Instructors and examiners

✓ Based on UK Civil Aviation Authority · read 31 August 2026

A second career for experienced crew rather than an entry route. The prerequisites are regulatory, sequential, and none of them can be shortened by experience alone.

1. 1

   Entry requirements

   3 published

   What a named publisher says you must already have. Most readers pass or fail here, and finding out on this page costs nothing.

   • ✓Prerequisites
   • ✓Course completion certificate
   • ✓Instructional experience, where required

   View requirements

   Entry requirements

   Instructors and examiners

   3 requirements, all as UK Civil Aviation Authority states them.

   ×

   • ✓Prerequisites

     Prerequisites for a type rating instructor certificate are set by FCL.915.TRI; the training course by FCL.930.TRI; and the assessment of competence by FCL.935.TRI. All three must be satisfied, in that order.

     Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority · read 31 August 2026

   • ✓Course completion certificate

     The UK CAA requires an “Instructor Training Course Completion Certificate (CAA5018 or ATO equivalent)” with the application.

     Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority · read 31 August 2026

   • ✓Instructional experience, where required

     For certain routes to issue, the CAA states an applicant needs “at least 50 hours of instructional experience as a TRI or SFI” together with completion of “the flight instruction syllabus of the relevant part of the TRI training course”.

     Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority · read 31 August 2026

   Requirements can change. Confirm with the employer before you apply or travel.

2. 2

   Selection process

   3 stages

   Every stage below is published by UK Civil Aviation Authority, and no second organisation's process is sourced for this role. Read it as one publisher's account rather than as a survey of the industry.

   Stage 1Meet the prerequisitesStage 2The courseStage 3Assessment of competence

   Meet the prerequisites

   Licence and hours on the relevant type, per FCL.915.TRI. This is documentary and is checked before a course place is offered.

   ✓ Published by UK Civil Aviation Authority · read 31 August 2026

3. 3

   How to prepare

   What nobody publishes: ask the employer

   • The UK CAA's TRI page names the regulatory references but does not reproduce the hour thresholds in FCL.915.TRI. Read the current Part-FCL text, or your own authority's retained version, for the exact figures.
   • Examiner (TRE) requirements sit in FCL.1005.TRE and a separate authority standardisation course. They are not covered here, because no primary text for them was read for this page.

Entry requirements and selection processes can change. Confirm details with the employer before attending. All roles