Stella aviation academy

You have completed the theoretical exams, the ground school and the R/T exam. You are ready for takeoff – ready for the practical part of your training! This part of your training will take you to Dalaman, Turkey and Maastricht Aachen Airport, the Netherlands.

The practical component of the training comprises five phases.

Phases 1, 2 and 3 focuses on the visual flying rules (VFR). You will learn to use external visual references including the horizon, motorways and railroad tracks. You will also learn how to navigate using these visual references.

In phase 4 you will learn how to fly without any visual external references; the external visual references out of the first three phases of the training are replaced by instruments (IFR). For this phase your will fly single-engine (SE) and multiengine (ME) aircraft. Phase 5 is the Multi Crew Cooperation course. Throughout the 5 phases you will fly around 195 hours, of which 55 hours on a simulator.

Phase 1:
Basic flying training. This phase ends with your first ever solo flight, something no pilot is ever likely to forget. Below is the story of Dominique Wiers about her first ever solo flight.

First solo
Every pilot remembers his or her first ever solo flight.

It’s time for Dominique Wiers (21). She will be flying solo for the very first time. Half the school is waiting outside to admire her flight. But that might also have another reason – a pilot returning from his or her first solo flight is showered with buckets of water. A spectacle nobody would of course want to miss. A little uncertainly she says: “I didn’t think my three landings went particularly well and I would have preferred not to fly solo. But my instructor asked: "Why not? Do you want to do it any better than you did today?"”

And he’s right. Dominique’s flight is perfect and her landing excellent. Her colleagues are cheering when she gets off the plane.

But her time in the limelight is short-lived as she is soaked in water. Dripping but proud, Dominique enters the canteen. “It went better than ever. I wasn’t nervous. I concentrated so hard that I hardly had time to feel nervous or think."

Phase 2:
Basic flying and navigation training.
The navigation training is based on the expertise gained in phase 1.

Phase 3:
Phase 3 prepares you for your first practical exam. After you pass this exam you enter the so-called MUT phase (Mutual training), in which you make a navigation flight with one of your classmates.

Phase 4:
Phase 4 is split into four parts; 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d. During phase 4a (FNPT II simulator) and phase 4b (SE IFR/CPL) you will learn to instrument fly a single-engine plane under minimal visual conditions. Phase 4b is concluded with a Commercial Pilot License and Instrument Rating exam.
During phase 4c (FNPT II simulator) and 4d (ME/IR) you will learn how to fly multi engine on instruments. This phase is concluded with an multi engine (ME) class rating exam.

Phase 5:
Once you have passed the Commercial Pilot License and Multi Engine/Instrument Rating exams you will move on to the pilot provisioning phase, arranged by the Stella aviation TRTO (Type Rating Training Organisation). The pilot provisioning phase is a gap course introducing you to commercial aviation. You will learn all about career planning, how to do an interview, a competence management course, discussing your profile drawn up in line with SHAPE, and the Multi Crew Co-operation Course on a state-of-the-art ALSIM 200 MCC simulator or Boeing 737 Next Generation Full flight simulator. You will also learn how to work in a multi-crew cockpit. All instructors teaching at the Stella aviation academy are captains at a commercial airline.