Private Pilot Licence — Helicopter PPL(H)

Learn to Fly a Helicopter for Yourself

A Private Pilot Licence — Helicopter is for people who want the freedom and challenge of becoming a qualified helicopter pilot without necessarily pursuing aviation as a profession.

Whether your eventual goal is recreational flying, helicopter ownership, travelling by helicopter or simply achieving something you have always wanted to do, the PPL(H) provides a structured pathway from student pilot to licence holder.

CASA requires PPL applicants to undertake approved flight training, complete the required theory, meet the applicable aeronautical experience requirements and pass a flight test. A helicopter PPL applicant must also be at least 17 years old when the licence is issued and meet applicable English-language and medical requirements.

What Will I Learn?

Your training progressively develops the skills required to safely plan and conduct helicopter flights.

Practical training includes areas such as:

  • Helicopter controls and aircraft handling

  • Hovering and hover manoeuvres

  • Take-offs and landings

  • Circuits

  • Climbing, descending and turning

  • Advanced aircraft handling

  • Emergency procedures

  • Autorotations

  • Navigation and cross-country flying

  • Flight planning

  • Operational decision-making

  • Solo flying as your training progresses

Your theory studies cover subjects including flight rules and air law, aerodynamics, meteorology, navigation, flight planning, powerplants and aircraft systems.

How Many Hours Does a PPL(H) Take?

Helicopter flight training is competency-based, so the amount of training required varies between students.

CASA currently prescribes a minimum of 40 hours aeronautical experience for a non-integrated helicopter PPL course, including minimum flight, solo and cross-country experience requirements. Integrated courses have a lower regulatory minimum of 35 hours.

Those figures are regulatory minimums rather than a guarantee of when an individual student will be ready for their flight test.

Your instructor will monitor your progress throughout training and build the program around your experience, ability, training frequency and goals.

Train Across Phillip Island and Melbourne

One of the strengths of this training pathway is the ability to experience more than one operating environment.

Training from Phillip Island provides exposure to regional and coastal helicopter operations, while appropriate training conducted from Moorabbin provides experience in a busy metropolitan aviation environment.

The objective is not simply to accumulate enough hours to sit a flight test.

It is to develop a capable, confident and safe helicopter pilot.

Theory Training

PPL(H) students must complete the required theoretical knowledge and pass the CASA PPL helicopter examination as part of the licensing pathway.

CASA's current PPL(H) examination is a combined examination covering the required subject areas and has a 3.5-hour examination time with a 70% pass standard.

Theory training and study support can be coordinated alongside your practical flying program.

What Happens Next?

The best pathway depends on your existing experience, how frequently you can fly and what you ultimately want to achieve.

Send us an enquiry and we can talk through:

  • Your flying goals

  • Previous aviation experience

  • Training availability

  • Theory requirements

  • Medical and administrative requirements

  • Aircraft and instructor availability

  • Expected training pathway

  • Current training rates

All licence training is conducted through an appropriately approved flight training provider and is subject to its approved procedures, training syllabus and student administration requirements.