Timebuilding

Upon the completion of your PPL(A) training you have approximately 45 hours total time including some small amount of pilot-in-command hours. In order to progress your Frozen ATPL training path you need to gain few more hours. This is called Timebuilding.

Timebuilding is gaining an experience

To gain an experience you have basically two choices. You either can fly with yourself, your family or friends. Or you can gain an experience by flying with an instructor or other more experienced pilot throughout the Europe and learn from the more experienced pilots.

Common ways pilots build the time

Renting aircraft to fly cross-country routes
Shared timebuilding (two pilots flying together and swapping legs)
Flight instructing (getting paid while gaining hours)
Ferry flights, banner towing, or pipeline patrol
International or adventure flying to combine hours with real experience

Why is the Timebuilding important

Timebuilding is the process of accumulating flight hours that pilots need to qualify for advanced licenses, ratings, or airline jobs.

After earning a Private Pilot License (PPL), most pilots don’t yet have the total hours required to obtain further ratings.
To bridge this gap, they “build time” by flying more — either solo, with another pilot, or on structured programs.
These hours are logged in their pilot logbook and count toward milestones like the MEP(land), which usually requires 70 PIC flight hours or 50 PIC cross-country hours for instrument rating

Guided timebuilding

Many people are opting for the cheap timebuilding. We understand the importance of having the cheapest timebuilding possible. However we strongly recommend you to attend so-called guided timebuilding. Rent an instructor and schedule the flight together. Fly to the congested airspaces, fly internationally to get used to Aviation English in different dialects. Fly to the destinations such as Adriatic sea region, where the weather can be a factor contributing on the safety.

All this will strongly enhance your experience, skills, knowledge and airmanship. It is really worth it.

Timebuilding towards Frozen ATPL

Once you obtain your PPL(A) licence, you will need approximately 90 hours of flight time as timebuilding. To be more accurate, you will need to meet following requirements:

50 hours as PIC to start Instrument rating training
70 hours as PIC to obtain MEP(land) class rating
100 hours as PIC to obtain your CPL(A) licence

Having 50 hours as pilot-in-command during the cross-country flying is a mandatory and most restrictive requirement. You will need to have this experience prior you commence your Instrument Rating training. For that reason, the most efficient way how to reach this milestone is to fly cross-country and navigation flights.

Not recommended timebuilding

Aerotowing - towing the gliders is usually done during the weekends in aeroclubs. Indeed it is a leisure activity and you will make a lot of new friends and enjoy the club life. However towing the gliders will not credit towards the minimum total PIC time on cross country.

Aerobatics - flying aerobatics will significantly enhance your pilot skills and handling of an aircraft. However the aerobatic rating is not required towards the Frozen ATPL qualification. Hours gained while flying aerobatic will not be counted-in towards the PIC cross-country flight time requirement.

Leisure flying - we all understand how important is to fly with your loved ones once you got your PPL(A). However by flying only for your own joy with your family and friends will not enhance your skills like the guided time building does. It will cost a lot of money, but will not be relevant to its purpose.

Active timebuilding

Accelerate your aviation career with structured, affordable time building. Fly modern, well-maintained aircraft, enjoy flexible scheduling, and log the hours you need.

We strongly recommend you to use the services of the skilled flight instructor who can provide you with the guided timebuilding flying and facilitate the international flying experience.

Flying in the complex and unknown airspace is something that you will highly benefit from at the later stage of your training.