Becoming a pilot is a dream come true for a lot of people, but often it isn’t as easy as it might look from the outside. The process requires you to work hard for a certain amount of time before you can become eligible to get a pilot license in India. One of the best ways to get one is opting into the programs offered by best pilot training institutes in India.
These certified institutes take care of training and preparing you for everything that is required to become a pilot, which includes, learning the basics of flying planes and gathering your flight hours. But it is important to understand that such a course or the overall process can be an expensive investment, in terms of both money and time.
In this article, we go through the process that entails how an individual can obtain a pilot license in India, whether it’s a commercial pilot or a private license.
Types of Pilot
Air Force Pilot
Now there are two ways to become a pilot in India. The first one requires you to apply for the Indian air force, which will help you become a pilot in the military. This is usually done after your school education or after graduation. But it is important to keep in mind that this is not your regular type of pilot license, you will not be able to fly passenger planes in this scenario.
This is exclusively for Indian Air Force and will allow you to fly military planes only. For such a license, you will either need to apply for NDA or SSB at the right time to become eligible for the pilot license. Since this is not applicable to everyone, we will only be discussing commercial licenses in this article.
Commercial Pilot
The second method is to get a CPL or a commercial pilot license. This license entails an individual to become a pilot in civil aviation. There are different types of license that can be obtained according to the age of the individual. For example, at the age of 16 years, an individual can only get a student pilot license, which allows them to learn to fly as a student pilot.
After you have obtained an adequate amount of flying hours, you can apply for a private pilot license, which allows you to fly non-commercial planes only. The next one is known as the commercial pilot license which most of the people aim to become, as it offers you the ability to fly commercial airlines in India.
Requirements
Although every institute has a different set of requirements to enrol an individual into a pilot license course or program, the overall gist is similar, i.e., the basic requirements are similar in every institute. Like mentioned earlier, to become a student license, the individual needs to be at least sixteen years old.
Additionally, it is necessary for the candidate to have studied non-medical subjects in their 12th class which are physics chemistry and math. Further, they will need to have passed with at least fifty per cent in all subjects they opted for in their class. However, when it comes to the eligibility of commercial pilot license, you will need to have at least B.Sc. in aviation from an institution that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation recognizes.
Further, to become a commercial pilot, an individual will need to obtain a student pilot so they can learn to fly small planes and gather their flying hours to become eligible for a commercial license.
To Obtain This License, There are Three Main Requirements:
Clear Written Exam
Regardless of the institution, you are getting yourself enrolled in, you will be required to clear the written exam. This will be a basic exam consisting of general topics from English, math, and physics.
Aptitude Exam
The next one is the pilot aptitude test which examines the technical aviation knowledge of the candidate.
Face-to-Face Interview
The next step is a personal interview that will be taken in presence of officials from the DGCA council. Further, a medical exam is also an important part of Pilot training in India eligibility criteria. Once a candidate clears these requirements, they will be eligible to get a student pilot license.