A man operates the thrust control in an aircraft cockpit

Type Ratings and Training

We provide your pilots with top-class individualized type rating preparation

Type Ratings

Qualifications for Airbus, Boeing, etc.

The world’s best pilots still need additional training to be able to fly new aircraft types. Our expert trainers regularly carry out certified type training courses and type rating for many renowned airlines around the world. To this end, our ten locations feature full flight simulators and flat-panel trainers for all common manufacturers and aircraft types. These include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Embraer.

As an experienced and approved training organization (ATO) of the German Federal Aviation Office, we can also adapt all type training courses and type ratings to your individual requirements and flight operations. Get in touch with us for more information!

Type Rating

By participating in one of our Type Rating courses, your crews will earn the type rating needed to fly one of your commercial aircraft. The courses are carried out in accordance with the EASA Part FCL for flight crew licensing (FCL), and they can be flexibly expanded to include elements that are tailored to your airline’s specific operations.

All of our Type Rating courses comprise theoretical and practical elements. The theory takes place in a classroom – as computer-based and/or web-based training. The practical exercise that follows uses a training device – either exclusively as training in a full flight simulator or in a full flight simulator in combination with a flat-panel trainer. To complete the training course, participants must pass a skills test in the flight simulator.

A pilot as trainer with headphones watches two pilots during a training in a cockpit simulator

Cross-Crew Qualification (CCQ)

The Cross-Crew Qualification course is a shortened type rating for Airbus pilots who already hold a type rating for an A320, A330, A340, or A380 aircraft type and want to add another one of these types to their repertoire.

During our CCQ course, we build upon exisiting knowledge and teach only what is necessary to achieve the additional rating. Similarly to the type rating, each Cross-Crew Qualification course has theoretical and practical elements as well as a skills test.

Close-up of a thrust control in an aircraft cockpit

Bridge Course

Our Bridge Course enables even inexperienced trainees to be perfectly prepared for the Type Rating course. To do so, we integrate further theoretical lessons into the Type Rating course. Supplementary practical exercises take place in the full flight simulator (FFS) – immediately before the practical phase of the type rating course. The final session of the practical phase serves to check whether the participant is prepared for the FFS mission as part of his/her type rating.

Note: The Bridge Course is not offered as a stand-alone course. It can only be booked in combination with the type rating course.

Differences Training

This course is designed for pilots that already hold a type rating for a particular aircraft type and now are seeking to switch to another variation of the type.

Depending on the content to be learned, we develop an individual theoretical program for your crews for each Differences Training course. The practical phase is completed either exclusively in the full flight simulator and/or on flat-panel trainers. No practical skills test is required for this training course. However, in our role as an approved training organization (ATO), we need to certify the acquired theoretical knowledge and the practical skills necessary for safe handling of the new aircraft type.

A pilot sits in a cockpit simulator and looks at a runway

Familiarization Training

Familiarization Training is designed for pilots that hold a valid type rating but do not yet have any practical experience flying a certain variation of the aircraft type.

This course is offered as a theoretical training course with handouts, computer-based training, or in the form of a ground course. Familiarization Training can, however, also be integrated into a Type Rating or Cross-Crew Qualification course.

In a seminar room a pilot as instructor writes something on a whiteboard while two people watch

Renewal Training

This course renews an expired type rating. First, our approved training organization decides what training is necessary and defines exam prerequisites for each participant. A typical Renewal Training course begins with theoretical, computer-based training geared toward refreshing the theoretical knowledge of aircraft systems and flight processes – followed by a written test. The practical portion is carried out in a full flight simulator and/or a flat-panel trainer. Normally, neither training in an aircraft nor landing training is required. The Renewal Training ends with a licensing proficiency check (LPC) in the full flight simulator, which – if successful – results in a renewal of the type rating.

A notebook with a technical drawing on the screen stands on a table while two people look at it

A220 Training (formerly C-Series)

Flight Training Alliance, a joint venture of CAE and Lufthansa Aviation Training, was certified by Airbus as the sole authorized training provider (ATP) for worldwide A220 training. Pilot and cabin crews of the Airbus A220-100 and A220-300 models are precisely prepared for the new aircraft types using needs-based training in the first full flight simulator in Frankfurt.

Zero Flight Time Landing Training (ZFTT)

Our Zero-Flight-Time Landing Training (ZFTT) is training exclusively for landing an aircraft. It is carried out in a full flight simulator after a Type Rating or Cross-Crew Qualification course, provided that the legal requirements have been fulfilled. No theoretical portion, including test, is required because the theoretical knowledge is already taught during the briefing in the full flight simulator.

A pilot sits in a cockpit simulator and looks at the instruments

Aircraft Landing Training

Regardless of whether you are looking for a full type rating course or a truncated Cross-Crew Qualification course (for Airbus types), each type rating training needs to also include landing training. Aircraft landing rraining is carried out after the skills test – either in a full flight simulator as part of a Zero-Flight-Time Landing Training or in a real aircraft.

Course and Training Device Finder

Type training and type rating courses at a glance

Use our course finder to find the right training course for your cockpit crew. We look forward to customizing your type training and type ratings to your specific requirements and flight operations.