maintain the desired altitude and speed. You practise rolling out onto a chosen heading and combine turns with climbs or descents. Lookout remains part of every manoeuvre, including checking the area before entering a turn.
Later, advanced turning develops more precise handling and recovery from unusual attitudes, including a spiral dive. The instructor introduces these exercises within the aircraft's limitations and at a suitable stage of your training. The aim is to recognise an unwanted situation early and restore controlled flight using the taught procedure.
Slow flight, stalls and spin avoidance
Slow-flight training helps you recognise the aeroplane's changing behaviour as speed reduces. Control responses can feel different, and you need to maintain coordination while managing attitude and power. The lesson develops awareness that is especially useful during approach and landing, where the aircraft is operating at lower speeds.
Stalling exercises teach recognition and recovery. A stall occurs when the wing exceeds its critical angle of attack, the angle between the wing and the approaching airflow. Your instructor demonstrates the relevant warning signs and teaches the recovery for your aircraft. You practise in different configurations, including those associated with approach and landing.
Spin avoidance links stall awareness with coordinated flight. Training can include recovery when a wing drops and recognising the developing combination of a stall and unbalanced flight. The permitted manoeuvres depend on the aeroplane's flight manual and the training conditions. Completing the syllabus does not require every student to perform a fully developed spin.
Ground school helps explain these lessons. Understanding lift and the effect of bank makes the aircraft's behaviour easier to interpret, while human-performance training explains why distraction can affect recognition. Studying the related topic before the flight gives you more time in the cockpit to concentrate on the exercise.
Circuits, landings and your first solo
The circuit is the traffic pattern around an aerodrome. It brings together the handling you have already learnt, with checks and radio work timed around take-off, approach and landing. Early attempts can feel demanding because you are applying several familiar skills in quick succession while maintaining a lookout for traffic.
You practise normal take-offs and landings, then techniques for conditions such as crosswinds and short or soft fields where applicable. Glide approaches and flapless landings develop your ability to handle different aircraft configurations. A go-around, abandoning an approach or landing and climbing away, is a normal skill within this training.
Your instructor also introduces relevant emergencies, including an abandoned take-off and a simulated engine failure after take-off. The aircraft's procedures and the instructor's safety limits determine how these are practised. You should understand what will be simulated and who will take control if the exercise needs to stop.
First solo follows an assessment of your readiness. For aeroplanes, you must be at least 16 before your first solo flight, hold the appropriate medical certificate and have your instructor's authorisation and supervision. You must also be able to use the required radio communications and aircraft systems. There is no fixed logbook hour at which every student goes solo.
The instructor briefs the flight and observes it, then debriefs you afterwards. Solo circuit consolidation builds confidence in carrying out the same procedures without somebody beside you. Dual instruction continues as the course develops, so your first solo is one milestone within a much wider training programme.
Navigation: taking the aeroplane beyond the local area
Navigation lessons expand your responsibility for the whole flight. You begin with route selection, using charts to identify airspace and suitable landmarks. Planning includes checking weather and notices to airmen (NOTAMs), which describe temporary changes or hazards. You also calculate headings and timings, and establish the fuel and performance needed for the journey.
In flight, you compare the ground with the chart and use elapsed time to support your position estimate. Wind may require a revised heading or arrival time. Your instructor will encourage you to organise the cockpit so that looking outside and flying the aircraft remain manageable while you refer to the navigation information.
The syllabus includes diversions and procedures for uncertainty about your position. Those lessons teach you to recognise when the original plan needs changing and make an organised response. Radio navigation, including satellite navigation, adds useful information. You learn to select and interpret it correctly, with the available equipment and the school's programme determining how the exercises are delivered.
Arriving at another aerodrome adds new planning and communication tasks. You need to understand its joining procedure, interpret the relevant information and allow time to prepare the aircraft for the approach. After landing, parking arrangements and fuel availability can affect the next part of the journey. Navigation training therefore extends beyond reaching a point on the chart.
Your instructor also covers the difficulties associated with reduced visibility and lower-level navigation. Terrain and obstacles become harder to manage as the available space reduces. Training develops your ability to assess those hazards and take an appropriate decision before deteriorating conditions leave you with fewer safe options.
Emergencies and basic instrument flying
Emergency training runs through the course, starting with drills on the ground. Later exercises include simulated system failures and practice forced landings. During a forced-landing exercise, you assess a suitable landing area and manage the glide while carrying out the taught checks. The instructor sets the simulation and the point at which the exercise ends safely.
A precautionary landing addresses a different situation: circumstances make continuing the flight unwise while you still have power available. You learn how to assess a landing area and prepare an approach. The instructor explains the occasions that might justify it, alongside the limitations of practising the procedure in the local environment.
Basic instrument flying develops control using the instruments when external visual references are unavailable. It includes maintaining straight flight, climbing and descending, and making controlled turns, including a level 180-degree turn. You also learn why physical sensations can mislead you and how an organised instrument scan supports aircraft control.
These exercises form part of a visual-flight training course. They do not grant instrument-rating privileges or authorise planned flight in instrument meteorological conditions. Your weather planning and in-flight decisions must continue to respect the privileges and limitations of the licence and ratings you hold.
Solo cross-country flying and test preparation
Solo navigation starts when your instructor considers you ready for the planned flight. Preparation includes a route and weather assessment, with the instructor setting the authorisation and limitations. You carry out the journey alone, but it remains supervised training. Conditions that suited a previous dual lesson may exceed the limits set for your solo flight.
The qualifying cross-country flight meets the distance and landing requirements described earlier. It gives you experience of managing a longer journey and visiting other aerodromes without an instructor on board. Plan each leg and the ground arrangements carefully, and discuss how you will respond if the weather or another circumstance changes the plan.
Near the end of the course, the emphasis moves towards combining skills into a complete flight. Revision identifies exercises that need consolidation. You should be able to prepare the aircraft and plan the flight, then maintain safe control while responding to the tasks and simulated situations presented. Good decisions and effective lookout apply throughout.
Before the skill test, the required training must be complete and the responsible organisation or instructor must recommend you. The theoretical knowledge examinations must also have been passed before the skill test. Your school can explain the documents needed and the arrangements for the examiner. Our guide to the EASA PPL skill test explains that final stage in more detail.
As you work through the syllabus, prepare the theory that supports your next lesson and use the debrief to decide what needs another look. That makes the course easier to follow and helps each flight build on the one before it.
From understanding stalls to planning your first solo route, the flight syllabus draws repeatedly on what you learn on the ground. The video below introduces Easy EASA's online theory course and shows how it can support the knowledge you use during those lessons.
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