Head of Training (HoT)

The Head of Training is one of the nominated postholders an EASA Approved Training Organization (ATO) must appoint and maintain under Part-ORA and Part-FCL. The HoT is personally responsible to the National Aviation Authority for the quality of training, the supervision and standardization of instructors, the management of the approved courses, and the technical content of the Operations and Training Manuals.

To be approved as HoT, the candidate must hold relevant pilot qualifications (commercial or higher with the instructor ratings appropriate to the courses delivered), have substantial flight instruction experience, demonstrate management capability, and be specifically approved by the NAA for the role at the named organization. Larger ATOs typically maintain a deputy HoT who can act in the HoT's absence.

In the FAA system, the equivalent role at a Part 141 school is the chief instructor, with broadly parallel personal accountability for the conduct of training. The terminology differs ("chief instructor" vs "Head of Training"), the regulatory framework differs (Part 141 vs Part-ORA), but the function — a single accountable senior instructor who owns program integrity — is the same.

Postholder management is one of the most underestimated compliance burdens at an ATO. Each named postholder — Accountable Manager, Head of Training, Safety Manager, Compliance Monitoring Manager — must be approved, must have a deputy, must have current qualifications, and must demonstrably exercise the responsibilities assigned to the role. NAA audits routinely examine whether postholders are functioning postholders or paper postholders, and findings against active oversight are common.

For smaller ATOs, the same individual may hold multiple postholder roles where the regulator permits. Larger ATOs spread roles across a senior team, but coordination between postholders becomes its own challenge. Either way, the HoT's effectiveness depends on visibility into training delivery — without it, the role becomes reactive rather than directive.

Aviatize's training management module gives the Head of Training a program-wide view of student progression, instructor consistency, stage check outcomes, and curriculum compliance — the dashboard the role actually needs to discharge its accountability. Variance across instructors, courses, and bases surfaces automatically, allowing the HoT to act on patterns rather than chase individual incidents.

For postholder evidence specifically, Aviatize captures the trail an NAA audit expects: the HoT's review and approval of curriculum revisions, sign-off on stage check standards, oversight of standardization meetings, and any directive actions taken in response to identified issues. The result is an HoT who can demonstrate active oversight rather than nominally hold the title.