PPL(G) Requirements and the UK Syllabus
All 38 exercises, and where first solo actually falls
Most schools will tell you the gyroplane licence takes 40 hours. Very few will show you what you actually do in them. Here is the whole thing: 38 exercises in 8 stages, exactly as the Civil Aviation Authority sets them out in Appendix A of Standards Document 44. The exercise titles are the CAA's; the notes on each stage are ours, from watching students go through them. The checks that start every one of those lessons are set out separately in gyroplane pre-flight checks, and what the examiner tests at the end of it all is in ground school and the flying test.
The whole course, at a glance
Stage 1 - Basics (Ex 1-4)
Sitting in it, feeling what the controls do, and learning to move the aircraft on the ground safely. Nothing here is difficult; it exists so that nothing later is a surprise.
| Ex 1 | An Introductory Flight |
|---|---|
| Ex 2 | Lookout, Speed, Direction |
| Ex 3 | Trim, Height, Balance |
| Ex 4 | Startup, Taxi, Shutdown |
Stage 2 - General Handling (Ex 5-12)
The longest stage and the one that makes a pilot. Power, turns, wind, holding a height and a speed while doing something else - and it finishes by putting all of it together in the circuit.
| Ex 5 | Understanding Power Changes |
|---|---|
| Ex 6 | Coordinated Turns |
| Ex 7 | Correcting for Wind |
| Ex 8 | Accurate Height and Speed |
| Ex 9 | Performance Climbing and Descending |
| Ex 10 | Climbing and Descending Turns |
| Ex 11 | Significant Speed Changes, Fast Flight |
| Ex 12 | Flying the Circuit Pattern |
Stage 3 - Take Offs and Landings (Ex 13-19)
Seven exercises on the two things that matter most, and the reason a gyroplane licence takes the hours it does. Note where it ends: precision landings, then precision landings on idle power.
| Ex 13 | Active Rotor Management |
|---|---|
| Ex 14 | Take Offs, Wind on the Runway Heading |
| Ex 15 | Take Offs, Different Conditions |
| Ex 16 | Landing, Wind on the Runway Heading |
| Ex 17 | Landing, Different Conditions |
| Ex 18 | Precision Landings |
| Ex 19 | Precision Landings, Idle Power |
Stage 4 - Advanced (Ex 20-26)
Flying the machine at the edges of its envelope on purpose, in controlled conditions, so that you have been there before you ever get there by accident.
| Ex 20 | Departing and Arriving at Airfields |
|---|---|
| Ex 21 | Slow Flight |
| Ex 22 | Slow Flight on Idle Power |
| Ex 23 | Ground Reference Turns |
| Ex 24 | Unusual Attitudes |
| Ex 25 | Low Flying |
| Ex 26 | Consolidation, En Route Airmanship |
Stage 5 - Emergencies (Ex 27-30)
Four exercises, all of them before your first solo. A gyroplane cannot stall and its rotor keeps turning with the engine stopped, but you still practise arriving in a field until it is ordinary.
| Ex 27 | Inflight Emergencies |
|---|---|
| Ex 28 | Precautionary Landing |
| Ex 29 | Forced Landing |
| Ex 30 | Forced Landing around the Airfield |
Stage 6 - Solo (Ex 31-33)
The day people remember. It comes two thirds of the way through the list, not at the end - by then you have flown thirty exercises including every emergency.
| Ex 31 | Pre-Solo Check Flight |
|---|---|
| Ex 32 | First Solo |
| Ex 33 | Solo Consolidation |
Stage 7 - Navigation (Ex 34-37)
Going somewhere, which is what most people bought the aircraft for. Ends with the qualifying cross-country flown on your own.
| Ex 34 | En Route Navigation |
|---|---|
| Ex 35 | Landing Out |
| Ex 36 | Solo Navigation |
| Ex 37 | Qualifying Cross Country |
Stage 8 - Test Prep (Ex 38)
One exercise: flying the test before you fly the test.
| Ex 38 | Preparation for the Skills Test |
|---|
Three things the list tells you
Seven exercises are takeoffs and landings. Stage 3 spends more of the course on them than on anything else, and it does not finish at "lands safely" - it finishes at precision landings on idle power. That is the difference between flying a gyroplane like an aeroplane and flying it like a gyroplane, and it is where the hours go.
Every emergency comes before your first solo. Stage 5 - inflight emergencies, precautionary landing, forced landing, forced landing around the airfield - is Ex 27 to 30. First solo is Ex 32. You do not go up alone until you have practised coming down in a field.
Solo is two thirds of the way through, not at the end. People imagine first solo as the finish line. It is Ex 32 of 38, and six exercises of navigation and test preparation follow it.
The five written papers
Alongside the flying, the same appendix lists the theoretical knowledge: Air Law, Human Factors, Meteorology, Navigation and Gyroplane Technical. Each is a written paper at a 75% pass mark, and they gate the flying: Air Law before first solo, Human Factors, Meteorology and Navigation before the solo cross-country, Gyroplane Technical before the flight test. Anything you study before you arrive is flying time you are not spending in a classroom.
How 38 exercises fit into real weeks
The CAA minimum is 40 hours, of which 15 dual and 10 solo must be flown in gyroplanes. Flown intensively at two flights a day, that is roughly four weeks of flying. At British weekends the same 38 exercises normally take six months to a year, because the weather cancels more lessons than everything else combined.
A fortnight is not half a licence, incidentally - it is closer to the first four stages. Two weeks of two flights a day, with the rest you will genuinely need in between, realistically puts you through basics, general handling, circuits and a good part of takeoffs and landings, with the first papers behind you. Which is why the course splits neatly into two trips: theory passes stay valid for 24 months, and the flight test must fall within 6 months of finishing training.
Where we train, and why
We send students to the Algarve for two reasons the list above implies. The first is that 38 exercises need consecutive flyable days, and the weather there delivers them. The second is who teaches them: the instructor running the course has over 3,500 hours on gyroplanes and has flown 17 different gyroplane types. What it costs, line by line, is in our guide to the price of a gyroplane licence, and the requirements behind the syllabus - hours, medical, FRTOL and the flight test - are in how to get your PPL(G).
Source: CAA Standards Document 44, version 6, October 2025, Appendix A. Always check the current issue - the CAA revises it.
Frequently asked questions
How many exercises are in the UK PPL(G) syllabus?
Thirty-eight, grouped into eight stages, from Ex 1 An Introductory Flight to Ex 38 Preparation for the Skills Test. They are set out in Appendix A of CAA Standards Document 44, alongside five theoretical knowledge subjects.
When do you go solo on a gyroplane course?
First solo is Ex 32, in Stage 6 of 8. By then you will have flown thirty-one exercises, including the whole of the emergencies stage - inflight emergencies, precautionary landing, forced landing and forced landing around the airfield. Solo comes after the emergency training, not before it.
What are the five PPL(G) theory subjects?
Air Law, Human Factors, Meteorology, Navigation and Gyroplane Technical. Each is a written paper with a 75% pass mark. Air Law must be passed before your first solo; Human Factors, Meteorology and Navigation before your solo cross-country; Gyroplane Technical before the flight test.
What are the PPL(G) requirements?
The exercises are, because they are set by the CAA rather than by the school. Schools group and name them differently in their own material, and they differ in how many exercises they fly in a session, but the content a UK examiner tests against is the same wherever you train.
How long does it take to fly all 38 exercises?
The CAA minimum is 40 hours, of which 15 dual and 10 solo must be in gyroplanes. Flown intensively at two flights a day, that is roughly four weeks of flying. At British weekends, where weather cancels more lessons than anything else, the same syllabus normally takes six months to a year.
Wondering whether you can actually do it? Are gyrocopters hard to fly answers that honestly - the flying is forgiving, the ground is where the skill is.