Academy
Menu → Academy. This is where you get rated to fly aircraft, and where you keep those ratings alive.
It is the largest single thing on this site: every programme in the table below, nineteen lessons in the induction alone, an exam bank, practical flights checked against your real reports, and check rides signed off by a trainer.
The three stages
Training runs in one direction: induction → type rating → recurrent.
1 · Induction — how this airline works, and the flying knowledge
everyone here is assumed to have. One programme, INDUCT, and everybody
starts with it. Free.
2 · Type rating — permission to fly one aircraft type. Costs money, valid for 365 days.
3 · Recurrent (PROF CHECK) — the annual proficiency check that keeps a type rating alive. One per type, renewed every year.
What a course actually asks of you
Six steps. The course page shows the whole ladder with the current step highlighted, so you never have to guess what comes next.
They do not all wait for each other. Theory and the exam are open together — read as much as you want, then take the test when you are ready. The practical, the check ride and the certificate unlock in turn, each when the one before it is done.
Enrol — links the course to your account so progress is tracked.
Theory — lessons to read. Text, diagrams, references. Nothing is timed and you can stop and come back. The induction has 19 of them, from airspeed and Mach number to PAPI, TCAS, airspace classes and decision height.
Theory exam — questions drawn at random from the bank. You can retake, and afterwards you can review every answer you gave. How many questions each programme draws, and out of how many, is below — those numbers come straight from the courses, so they cannot drift out of date:
| Programme | Bank | Exam draws | Pass mark |
|---|---|---|---|
| AirCrewCentral Induction | 25 | 25 | 80% |
| PROF CHECK 2026 A320 Family | 15 | 15 | 80% |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B737F | 15 | 15 | 80% |
| PROF CHECK 2026 MD-11F | 15 | 15 | 80% |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B777F | 15 | 15 | 80% |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B747 Family | 15 | 15 | 80% |
| A320 Family Type Rating | 25 | 25 | 80% |
| B737F Type Rating | 10 | 10 | 80% |
| MD-11F Type Rating | 6 | 6 | 80% |
| B777F Type Rating | 6 | 6 | 80% |
| B747 Family Type Rating | 25 | 25 | 80% |
Practical — a real flight, or two, that have to meet stated conditions: the right aircraft, and a minimum block time, and on the longer items a minimum distance as well. The course page lists every one of them by name, with the aircraft that qualify spelled out — not a code, the actual aircraft in our fleet — and the minimums written under each. The full list is further down this page.
Start ACARS before you push back and leave it running to the gate. The flight is checked from what ACARS recorded, so a sector flown with it switched off cannot be counted afterwards. You do not submit anything by hand: when the report is accepted, route, aircraft type, block time and distance are matched against the conditions automatically.
If everything matches, the item is passed on the spot — no waiting for a trainer. Only a flight that misses something goes into the review queue, and the course page says so while it waits there.
Check ride — four steps, in this order: you request it, a flight is assigned to you, you fly it with ACARS running, and a trainer reviews it. It is the last sign-off before the rating is yours.
Where a programme names a check ride flight of its own, that flight is matched against its conditions the same way a practical is, and the trainer sees the result rather than having to work it out.
Pass all of it and a certificate is issued automatically. It shows on your profile and carries an expiry date.
What each practical flight has to be
| Programme | Flight | Aircraft | Block time | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirCrewCentral Induction | First Supervised Network Flight | any | 45 min | — |
| A320 Family Type Rating | Base Training Sector | A32 |
45 min | — |
| Line Flight With Valid PIREP | A32 |
1 h 30 min | 400 NM | |
| B737F Type Rating | Base Training Sector | B73 |
1 h | — |
| Line Flight With Valid PIREP | B73 |
1 h 30 min | 400 NM | |
| MD-11F Type Rating | MD-11 Familiarisation Flight | MD11 |
1 h 15 min | — |
| MD-11 Line Evaluation Flight | MD11 |
2 h 15 min | 700 NM | |
| B777F Type Rating | Long-Haul Training Sector | B777 |
3 h | 1200 NM |
| Heavy Arrival Evaluation | B777 |
3 h | 1200 NM | |
| B747 Family Type Rating | Base Training Sector | B74 |
1 h 30 min | — |
| Line Flight With Valid PIREP · check ride | B74 |
2 h 45 min | 1000 NM | |
| PROF CHECK 2026 A320 Family | Base Training Sector | A32 |
45 min | — |
| Line Flight With Valid PIREP | A32 |
1 h 30 min | 400 NM | |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B737F | Recurrent Line Check Sector | B73 |
1 h 30 min | 400 NM |
| PROF CHECK 2026 MD-11F | MD-11 Recurrent Validation Flight | MD11 |
2 h 15 min | 700 NM |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B777F | Heavy Recurrent Validation Flight | B777 |
3 h | 1200 NM |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B747 Family | Base Training Sector | B74 |
1 h 30 min | — |
| Line Flight With Valid PIREP | B74 |
2 h 45 min | 1000 NM |
Built from the live courses, like the tables above — it is right on the day you read it, and it stays right when a minimum is adjusted.
Three things to know about reading it:
The aircraft code is loose on purpose. B73 means any 737 we
operate, freighter or passenger; B74 means any 747. The course page
turns the code into the actual list of aircraft, with the airline that
operates each one.
Block time is gate to gate, as ACARS recorded it — not the time you spent in the air, and not the time the flight was scheduled to take.
A dash means no minimum, not zero. The shorter first item on each programme deliberately has no distance requirement: it is there to show you can operate the type at all, not to send you across an ocean.
The minimums are not arbitrary. Each was taken from what is actually being flown on that type here, set low enough that the great majority of real sectors already clear it. They exist to stop a five-minute circuit counting as a type rating — nothing more.
What is on offer right now
| Programme | Code | Stage | Valid | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirCrewCentral Induction | INDUCT |
Induction | — | yes |
| A320 Family Type Rating | A320-TR |
Type rating | 365 days | yes |
| B737F Type Rating | B737F-TR |
Type rating | 365 days | yes |
| MD-11F Type Rating | MD11F-TR |
Type rating | 365 days | yes |
| B777F Type Rating | B777F-TR |
Type rating | 365 days | yes |
| B747 Family Type Rating | B747-TR |
Type rating | 365 days | yes |
| PROF CHECK 2026 A320 Family | PC26-A320 |
Recurrent | 365 days | yes |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B737F | PC26-B737F |
Recurrent | 365 days | yes |
| PROF CHECK 2026 MD-11F | PC26-MD11F |
Recurrent | 365 days | yes |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B777F | PC26-B777F |
Recurrent | 365 days | yes |
| PROF CHECK 2026 B747 Family | PC26-B747 |
Recurrent | 365 days | yes |
This table is built from the live course list, so it is right on the day you read it. The Open column is the one to check: a programme marked not yet exists but is not taking enrolments, usually because its exam bank is still being written.
What a rating costs
| Type | Rating | Annual check |
|---|---|---|
| A320 | $40,000 | PC26-A320 · $8,000 |
| B737 | $45,000 | PC26-B737F · $9,000 |
| MD11 | $90,000 | PC26-MD11F · $18,000 |
| B777 | $120,000 | PC26-B777F · $24,000 |
| B747 | $150,000 | PC26-B747 · $30,000 |
Holding every one of them costs $89,000 a year to keep current, before you have flown anywhere.
Renewal is a fifth of the original price, once a year — every one of them, with no exceptions.
Induction is free. Charging for the front door would shut out exactly the people who have no money yet.
Who pays
Whether a type rating comes out of your balance or the company's depends on your reputation.
| Your reputation | Who pays | You then fly |
|---|---|---|
| below 40 | you, in full | — |
| 40 to 69 | company pays half | 25 hours |
| 70 and above | company pays in full | 50 hours |
The course page tells you before you enrol. Cost, who pays what, your reputation and the hours you would owe are all shown above the Enroll now button — not after you press it.
Fifty hours is about nine long flights. That is what it takes for the company to get its money back on you.
You are never put into debt
If you do not fly the commitment, the rating is frozen until you do. Nothing is taken from your balance and your balance never goes negative.
That was a deliberate choice: a debt you cannot climb out of drives new pilots away instead of keeping them.
Any flying counts
The commitment is hours, not specific flights. Fly anything, on any type, for any airline of ours — it all counts down. There is no separate list to work through.
Progress shows on the course page as a bar. It updates every time a report is accepted and clears itself the moment you reach the number.
If your balance is short
Enrolment is refused with the exact figures: what the course costs, what you have, and how much you are short. Nothing is charged and you are not left half-enrolled.
Keeping ratings alive
See also Licences — where to look up what you hold, when it expires and what the renewal costs.
A rating is good for a year. After that you fly the PROF CHECK for that type, at a fifth of the rating's price.
This is the main running cost of flying here, and the figure under the price table above is what it comes to if you hold everything.
It also means collecting every rating you can is not free. Hold what you actually fly.
What the Academy shows you next
The dashboard shows one course at a time, not a catalogue. It picks in this order:
- a course you started and did not finish
- induction, if you have not done it
- recurrent training that has expired or is about to
- the first type rating you do not hold
One item, because the question a pilot is asking is "what should I do next", and a list of seven hides the answer.
