Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL)

The holder of the Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) can usually exercise the same privileges as a private pilot licence holder with both night and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) over the top ratings. The most important difference is that a commercial pilot is permitted to engage in commercial aviation activities such as air charter services or to be paid to fly an aircraft. The training and criteria are significantly more than for the Private Pilot Licence (PPL).

For Pilots enrolled in Durham Flight Centre’s Commercial Pilot Licence program, they will complete a minimum of sixty-five hours of flight time and eighty hours of ground school.

A Commercial Pilot Licence applicant must attend a minimum of eighty hours of approved ground school. This course consists of a series of lectures aimed at fully preparing the student for not only the required Transport Canada examinations, but also a safe and satisfying time in the world of aviation. The subjects dealt with in the ground school include Air Law, Aeronautics, Navigation, meteorology etc.

The scheduling and length of training is based on availability and subject to change.

Program Requirements

• Thirty-five hours of dual instruction – five hours must be nighttime, including two hours night cross-country, five hours cross-country (the two hours night cross-country will be counted towards the five hours total time), twenty hours instrument
• thirty hours solo – twenty-five hours flight time emphasizing the improvement of general flying skills, including a three hundred Nautical Mile (NM) radius cross-country, five hours night.
• An applicant must have two hundred hours of flight time for Transport Canada to sign-off the licence; one hundred hours of which must be as pilot-in-command, including twenty hours cross-country.