How to become a pilot?
Transforming your aviation dreams into reality.
Becoming a pilot involves several steps, including education, training, and certification. Here’s a general guide on how to become a pilot.
- Private Pilot: For personal flying, not for compensation.
- Commercial Pilot: To get paid for flying.
- Airline Transport Pilot (ATP): To fly for major airlines.
- Age: You must be at least 17 years old to obtain a Private Pilot License (PPL) and 18 for a Commercial Pilot License (CPL).
- Language: You need to be proficient in English.
- Medical Fitness: Obtain a medical certificate from an aviation medical examiner. For commercial pilots, a Class 1 medical certificate is required.
- Enroll in a flying school and apply for an SPL. This will allow you to start your flight training.
- Ground school covers the theoretical knowledge required for flying, including subjects like aerodynamics, navigation, weather, and regulations.
- Private Pilot License (PPL): Start with a PPL, which requires a minimum of 40 hours of flight time (varies by country).
- Commercial Pilot License (CPL): After obtaining your PPL, you need to log additional flight hours and complete more advanced training for your CPL. Typically, this requires 200-250 hours of total flight time.
- You must pass a written exam that covers various topics related to aviation.
- The check ride is a practical test with an examiner, where you demonstrate your flying skills.
- Instrument Rating: Allows you to fly in various weather conditions.
- Multi-Engine Rating: Required to fly aircraft with more than one engine.
- Instructor Rating: To become a flight instructor.
- Type Rating:Required to fly specific types of aircraft, especially large ones like jets.
- Continue to build flight hours through jobs like flight instructing or working for smaller airlines. For an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, you generally need at least 1,500 hours of flight time.
- Once you have the required certifications and experience, you can apply to airlines or other commercial flying jobs.
- Pilots must undergo recurrent training and maintain their medical certification to stay current and continue flying.
