Offline Exam Software for Remote Bases and Hangars: What to Check First
Offline exam software lets a candidate sit an exam on a device with no live connection. The exam is loaded beforehand, the sitting runs locally, and the answers are uploaded afterward. For a remote base or hangar it works when you treat download, sitting and upload as three controlled steps.
This post is for heads of training and quality managers at Approved Training Organisations, Part-147 maintenance training organisations and airline stations, and for small companies that sell aviation courses to them. Sources were checked in November 2026.
This is not legal or airworthiness advice. Nothing here says any software is approved, certified or compliant. Your Competent Authority decides what it accepts, so check with it before you change how an examination is delivered.
Key takeaways
- Offline exam software moves the risk from the network to the device, the clock and the sync, so design the sitting around those three.
- Choose the design first: a pre-loaded device, a local server, a cached browser app or an identical paper fallback each fail in a different way.
- Published offline modes remove something to work without a connection; Moodle’s app, for example, allows offline quiz attempts only when no time limit is set (Moodle 4.4 documentation).
- EASA Part-147 point 147.A.135(d) still asks for a controlled environment where identity, conduct, integrity and material security can be established and verified, offline or not.
- Rehearse one failure drill, including a late and a duplicate upload, before the first live sitting at a remote base.
What is offline exam software and how does it work?
Offline exam software delivers an exam without a live connection during the sitting. A device or local server receives the exam package in advance, stores the candidate’s answers locally, and sends them to the central system once a connection returns. Connectivity is needed before and after the sitting, not during it.
The ITC and ATP Guidelines for Technology-Based Assessment (version 1.1, July 2025) separate two cases. They say “Offline test delivery occurs when test content is installed or downloaded to the individual device” (quoted). Local delivery instead relies on “local infrastructure, such as a local server in a school or test center” (quoted). The guidelines are guidance, not mandatory practice.
Which offline exam software design fits a remote base or hangar?
Four designs cover most remote sites: a pre-loaded app on each candidate device, a local server on the site network, a cached browser app, and an identical paper fallback. Pick by who is on site. A station with no IT support suits one prepared device; a full class in a training room may justify a local server.
The table compares the four designs by how each works, what fails first and what to check.
| Design | How it works | Fails first | Check before use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-loaded app on one device | Package installed in advance; answers stay on the device until uploaded | Lost or wiped device, expired package | Package validity; who uploads and when |
| Local server on the site network | A server in the training room serves candidate devices and syncs to the center later | Server power or disk failure | Server backup; how results leave the site |
| Cached browser app | The browser stores the exam and the answers | Browser storage cleared or evicted | Persistent storage; supported browsers |
| Identical paper fallback | Same form and rules, tagged as a separate mode | Keying errors, slow scoring | Who enters results; second-person check |
The cached browser row deserves care. MDN Web Docs says data a site stores in the browser is “best-effort by default” (quoted), so the browser can evict it under storage pressure. Safari also deletes script-created data for a site with no user interaction in seven days when cross-site tracking prevention is on.
What do published offline modes tell you about the trade-offs?
Published offline modes share one pattern: each removes a feature to work without a connection. Moodle’s app drops time limits, Janison’s Replay needs content pre-installed, and exam.net drops its dictionary and spell-check. These are examples read from documentation as of November 2026, not tested or endorsed products.
The table lists what each source states and the question it leaves for the vendor.
| Source | How offline works, as published | Stated limits | Ask the vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moodle app (4.4 documentation) | Offline mode is “disabled by default in Quiz and Lesson”; a teacher can enable it | No time limit; deferred feedback; sequential navigation (added in 4.3.1); no network address requirement | How is a quiz kept secure on the device? |
| Janison Replay (page modified 2026-08-20) | Opt-in; the app “must be pre-installed and the test content downloaded prior to the exam starting”; data uploads once connected | Setup before exam day; transmitted data is encrypted | Is stored data encrypted? Does lockdown apply offline? How long can a device stay offline? |
| exam.net (help article “Offline submission”) | Answers saved encrypted in the browser or as an encrypted file, then synced, including by QR code | No dictionary or spell-check offline; Chromebooks need a USB stick | What is the sync deadline, and who confirms receipt? |
Moodle restricts the feature set, Janison moves content in beforehand and answers out afterward, and exam.net saves locally and offers several routes back. Each is legitimate; the risk is not noticing what it quietly switched off.
Pro tip: Write the Give-Up List First. Before you choose a design, list every online feature you will lose offline, such as a server-side timer, instant feedback or a spelling aid. Have your quality manager confirm in writing that the exam rules still hold without each one.
How does a controlled environment apply when the exam is offline?
EASA Part-147 point 147.A.135(d) requires a knowledge examination to be held in a controlled environment, where identity, proper conduct, integrity and security of the examination material can be established and verified. An offline sitting at a remote base must meet that test. Offline delivery changes the evidence you collect, not the requirement.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/989 of 22 May 2023 added the point. It says the examination “shall be performed in a controlled environment” (quoted) by an approved training organisation, as described in its exposition. See the regulation text on EUR-Lex. As of November 2026, check the current consolidated Part-147 text and your Competent Authority. Our Part-147 examinations guide covers the wider rule set.
The related AMC1 147.A.145(c) allows knowledge examinations by URL “provided the knowledge examination environment is under the control of the maintenance training organisation” (quoted). Neither passage reviewed for this post mentions offline delivery or approves exam software. Under the FAA, DGCA or another authority, read that authority’s own text.
The table maps each element of 147.A.135(d) to what offline delivery changes and the evidence worth capturing per sitting. The evidence column is suggested practice, not a regulatory list.
| Element in 147.A.135(d) | What offline delivery changes | Evidence to capture per sitting |
|---|---|---|
| Identity of the students | No remote check; a person on site does it | Named checker, ID type seen, time of check |
| Proper conduct of the examination process | No remote supervisor view; the on-site invigilator carries it | Invigilator name, room, signed start and end times, incident log |
| Integrity of the examination | Package or answers could be altered or replayed during sync | Package version, answer-file checksum at the device and at upload, upload log |
| Security of the examination material | The full exam sits on a device outside your main facility | Encrypted package, validity window, removal after upload, device custody log |
What goes wrong with offline exams, and how do you design around it?
Offline exams fail in four predictable ways: the device clock is wrong or changed, answers are lost before upload, stored content or answers are tampered with, and the package is stale or the device is lost.
How do you keep time limits fair without a server clock?
Online, a server timer decides when time is up. Offline, the device clock decides, and a candidate can change it. Moodle’s documentation sidesteps this by not allowing offline attempts with a time limit. If you need a timed exam, record device time at start and at upload, and have the invigilator log wall-clock start and end on the sitting sheet. An unexplained gap is a reason to hold the result.
How do you stop answers being lost before upload?
The ITC and ATP guidelines say in Guideline 3.3 that “Web-based delivery systems should be designed to prevent the loss of test taker response data” (quoted). Guideline 3.9 says the platform should let test takers resume after a disruption, and its comment says “The spirit of this guideline is to credit test takers with as much of the test they completed as possible” (quoted). Offline, save each answer as it is given and keep the device in custody until the system confirms receipt.
How do you detect tampering, stale packages or lost devices?
The October 2022 edition of the same guidelines warns that storing encrypted content and results on a local device or network poses security risks, naming “potential data tampering and manipulated synchronization” (quoted). Check the current edition’s wording. Give each sitting a unique ID, reject a second upload for a closed sitting, and keep the original file.
Also version every package and give it an expiry, so an old paper cannot be sat after a question change, and ask whether a lost device exposes the exam.
What should you ask an offline exam software vendor?
Ask where answers live, how they are protected, how the clock works, how uploads are confirmed, what happens on a power cut, which features switch off offline, and what evidence is kept. Get each answer in writing, then test it in a drill.
- Are answers encrypted at rest on the device, and who holds the key?
- Which clock runs the timer, and how is a changed device clock detected?
- How does the system confirm an upload, and what does the invigilator see?
- What happens to answers after a power cut, and to an expired package?
- Which online features, such as randomization or extra-time accommodations, work offline?
- What is logged: package version, device time, upload time, duplicate attempts?
- Can you export one sitting’s full record without vendor help?
These add to the connection-drop questions in our Part-66 module exam delivery guide and the criteria in the aviation exam software RFP checklist, which does not cover offline delivery.
How do you rehearse an offline sitting before the first live one?
Run a drill with the exact package, device and room you will use, and break it on purpose. Pass only if a colleague can rebuild what happened from the records alone, without asking the invigilator.
Step 1: Prepare the package. Build and download the exam on the real device.
Step 2: Sit on the weakest device. Use the oldest, slowest device you would send to a remote base, at half battery.
Step 3: Interrupt it. Cut power and network mid-sitting, restart, and compare what returns with your written resume rule.
Step 4: Upload late and twice. Hold the upload until after the sitting window, then upload the same file again.
Step 5: Reconstruct the sitting. Ask a colleague to rebuild it from the records alone.
Pro tip: Test the Duplicate Upload. A system that silently accepts a second copy of an answer file, or overwrites the first, cannot show which one was the real sitting. Make that the pass or fail line of the drill.
What should you do next?
Pick one remote base and one exam. Choose a design from the first table, write the give-up list, and run the drill. Then take the written procedure to your quality manager and, where your procedures describe how examinations are conducted, check it with your Competent Authority before the first live sitting. For several sites, see our multi-location assessments guide.
SimpliAssess’s published FAQ describes a cloud-based platform that works on any modern web browser and supports mobile devices and tablets. Its published pages do not describe offline use, so put the questions above to any vendor, SimpliAssess included.
SimpliTrain’s published aviation page says crew can complete assigned eLearning modules without an internet connection and that completion records and assessment scores sync later. That describes eLearning modules, not invigilated offline exams. If offline exams are on your list, request a SimpliTrain demo and bring your remote-base scenario.
Frequently asked questions
What is offline exam software?
Offline exam software is software that lets candidates sit an exam without a live internet connection. The exam is downloaded to a device or local server beforehand, answers are saved locally during the sitting, and they are uploaded once a connection is available. It suits remote bases, hangars and training rooms with unreliable networks.
Can aviation knowledge exams be taken offline?
It depends on your authority and procedures. EASA Part-147 point 147.A.135(d) asks for a controlled environment where identity, conduct, integrity and material security can be established and verified. The passages reviewed here do not mention offline delivery, so ask your Competent Authority before you change how an examination is delivered.
Is offline exam software secure?
It can be, but the risk moves to the device. The 2022 ITC and ATP guidelines name data tampering and manipulated synchronization as risks of local storage. Look for an encrypted package, a validity window, a unique sitting ID, duplicate-upload rejection and a full log, and test each in a drill.
What happens to answers if the connection drops during an exam?
In a true offline mode nothing is lost, because answers save locally and upload later. In an online exam, the ITC and ATP guidelines say systems should prevent loss of response data (Guideline 3.3) and let test takers resume after a disruption (Guideline 3.9). Ask each vendor which behavior applies.
Should you keep a paper fallback for offline exams?
Yes, as a plan B. Use the identical form and rules, tag paper attempts as a separate mode, and have someone key in the results with a second-person check. Ask your Competent Authority whether paper sittings fit your procedures, because that is the authority’s decision, not the software’s.
