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ATPL subject 010
ATPL Air Law: what it covers and how to study it
Air Law (subject 010) is the paper about the rules you operate under: the international framework, how pilots and aircraft are licensed and registered, the rules of the air, and the services and procedures you meet in flight. It is wide rather than deep, and it rewards accurate recall of what is published.
By Matthew Dowell, airline training captain and Chief Flight Instructor. A revision guide, not approved by any regulator. Your training organisation sets the syllabus and exam rules, and regulations always take precedence.
What the Air Law paper covers
- International law and the organisations behind aviation rules
- Licensing: the privileges and requirements of the licence
- Rules of the air, including right of way, lights and signals
- Air traffic services and the procedures you use with them
- Aerodromes and the information published about them
- Search and rescue, security and accident reporting
Where students find it hard
The difficulty is volume. There is a lot to know, much of it in precise wording, and the questions often turn on one qualifying word. Students who read the rules once but never test themselves tend to lose marks on details they thought they knew.
How to study Air Law
- Work through the learning objectives and tick each one off once you can explain it without notes.
- Test yourself section by section, and go back to the objective behind every question you miss.
- Learn the numbers and conditions in context, not as a list, so you remember why they are there.
The Mastering ATPL book for this subject
The Mastering ATPL Air Law book is built on all 505 published learning objectives.
How this book is organised
The book follows the topics listed above, in turn, starting with international law and the organisations behind aviation rules; licensing; rules of the air, including right of way, lights and signals, so you can see which part of the paper you are covering at any point. It is a complete revision guide and question bank built on the full published learning objectives for the subject, and it ends with a mock examination weighted as the real one. Work through a section, test yourself on it, and keep the mock examination for the end, under timed conditions.
Related subjects
See also: all 13 ATPL subjects and 14 study guides · how the EASA ATPL exams work · what order to study and sit the papers · Air Law in the airline technical interview.
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