SPHAIR vs DLR: which Swiss pilot selection route should you prepare? (2026)

The short answer: a screening is not the same as a certificate

SPHAIR includes an aptitude-screening stage and a flight-course stage. A DLR certificate comes from its own assessment process. For Swiss EFA training, a qualifying SPHAIR certificate can be an alternative to the DLR certificate, subject to the published conditions. This is not a choice between two app scores: first establish which official document your application needs.

A useful decision order

1. Identify the destination: SWISS, Edelweiss, military flying or another airline. A Swiss route should not be assumed valid for every airline.
2. Check whether you meet SPHAIR’s participation conditions. If you do not, read the DLR/EFA route requirements rather than assuming that the same eligibility rules apply.
3. If you already hold a SPHAIR certificate, read the actual recommendation and compare its date with EFA’s current rules. Ask the provider about unclear or older documents.
4. Prepare the next stage you actually need. For SPHAIR screening, build a broad skills routine and use SPHAIR material. For DLR, use the official information supplied for your assessment.

What the two preparation routines have in common

Mental arithmetic, working memory, spatial reasoning, concentration and technical understanding are useful practice families across the pilot routes. Brain Preflight’s two programmes overlap in several exercises for that reason. Work on the underlying method: estimate a percentage before calculating, track each gear reversal, update a memory sequence without losing the current rule, and make small psychomotor corrections.

The mechanical-comprehension guide is useful whichever route you are preparing. The same lever equation remains valid when an exercise changes its wording or units. Learn to explain why an answer is plausible instead of memorising the position of a multiple-choice button.

What changes after a qualifying SPHAIR certificate?

A qualifying certificate may remove the need for the separate DLR certificate in the specified Swiss EFA route. It does not by itself replace all later assessment, interviews, airline-fit steps or medical requirements. EFA requires the commercial-pilot recommendation and a SPHAIR certificate no older than five years on the day of the Step 2 Lufthansa Group assessment. Check those conditions directly when planning your application. Keep the decision separate from commercial training offers that describe an entire career as a single test.

Choose a programme, then keep a simple review log

Select SPHAIR if the screening is your upcoming milestone; select Lufthansa / SWISS / Edelweiss — DLR if that is the certificate route you are working towards. For the first week, sample several skill families. Thereafter, spend most of your five daily free sessions on the errors that recur, while keeping some variety. Track the type of mistake, your corrected method and whether it appears again. Session levels are for reviewing your training, not for converting into an official selection rating.

If your goal is air traffic control rather than a cockpit, neither certificate comparison is the main preparation map. Read Skyguide FEAST preparation and the Switzerland route overview instead.

Practise now in Brain Preflight

Download Brain Preflight free on iPhone. You get 5 free exercise sessions immediately and 5 new sessions every day, with any exercise available in your chosen language. No purchase or subscription is required for that daily allowance. Installed exercises work offline. Mechanical comprehension is available in English, French and German. Premium is optional and adds unlimited sessions, ad-free practice, the app’s own timed series or mock-exam routines, and detailed diagnostics. The free plan may show ads. Choose a programme in the app, review your exercise feedback and adjust tomorrow’s practice to the mistakes that actually recur.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and familiarisation

• SPHAIR: screening
• SPHAIR: flight course
• European Flight Academy: selection in Switzerland