Advance Your Skills
Add-on ratings and endorsements that build on your existing licence — from your first night flight to instrument flight in the Alps.
First Add-Ons
Short courses that immediately widen what you can do — usually the first ratings most pilots add after the PPL(A).
Night Rating
Authorises VFR flight at night. One evening of theory, no written exam, then five hours of night flying. Most pilots add this within the first year — Switzerland in winter is short on daylight, and a night rating is what stops the day from ending at 4 PM in December.
Night = 30 min after civil sunset to 30 min before civil sunrise
No written exam — one ground briefing only
Tailwheel Differences Training
Piper PA-18 Super Cub
A logbook sign-off that authorises you to fly tailwheel aircraft. Not a separate rating — your instructor signs it off when you can land a Super Cub on grass without an audience. Required before solo on the PC-6 and any tailwheel aircraft.
Logbook endorsement under FCL.710 — not a separate certificate
Required before flying the PC-6 or Super Cub solo
High Performance Aircraft Endorsement
A theoretical endorsement required to operate single-pilot high-performance aeroplanes — any aeroplane classified as high-performance, without an ATPL(A) theory pass. Eight subjects of ground school, no flying. Lays the academic groundwork for the PC-12, M500/600, and other complex singles.
Required before training on the PC-12, M500/600, and other SP HPA aircraft
ATPL(A) theory holders are exempt — credit applied automatically
Upset Prevention & Recovery
Bristell B23 / FFA AS202 Bravo
FOCA-certified UPRT school. Mandatory since 2019 for CPL(A), ATPL(A), and any initial multi-pilot or HPA rating. Five hours of theory, three hours of dual flight on the Bristell B23 and FFA AS202 Bravo.
Mandatory under EU 2018/1119 for CPL(A), ATPL(A), and initial multi-crew or HPA ratings
alpaviation is a FOCA-certified UPRT provider
Instrument Flight
The biggest single capability jump after the PPL(A) — fly through cloud, fly in IMC, fly on instruments alone.
Competency-Based Instrument Rating
A modular path to the same instrument privileges as the full IR(A), tailored to your existing experience. If you already have instrument time, the practical can come down to as little as 10 hours. Same privileges, less padding — designed for working pilots and PPLs adding IR(A) later in a flying life.
Same privileges as full IR(A) — accepted across all EASA member states
Practical reducible to 10h minimum depending on prior instrument time
Instrument Rating
The full ICAO-standard instrument rating. Authorises flight in IMC across Europe and the rest of the world — no geographic restriction, no lighter version. The qualification every commercial career sits on top of, and the one that turns weather from a binary into a planning question.
Radio Endorsements
Language authorisations for Swiss and European airspace — VFR and IFR.
VFR Voice Radiotelephony
The language authorisation that lets you talk on the radio in controlled airspace. Mandatory for any VFR flight in Swiss controlled airspace and most of Europe. Available in German, English, French, and Italian.
Available in DE, EN, FR, IT
FOCA national endorsement — not governed by EASA Part-FCL
Required for VFR in controlled airspace in Switzerland
IFR Voice Radiotelephony
The English-language authorisation for IFR operations. Issued alongside the IR(A) when the IR(A) examiner is also a language examiner — most are. Required because English is the mandatory language for IFR communications across European airspace.
English is mandatory for IFR communications in Swiss and European airspace
Typically issued simultaneously with the IR(A) skill test
Ready to Add Your Next Rating?
Tell us where you are in your flying — we'll lay out the prerequisites, the timeline, and the right sequence for what you want to do next.
Plan Your Next Step