To commence an Instrument Rating (IR) course, you must have logged 50 hours cross-country flying as pilot-in-command (PIC).
Before starting a Commercial Pilots Licence (CPL) course you must have 150 flight hours, and by the time you apply for your CPL you must have 200 hours flight time, including at least 100 hours as PIC.
The term ‘hour building’ can best be described as the building of this flight time after your PPL course up until commencement of your IR & CPL.
Hour Building can be completed before/after or at the same time as the ATPL theoretical exams. This stage is dependent on your individual circumstances, but the aim is to build your experience and continue developing as a pilot.
A number of ways to hour build are below:
