EASA PPL Requirements: How to Get Your Private Pilot Licence in Europe
Your first flying lesson may last an hour, but the questions before it can take much longer. Which medical do you need? Can you start before passing the exams? And what does the advertised minimum of 45 hours actually include?
For someone starting from zero, the route to an EASA Private Pilot Licence involves a medical certificate and an organised training course, with theory study alongside practical flying. You then demonstrate the required standard in a skill test and apply for the licence. Several stages overlap, so understanding the sequence helps you arrange training without creating avoidable delays.
This guide covers the aeroplane licence, PPL(A). Helicopter training leads to a PPL(H), with different flying requirements. The framework described here applies to the EASA licensing system; national aviation authorities handle licence issue and examination arrangements.
Contents
What does an EASA PPL let you do?
A PPL(A) allows you to act as pilot in command of aeroplanes within the privileges of your licence and ratings, flying without remuneration in non-commercial operations. Pilot in command means the pilot responsible for the flight. A rating identifies an aircraft category or additional qualification you are entitled to use.
For an initial course on a familiar training aeroplane, such as a Cessna 152 or Piper PA-28, the associated rating is commonly single-engine piston land, abbreviated SEP(land). Your medical and rating must remain valid, and passenger-carrying recency requirements also apply. Passing the PPL does not automatically qualify you for night flying or flight under instrument flight rules; those need additional privileges.
If your aim is recreational flying, compare the PPL with the Light Aircraft Pilot Licence before committing. Our PPL versus LAPL guide explains their different privileges and medical requirements. Professional flying requires further qualifications.
Age and entry requirements
You must be at least 16 before your first solo flight and at least 17 to obtain a PPL. Dual lessons, where an instructor accompanies you, may begin earlier, subject to the school's arrangements and your ability to use the controls safely.
There is no university-degree requirement for a PPL. You need to understand the course language and learn practical calculations, including fuel planning and chart interpretation.
Language for radio communication needs separate attention. Pilots required to use the radio need an appropriate language-proficiency endorsement, at least operational Level 4, in English or the language used for the flight's radio communications. Your school can explain the assessment and national radiotelephony requirements. Our pilot language requirements guide covers this in detail.
Arrange the medical early
For the standard PPL route and full PPL privileges, you need at least a Class 2 medical certificate. A valid Class 1 certificate also includes the relevant Class 2 privileges. An authorised aeromedical examiner, or AME, can carry out the Class 2 assessment; an aeromedical centre can do so too.
The medical is required before solo flight. You can begin dual instruction before that point, but arranging the assessment early gives you time to resolve any request for medical reports. Discovering a paperwork delay when your instructor is ready to send you solo is an avoidable interruption.
Tell the examiner about your medical history and medication. The examiner assesses your circumstances and explains any limitations or further investigations.
Keep the expiry date with your training records. The Class 2 and LAPL medical guide explains the certificates and their validity periods, including the differences between the two licensing routes.
Choose a school and agree the training arrangements
Complete your PPL course through an Approved Training Organisation, known as an ATO, or a Declared Training Organisation, known as a DTO, offering the relevant training. Both can provide a PPL course within their permitted scope. The organisational label alone tells you little about whether its timetable will suit your working week.
Before enrolling, ask how often you can realistically fly and how cancellations are handled. Ask who reviews your progress and what happens when your usual instructor is unavailable. A school visit gives these questions a practical setting: you can see the aircraft and discuss the booking system with the people who operate it.
Agree which authority will issue your licence and oversee your theory examinations. The complete set of theory exams must be taken under the responsibility of the same member state's competent authority. If your ground school and flight training are with different organisations, establish how course records and examination recommendations will be handled.
Use our flight-school questions during that conversation, and the ATO versus DTO guide to understand the distinction.
Study the theory alongside your flying
Ground school is the theoretical part of your training. It gives you the knowledge behind cockpit decisions: why a heavily loaded aircraft needs a longer take-off run, how wind changes your journey time, and what a clearance permits you to do. Flight lessons give those ideas a setting you can recognise.
The PPL theoretical knowledge syllabus covers nine subjects:
Air Law
Human Performance
Meteorology
Communications
Navigation
Principles of Flight
Operational Procedures
Flight Performance and Planning
Aircraft General Knowledge
Study can be organised through classroom teaching or a suitable distance-learning course. The organisation responsible for your theoretical training recommends you for the examinations once you have completed the relevant elements satisfactorily. Agree the arrangement with your school before choosing a course. Our online versus classroom ground school guide will help you compare the study formats.
You need at least 75% in each examination paper. Plan around two distinct deadlines. First, you must pass all the required papers within 18 months, counted from the end of the calendar month in which you first attempt an examination. A failed first attempt still starts that clock.
Second, after passing the complete set, the results are valid for PPL issue for 24 months from the date of your final pass. Leave time within that period for practical training and licence administration. There is also a limit of four attempts per paper; exceeding the attempt limit or the completion window requires further training and a fresh complete examination set.
Your training organisation's examination recommendation has its own 12-month validity for attempting at least one paper. Keep the recommendation date and your exam dates together. For subject preparation, see our PPL theory exams guide, while confirming booking procedures with your chosen authority.
When you practise questions, return to the explanation whenever you are unsure why an answer is correct. Easy EASA's online ground school and practice exams can support that work alongside your flying lessons. Understanding a fuel-planning answer should eventually help you explain the fuel you intend to take on a real training flight.
Understand the 45-hour flight-training minimum
For a beginner following the standard PPL(A) course, the minimum is 45 hours of flight instruction in aeroplanes or touring motor gliders. Up to five hours may be completed in a qualifying flight simulation training device within the applicable training arrangements. A home simulator does not automatically earn that credit.
Within the course, you must complete at least 25 hours of dual flight instruction and at least ten hours of supervised solo flying. The solo time must include at least five hours of solo cross-country flying, with the longer qualifying flight described below. Cross-country flying means navigating between places beyond the local aerodrome circuit.
These figures sit inside the overall minimum. Adding 25 dual hours to ten solo hours gives 35 hours, so another ten hours of qualifying training are still needed to reach 45. The course must also cover the required exercises. Your instructor plans the balance around your progress, and you may need additional hours to reach test standard.
Early lessons introduce aircraft handling and lookout, followed by increasingly demanding exercises. You learn to take off and land, recognise and recover from stalls, navigate, and deal with simulated emergencies. Basic instrument training develops the ability to control the aircraft when outside visual references are lost; it does not grant an instrument rating.
Pre-flight preparation is part of each lesson. You learn to inspect the aircraft and establish that the proposed flight is suitable for the conditions. The time you spend discussing a weather forecast or checking the loading is useful training, but a two-hour visit to the airfield will not necessarily put two flying hours in your logbook.
If you already have a LAPL, another pilot licence or previous training, ask the school to assess the applicable credits from your records. The standard beginner figures do not describe every possible entry route.
Your first solo and supervised solo training
Solo means you are the only person on board. Supervised solo means an instructor has authorised the flight and is supervising the training, even though the instructor remains on the ground.
Before your first solo, you must meet the age and medical requirements and have acquired the competence to operate safely during the intended flight. Your instructor must authorise you. The school will explain the knowledge checks and any examination prerequisites it applies before that authorisation.
There is no fixed hour at which every student must go solo. Your instructor needs to see reliable control and sound decisions, including the ability to abandon an unsuitable approach and go around. An empty right-hand seat changes the responsibility you feel, while the circuit and checks should already be familiar.
The first solo is one step within the course. Later flights extend what you can manage independently, with the route and conditions agreed as part of supervised training. Keep recording the flights accurately so your logbook and the school's records show how the required experience is building.
The qualifying solo cross-country flight
Your solo cross-country training must include at least one flight of 270 km, stated in the rule as 150 nautical miles, with full-stop landings at two aerodromes different from the departure aerodrome. A nautical mile is the distance unit used in air navigation.
Think of this as one qualifying route with the required landings. It is not a requirement for every individual leg to be 150 NM. The flight also forms part of the minimum five hours of solo cross-country experience and ten hours of supervised solo time.
Your instructor helps establish when you are ready and checks the proposed flight. Preparation includes the route and airspace, with weather, fuel and aircraft performance assessed for the actual conditions. You also need a workable response if the planned destination becomes unsuitable.
An unfamiliar airfield makes preparation tangible. You need to recognise its arrival procedure and find the right runway while continuing to fly accurately. Planning how to join and where to park reduces the amount you must work out after arrival, when the radio may already be busy.
Ask how your school records evidence of the landings, and make sure your logbook identifies the route clearly.
The skill test and licence application
Before the standard PPL skill test, you must have passed the required theory examinations and completed the training. The organisation responsible for your course recommends you for the test and makes the training records available to the examiner.
The examiner assesses whether you can perform the relevant procedures and manoeuvres to the standard required of a private pilot. The test includes preparation and departure, general handling, navigation, approaches and landings, together with abnormal and emergency procedures. You also answer questions that demonstrate your understanding of the flight and aircraft.
Expect to explain your route and the checks on weather and aircraft performance. In flight, maintaining a useful lookout while managing the workload is part of demonstrating readiness.
After a pass, submit the licence application to the relevant national authority. The required documents include the training and examination evidence, medical details and skill-test report, with identity documents and fees as specified by that authority. Apply no later than six months after passing the skill test, and ensure your theory results remain valid for licence issue.
A successful test does not by itself mean that your licence has been issued. Confirm with your school which privileges you may exercise while the application is being processed. Once issued, check the licence and rating entries carefully, including your name and any language endorsement.
Plan a budget and timetable you can sustain
The 45-hour minimum is useful for comparing the structure of courses, but the final bill depends on the training you need and what the quoted price includes. Ask for the cost of additional dual and solo hours, and establish how aircraft time is charged. Include landing charges and the medical, as well as examinations and the skill test.
Our EASA PPL cost guide helps you identify the spending categories. Obtain a current written quotation from each school you are considering, with a clear explanation of payments and refunds. A budget with room for additional training gives you a better basis for decisions than a price that assumes everything finishes at the minimum.
Calendar time depends on your availability and the school's capacity, with weather affecting which lessons can take place. Regular bookings help maintain continuity, but a planned lesson may become a ground briefing when conditions prevent the intended flight. Allow room for that in your schedule.
The PPL training timeline guide explores full-time and part-time study. Keep the examination deadlines discussed above in your own plan, and review progress with your instructor before a deadline becomes close.
Begin by arranging the medical and speaking to a suitable school about a realistic training schedule. Agree how your ground school fits into the course. You can then approach each lesson knowing what it contributes to the licence, from the first aircraft inspection to the navigation decisions you will eventually make alone.
As a new student pilot, you will meet the same ideas in ground school and in the cockpit: weather limits before a lesson, or fuel planning before your solo cross-country. Easy EASA's online theory course helps you study those topics in a structured way. The video below introduces the course and how it can fit alongside your flight training.
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