ECQB-PPL

The ECQB-PPL is an international question bank for private pilot licenses, which is based on European regulations and standards and is also ICAO-compliant.

PPL(A), PPL(H), SPL, BPL (Gas + Hot Air) as well as the corresponding LAP-licences.

At first, the ECQB-PPL is compliant to AMC1 FCL.210; FCL.215 (PPL(A) and PPL(H)) as well as AMC1 SFCL.130 for SPL and AMC1 BFCL.130 for BPL. In addition, the ECQB-PPL also covers AltMoCs from various aviation authorities. This includes AltMoC 2020-00034 of the BMVI, which is valid in Germany as well as Civil Aviation Personnel Notice (ACG) FCL 13, which was submitted by Austro Control GmbH and applies to examinations in Austria.

The ECQB-PPL has been continuously developed since 2010. Both new and existing questions are subjected to a review process that is based on international standards. When developing the questions, attention is paid to clear formulations and relevant content. An international team of experts from various areas of aviation is constantly doing its best.

The ECQB-PPL is currently available in English, German, Slovene, Romanian and Czech. Please ask your flight school or the competent authority which language(s) is / are used during the examination.

The ECQB-PPL is becoming increasingly popular with aviation authorities and is used worldwide. A list of aviation authorities currently using the ECQB-PPL can be found here. If you are unsure whether the ECQB-PPL will be used for your theory test, please contact your flight school or the responsible aviation authority.

The questions of the ECQB-PPL are partly published to give candidates the opportunity to prepare for the type of questions. The published part represents the ECQB-PPL and is therefore ideal for exam preparation. Another part of the ECQB-PPL is only accessible to aviation authorities and is neither published in software products nor as a PDF download.

This is a decision made by the respective aviation authority. In most cases, the exam currently consists of approximately 50-75% questions from the published part and approximately 25-50% from the unpublished part.

The published part of the questions represents the ECQB-PPL both thematically and in relation to the type of questions. The unpublished questions can, for example, contain other formulations or aspects of a subject area. These are not unknown subject areas or complex and unknown formulations. Complex attachments are published in the Attachment Reference Handbook.

It is much more important than the questions that your flight school teaches you the relevant knowledge and skills. The questions can only take specific aspects of the learning content as examples, but require a more extensive understanding of the solution methods in order to be able to answer similar questions (e.g. calculation methods with other numbers) or other aspects of the topic selected in the question. In short: You should not “memorise” the questions, but process the issues addressed and “understand” the solutions. This is the best preparation for the exam!

Textbooks as well as examination question software are available as learning aids and for concrete preparation. Your flight school or aviation supply dealer can help here.

The sample questions in the PDF files provided free of charge represent the ECQB-PPL and are suitable as a supplement to ground school training for exam preparation. However, they are not updated as regularly as software products, which can lead to differences. Software products are usually updated 2-4 times a year, the PDF files usually once a year.

No. The PDF files are not updated as often as the software products, which means that there may also be differences in the number of questions. However, this does not affect whether you pass the exam or not.

Complex attachments used (maps, graphs) are contained in the attachment reference manual, which can be downloaded in the download section. Some of the attachments (e.g. navigation charts) are printed out by the examination authorities and made available in paper form during the examination.

ICAO-compliant navigation charts from Rogers Data are used in the ECQB-PPL. These are available for large parts of Europe and have a uniform nomenclature. Sample questions as well as all map extracts used and the associated nomenclatures for preparation can be found in the download area.

Basically, the ECQB-PPL is an international database that contains generally applicable questions. Due to regional peculiarities and local requirements, there may be additional questions of the authorities in some countries (e.g. Malta, South Africa).

This is determined by the examination authority. As a rule, the number of questions per subject is between 8 and 20.

The ECQB-PPL, including all questions and attachments, is subject to copyright. To clarify the possibilities of further use, please contact copyright@aircademy.com with your request.

2-4 times a year. “Updated” can mean adding new questions, correcting existing ones and removing questions that are no longer current / appropriate. It is important to know that the character of the database does not change after an update and the quantity of the changes is usually small.

As a student, please contact your responsible theory instructor. As an instructor or expert, please contact ecqb-ppl@aircademy.com.

We are always looking for experts. If you are interested in participating, please contact experts@aircademy.com. Please take into account that the original database is developed and maintained in English.