EASA ATPL 033 Flight Planning

It is a computer-based, multiple-choice examination with a single correct answer per question, taken at an approved EASA examination centre under invigilated conditions. Your training organisation books the sitting and confirms which subjects you may take together. The current question count and time limit are published by the competent authority and your school.

Many candidates find it the most demanding subject because it is applied rather than descriptive: almost every question is a calculation with a plausible distractor for each common slip. The individual skills are not difficult, but combining wind, fuel, performance and mass data accurately under time pressure takes practice.

Get the mechanics solid before attempting full plans: wind triangle and ground speed, leg times, fuel flow arithmetic, and reading performance charts and tables. Then add mass and balance, then fuel policy and reserves. Only when each piece is reliable should you practise integrated flight-planning exercises, which is where most marks are actually won or lost.

Arithmetic and unit slips dominate: track versus heading confusion, drift applied in the wrong direction, minutes and decimal hours mixed, fuel in the wrong units, and chart values read at the wrong reference line. Others are forgetting to apply contingency or final reserve correctly and misreading the CG envelope. Working neatly and checking units catches most of these.

Allow enough to work several complete plans end to end, not just isolated questions. Most candidates need repeated practice before the arithmetic becomes automatic. Your training organisation sets the hours in its approved course; treat any fixed number you hear from other candidates as their experience, not a requirement.

Retake rules, waiting periods and any limit on the number of attempts are set by the competent authority and by your training organisation's approved procedures, and they can change. Ask your school for the current rules in writing before you sit, so you know exactly where you stand if the result is not what you hoped.

You need to know what each field is for and which items are mandatory, not the layout by heart. Expect questions on the purpose of specific fields, on when a flight plan must be filed or closed, and on what changes require an amendment or a new plan. Understand the logic rather than memorising boxes.

At the level of principle and simple calculation: what the equal time point represents, how critical fuel scenarios are built, what an en-route alternate must offer, and why diversion decisions differ from a standard alternate. You are not expected to certify an operator's EDTO programme, but you must follow the definitions precisely.

Those are administrative details published by the competent authority and your approved training organisation, and they differ between states. Check the authority's website or ask your school directly. Do not rely on figures quoted in forums or by other candidates, as they are frequently out of date.