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Aero Academic
CASR Part 61 sets the rules for flight crew licences, and the Part 61 Manual of Standards sets the detail: the units of competency, the aeronautical knowledge standards, the exam pass marks and time limits, and the flight test standards. If you are studying for a theory exam, Schedule 3 tells you what you must know and Schedule 4 tells you how you are examined.
Checked against: Part 61 Manual of Standards (CASA), Compilation No. 6 prepared 19 November 2024, register entry F2025C00050, rectified authorised version registered 19/08/2026; Schedules 1, 3 and 4 read for this guide.
| Schedule | What it contains | Use it to find |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule 1 | Directory of units of competency and units of knowledge, by licence, category rating and endorsement | Which units apply to your licence, for example the CPL aeroplane list |
| Schedule 1A | Dictionary of abbreviations | The meaning of an abbreviation used in the MOS |
| Schedule 2 | The unit of competency documents: elements, performance criteria, range of variables, underpinning knowledge | What a pilot must be able to do in each unit |
| Schedule 3 | Aeronautical knowledge standards: the unit of knowledge documents | What you must know, as elements, topics and specific content |
| Schedule 4 | Aeronautical examinations: exam codes, pass standards and time limits | How each theory exam is set out |
| Schedule 5 | Flight test competency standards | What the flight test covers |
| Schedule 8 | Flight tolerances and aviation English rating scales | The tolerances you fly within on a flight test |
| Exam code (Schedule 4) | Exam subject | Related unit codes (Schedules 1 and 3) |
|---|---|---|
| CNAV | Navigation | CNVC (CPL navigation, all aircraft categories) |
| CMET | Meteorology | CMTC (CPL meteorology, all aircraft categories) |
| CHUF | Human factors | CHFC (CPL human factors) |
| CLWA | Flight rules and air law, aeroplane | CFRC and CFRA |
| CADA | Aerodynamics, aeroplane | CADC and CADA |
| CSYA | Aircraft general knowledge, aeroplane | CAKC and CAKA |
| CFPA | Operation, performance and planning, aeroplane | COPC and COPA |
The Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998, Part 61, are the rules: who may hold a licence, rating or endorsement, and under what conditions. Regulation 61.035 provides for a Manual of Standards, and the Part 61 MOS is made under that regulation and under regulation 11.068. The MOS carries the technical detail that would be too long and too changeable to sit in the regulations themselves.
The MOS states its own scope: it sets out matters relating to flight crew licences, ratings and endorsements, the use of an airborne collision avoidance system, aeronautical radio operations, aeroplane taxiing and conditions on flight examiner ratings. The version we read is a compilation prepared on 19 November 2024 that takes account of amendments up to the Part 61 Manual of Standards Amendment Instrument 2024 (No. 1), and it runs to 754 pages.
When you cite it, say which compilation you used. The MOS is amended over time, so a clause number or a figure from an older compilation may not match the one in force today. The current version is on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Clause 8 of the MOS explains that the units of competency for flight training are set out in appendices to Schedule 1, each unit has a unit code, and the requirements of each unit are in the document with the same code in Schedule 2. Clause 10 does the same for knowledge: the aeronautical knowledge standards are in appendices to Schedule 1, each unit of knowledge has a unit code, and the unit coded document is in Schedule 3.
In short, Schedule 1 is the directory, Schedule 2 holds the practical competencies and Schedule 3 holds the knowledge. A student pilot studying for exams lives mostly in Schedules 3 and 4. A student preparing for a flight test will meet Schedules 2, 5 and 8 as well.
The MOS also defines what the standard of knowledge is. Clause 10.5 says the standard is the ability to demonstrate, to the appropriate level, knowledge of the elements, topics and specific content described in each clause of the unit. That sentence matters: you are not asked to know everything about aviation, you are asked to know what the unit describes.
Clause 10.6 describes how a Schedule 3 unit is set out. An element, generally naming a knowledge area, is numbered as a clause. A topic, if there is one, further defines a knowledge area within the element and is numbered as a subclause. Specific content, describing the detail of the topic or element, is numbered as subclauses, paragraphs and subparagraphs.
You can see this in a unit such as CPL navigation. Element 2 is navigation. Topics under it include the form of the earth, time, charts and publications, and computations. Each topic then lists specific content, for example explaining terms such as great circles and rhumb lines, or converting between local mean time, UTC and local standard time.
Because clause numbers restart in each unit, always cite the unit as well as the clause. The standard format used across Aero Academic questions is the schedule, the unit number, the unit code and a short topic title, for example CASR Part 61 MOS Schedule 3 Unit 1.7.2 CNVC with the topic.
Schedule 4 lists the aeronautical examinations. For each licence appendix, a table gives the exam code, the exam subject, the pass standard as a percentage and the time limit in hours. The MOS notes that the examination codes are for examination administration purposes only. Clause 5.4 also says that neither a unit code nor an examination code is an abbreviation within the meaning of the dictionary.
This is the source of a common confusion. CNAV is the navigation exam. CNVC is the navigation unit of knowledge in Schedule 3. They are related, but they are different things, and a KDR may mention one or both. Table 2 shows the pairing for the commercial pilot licence in the aeroplane category.
The CPL exams in the aeroplane category share three subjects across all aircraft categories, which are navigation, meteorology and human factors, and add four category-specific subjects: flight rules and air law, aerodynamics, aircraft general knowledge, and operation, performance and planning. The helicopter and gyroplane categories have the same structure with their own exam codes.
Schedule 4 Appendix 1.2 gives the pass standard and time limit for each CPL exam. Every CPL exam has a pass standard of 70 percent except flight rules and air law, which is 80 percent. Time limits in the table we read are 1.75 hours for navigation, 1.5 hours for meteorology, 1.25 hours for human factors, 2.0 hours for flight rules and air law, 1.5 hours for aerodynamics, 1.5 hours for aircraft general knowledge, and 2.5 hours for operation, performance and planning.
For the recreational pilot licence, the aeroplane, helicopter and gyroplane exams are each 70 percent in 2.0 hours, and the navigation endorsement exam is 70 percent in 1.5 hours. For the private pilot licence, the aeroplane, helicopter and gyroplane exams are each 70 percent in 3.5 hours.
These figures come from the compilation we read. Always check the version in force before quoting a time limit, because Schedule 4 is amended from time to time.
Clause 12 covers the flight test standards. They are set out in Schedule 5 appendices for each licence, rating or endorsement, and comprise the flight test requirements, the knowledge requirements, and the activities and manoeuvres, subject to the operational scope and conditions and within the flight tolerances in Schedule 8.
The flight examiner must decide whether the applicant has demonstrated the required competency in the activities and manoeuvres. Theory study helps here because the knowledge requirements in the appendix are tied to the same units of knowledge that you study for the exams.
To find what applies to you, start with Schedule 1 and open the appendix for your licence and category. For the commercial pilot licence in the aeroplane category, the appendix lists knowledge units from basic aeronautical knowledge through RPL and PPL units to the CPL units CAKC, CADC, CFRC, CHFC, CNVC, CMTC, COPC, CAKA, CADA, CFRA and COPA. Then go to Schedule 3 to read each unit, and to Schedule 4 for the exam table.
A good study method is to read the unit for the subject you are weakest in, tick off each element and topic against what you can explain, and turn each unticked line into a question for yourself. That is the same logic that sits behind a knowledge deficiency report, which maps a missed question back to a unit and clause.
The most common mistakes are citing a clause number without its unit, using an exam code where a unit code is needed, and quoting a pass mark or time limit from memory or from a training provider rather than from the current MOS. A fourth is treating the table of contents at the front of a schedule as part of the schedule, when the MOS says the tables of contents and indexes are for guidance only.
It is the instrument made under CASR regulations 61.035 and 11.068 that sets the detailed standards for flight crew licences, ratings and endorsements, including units of competency, aeronautical knowledge standards, exams and flight tests.
Schedule 3, Aeronautical knowledge standards. Schedule 1 is the directory that tells you which units apply to your licence, and Schedule 4 sets the exams.
CNAV is the navigation exam code in Schedule 4. CNVC is the CPL navigation unit of knowledge in Schedule 3. The MOS says exam codes are for administration purposes only.
In the compilation we read, flight rules and air law is 80 percent and the other CPL exams are 70 percent. Check the current MOS Schedule 4 before relying on it.
No. The MOS states that the table of contents and index of codes at the front of Schedules 3 and 4 are for guidance only and are not part of the schedule.
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