ATO or DTO — which to choose?

What an ATO is

An ATO (Approved Training Organisation) is a body that has gone through full certification by the Polish Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) and holds a certificate numbered in the format PL.ATO.NNNN. Certification involves a detailed audit of the training management system, instructor qualifications and staffing levels, the fleet and simulators, and the training programme documentation — and it doesn't end on the day the certificate is issued. An ATO stays under continuous ULC oversight for the life of the certificate, with regular inspections and a duty to report organisational changes.

That level of certification gives an ATO the broadest possible scope. It can run training from basic licences (LAPL, PPL) through commercial licences (CPL, ATPL), the instrument rating (IR), the multi-engine piston class rating (MEP), instructor ratings, all the way to type ratings for a specific aircraft. Only an ATO may run so-called integrated courses — intensive, full-time programmes that take a student from zero straight to a commercial licence without treating the PPL as a separate stage.

That breadth comes at an organisational cost: full certification demands a much bigger quality-management structure, more paperwork, and typically a larger organisation with its own fleet, simulators (FNPT/FSTD), and full-time in-house instructors.

What a DTO is

A DTO (Declared Training Organisation) is a lighter-weight way to run flight training. Instead of going through full certification, the organisation files a declaration with ULC confirming that its training programme meets the applicable requirements, and receives a reference number in the format PL.DTO-N.

The legal basis for this form is Part-DTO — Annex VIII to Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, introduced by Regulation (EU) 2018/1119. It was that 2018 change to EU law that opened the door for aeroclubs and smaller schools to run training toward basic licences without the cost and time of full ATO certification — provided they stay strictly within the defined scope of what a DTO may teach.

ULC's oversight of a DTO works differently from an ATO's. Instead of a recurring certification audit, it relies on checking the declaration itself plus sample inspections chosen on a risk basis, rather than a fixed schedule.

The exact training scope of a DTO

A DTO declaration isn't a blank cheque — Part-DTO precisely lists what training may be run under it, by aircraft category:

• Aeroplanes: LAPL(A), PPL(A), the SEP(L), SEP(S) and TMG class ratings, the night rating, the aerobatic rating, sailplane towing, banner towing.
• Helicopters: LAPL(H), PPL(H), single-engine type ratings for helicopters with up to 5 seats, the night rating.
• Sailplanes: LAPL(S), SPL, the TMG extension, additional launch methods, the aerobatic rating, cloud flying, the FI(S) instructor rating.
• Balloons: LAPL(B), BPL, class/group extensions, tethered flight, the night rating, the FI(B) instructor rating.

Why this doesn't matter legally for a PPL(A) candidate

Beyond that list, a DTO simply cannot operate — training toward the CPL, ATPL, IR, the MEP rating, most type ratings, and integrated courses are reserved for an ATO. But if your goal is a PPL(A), that restriction never comes into play: a PPL(A) issued after training at an ATO and one issued after training at a DTO are exactly the same licence — the same entry in the flight-crew licensing register, the same privileges, with no notation anywhere about which type of organisation trained you.

The PPL(A) training programme is defined by Part-FCL identically regardless of where you complete it: a minimum of 45 hours of flight time, of which up to 5 hours may be simulator (FSTD) training, at least 25 hours of dual instruction, and at least 10 hours of supervised solo flight time — including at least 5 hours of solo cross-country flying, with one cross-country flight of at least 270 km (150 NM) including full-stop landings at two aerodromes other than the departure aerodrome.

The same goes for the theory exam: 9 subjects sat before ULC's examination board (LKE), a 75% pass mark in each subject, with all subjects to be passed within 18 months of the end of the calendar month of your first attempt — a maximum of 4 attempts per subject, and all subjects within at most 6 examination sessions. A completed theory pass stays valid for 24 months for the purposes of the skill test and licence issue — entirely independent of whether you studied at an ATO, at a DTO, or on your own in an app. On top of that comes a class 2 aeromedical certificate and, if you plan to use aviation radio, a radio-operator certificate — the exam is taken at ULC and the certificate itself is issued by UKE, with a minimum age of 15.

The school's legal form, in other words, doesn't change a single letter of what you'll learn or what you have to pass. We cover the full step-by-step version of this path — including the order of the medical, the exams, and the flight hours — separately.

What actually differs in practice

Since the licence at the end is identical, the differences that genuinely affect your training lie elsewhere. The oversight model translates into organisational size and resources: an ATO is typically a bigger operation with its own fleet, FNPT/FSTD simulators, and full-time in-house instructors. A DTO is more often a smaller, local aeroclub or a school specialising in one type of training — with a more flexible schedule, but also a thinner backup fleet if an aircraft goes into maintenance.

The second real difference is continuity of the training path. If, after PPL(A), you plan to keep going toward the CPL, IR, or instructor ratings at the same place, you need an ATO — a DTO simply doesn't offer that next stage, and you'll have to switch organisations. If PPL(A) is your end goal, this difference doesn't apply to you.

Pricing and fleet availability vary far more between individual schools than between the ATO and DTO categories as such — the ULC register carries no pricing, and current examination fees are published on the ULC website.

ATO vs DTO — comparison

How to verify an organisation in the ULC register

Before you sign anything, check for yourself that the school is actually listed in the official ULC register under the number it quotes — that's the only reliable way to confirm it's legally entitled to run the training it's offering. ULC publishes a separate ATO list and a separate DTO list as PDFs, refreshed periodically; every school page in our catalogue shows its register number and the freshness date of the register it was taken from — the same two source documents listed in the panel below.