The 7 subject exams for your Commercial Helicopter Theory must be passed in a 2 year window from the date of your first exam. Ref: CASR Part 61.225 (2)

You will need to complete Flight Rules & Air Law (Helicopter), Aerodynamics (Helicopter), Aircraft General Knowledge (Helicopter), Operation, Performance & Flight Planning (Helicopter).

Your existing Navigation, Meteorology and Human Factors exam passes will carry over.

Everyone is different and learns at different rates and in different ways. While some trainee pilots find the structure and accountability of classroom instruction helpful others find the flexibility of self study more conducive to other work requirements.

You can purchase good quality study books with practise exams and self study. Tutors can be arranged. Online theory courses are avaliable which include multimedia aids.

It is also possible to attend just one subject in the classroom if you can’t attend for the entire course.

The CASA PEXO exam system is a computer based multiple choice format exam. You will have the opportunity to revisit all exam questions and edit answers until such time as you submit for marking or the time limit is exceeded.

Some questions are worth more marks than others and these are identified in the question. There are no part marks provided for your ‘working’ on paper. Only the final answer you submit is scored.

Scoring is almost immediate on submission and a Knowledge Deficiency Report (KDR) is generated on the spot.

The simple answer is that they are comprehensive. The difficulty will vary for person to person. The exams are designed to ensure a minimum base knowledge for those persons looking to progress to a pilot’s license which may put themselves and – more importantly – others, at risk if they are not competent aviators.

Accident investigation statistics show that more and more aviation accidents are caused by decision errors rather than aircraft handling errors or material failures. Making better decisions starts with a good grounding in the theory of the different elements that make up a safe flight.

Exam question wording can also be contentious requiring very careful reading and parsing of data provided.

The nationwide pass rate for the Helicopter Flight Rules and Air Law exam has been below 60% of candidates for the last 4 years. Other subjects are around 70-75% average passing rate.

You should expect to do some quality study of the material before attempting the exams so that you are not under prepared.

Aeropower has been granted approvals and audited such that we can invigilate private theory exams here in Redcliffe.

Commercial level helicopter theory exams must be conducted at approved testing centres. In SE QLD our closest exam locations are Archerfield and Mudjimba(Maroochydore) which provide some flexibility in accessing exam time slots.

A full list of exam venues can be accessed here: http://aslau.aspeqexams.com/Venue/Index/

Courses are conducted internally to the Aeropower flight school and as such use the same classrooms, training aids and flight planning resources that you will use later on in flying training.

At any particular time the hangar can contain MD500, AS350, R44, R22, H269 helicopters providing full scale ‘models’ that extend classroom concepts to their real world application.

Engineers and engineer workshops are on hand providing ad hoc opportunities to view things like a transmission pulled apart or blade balancing.

Kitchen facilities are avaliable for storage and preparation of meals.

Wifi internet access is avaliable for students.

If you have a handful of theory questions that you just want to sit down and go over with someone then you are welcome to drop in and chat with our instructors.

We also run periodic ‘Theory and Pizza’ Nights at the hangar as a community and networking event for our students which anyone is welcome to attend. These are announced on our Facebook page.

You can fail a CASA theory exam 2 times without any consequence other than the cost of sitting the exams.

On your third failure of the same subject then you may not re-sit the exam for a minimum of 3 months.

After a fourth fail at the same subject then you will need to produce evidence of re-training and satisfy CASA before applying to sit the exam again.

Ref: CASR Part 61.225(4)

The CPL Helicopter Theory exams are multiple-choice style exams and have a 70% pass mark except for Air Law which is a 80% pass mark.

CASA has stringent rules as to what is allowed to be taken into the examination rooms. You may underline and highlight documents but cannot include any form of markup or additional notations.

Material brought into the exam will be checked by invigilators.

Even the number of tags allowed in the documents is specified. This is perhaps one reason to choose a classroom theory course for at least some of the exams so that you can benefit from some ‘exam technique’ suggestions that self-study students might not be aware of.

Ref: https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/permitted-material-under-part-61

All the required legislative and CASA operational documents that you need for your theory are avaliable for access and download online. You can print these or use electronically for your study as an option to reduce costs.

Beware that for your exam self-printed copies of the AIP Book, ERSA, DAPS are not approved.

Ref: https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/permitted-material-under-part-61

There is no minimum age to start flying training or to sit the CASA helicopter theory exams.

You do need an Aviation Reference Number (ARN) before you can book an exam which requires 100 points of ID.

Application for ARN: https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/arn-applications

Our classes are normally capped at 6 people to ensure you get tailored person instruction. While passing the exam is the immediate goal we also leverage access to our onsite engineers, visiting aircraft and spare aircraft seats when avaliable to maximise your exposure to a working helicopter company environment and prepare you for the flying ahead.

No. You can start helicopter lessons at anytime regardless of CASA theory exam passes. In fact before you commit to several weeks of study in the case of CPL theory and the associated costs it would be wise to at least complete a trial introductory flight so you know this career is for you and that you investigate getting a CASA medical examination to rule out any issues.

The theory content and flying are complementary as they reinforce concepts learnt in either mode. It is not uncommon for theory students to contact a number of flights on the way through their exam study – this can make things learnt in the classroom click into place and keep motivation high.

Exam costs for CPL subjects range from $81.50 to $101.90 exclusive of GST and are paid at the time of online booking through the ASL assessment website. A $65 CASA exam delivery fee is then charged on top of that for all exams.

For the 7 CPL helicopter exams that totals approximately $1100.

(Prices as at Sep 2018)