BGA FRTOL course

The next BGA Flight Radio Telephony Operator’s Licence (FRTOL) course begins on Tuesday 9th December 2025, providing full training for the licence required to use most non-gliding VHF radio channels. If you’d like to participate, please register now here We’re also recruiting experienced radio users to coach small groups of FRTOL students via Zoom; if you hold, and are confident using, any CAA-issued R/T qualification (including a FRTOL) then we’d love to have your help teaching this important skill to glider pilots.  Contact Paul Ruskin at frtol@ruskin.me.uk for more information.

The course combines self-study video lectures, practice scripts, and weekly interactive Zoom sessions.  It will run on the following Tuesday evenings:

·       9th, 16th, December 2025

·       6th, 13th, 20th,, 27th January 2026

We also run small-group coaching (also usually conducted via Zoom). Over 150 BGA course graduates have passed the CAA FRTOL exams in the past 4 years, with the CAA Chief Examiner rating the quality of their R/T as "very high".

The CAA FRTOL practical exam is based on a simulated cross-country flight, with the examiner successively playing the parts of Air Traffic Service Units that the pilot must talk to en-route. Until recently this pretend flight had to be made in a powered aircraft, but the CAA is now allowing glider pilots to instead make a simulated glider flight if they wish.

Despite the option to customise the practical exam for gliding, passing it still leads to an unrestricted, ICAO-compliant FRTOL that allows full use of the radio in any aircraft, including motor gliders or any other powered aircraft. The BGA course therefore also covers R/T procedures for powered flight. FRTOL candidates must also pass a short multiple-choice theory exam, and again the course provides training for this.

The course costs £30, which covers Zoom fees and other expenses, with any surplus going to good gliding causes.  There's no obligation to take the FRTOL exams at the end of the course; we also welcome anyone who just wants to learn the right way to use the radio, or already has a FRTOL and would like to refresh their skills. Those who do take the CAA exams will have to pay their chosen examiner, and there may also be a CAA fee, so expect to pay £150-£250 overall to get a radio licence..  We may be able to give some bursaries for deserving causes.

There is no minimum experience requirement, but if you do not yet have a Bronze badge, or have passed SPL theory, you’ll need to put in a few extra hours learning about Air Law and airspace classifications to that standard.