i still get asked this question very
often that people are still confused
and what are the
procedures what are the steps to be
followed
so i thought why not make one single
all-inclusive page
that should try and answer all of your
possible questions
and should also list down all the steps
you need to take
to become a pilot in india so let's get
started
strap yourselves in this is gonna be a
long page
and this should answer pretty much all
of your questions
in this page i'll be talking to you
guys about how to be a pilot in
india so that means you will be flying
in india itself
and you will be doing your cpl the
conventional way i will be making
separate pages for the cadet program
and if you want to fly abroad so if you
guys want to see those pages do let me
know in the comments below
also please do subscribe to the channel
so i can continue bringing good quality
aviation content to all of you
thank you. For pilot training
in india , let's begin first things
first
educational requirements you need to be
class
12th pass with maths and physics
so all the class 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th
students who keep on messaging me
asking me can we be a pilot what all do
we need to do to be a pilot
first of all all of you need to clear
your class 12th
with maths and physics now the point
here is if you've taken arts or commerce
you can still be a pilot you have to
clear maths
and physics it's a compulsion commerce
theory you'll have to clear maths and
physics from an open university
the most common university that people
go to is an ios
it is perfectly allowed and it is
perfectly legal
it will not affect your career in any
way in the future
if you clear your exams from nius all
you require
is passing marks in class 12th you don't
have to get 90 percent you don't have to
get 80 percent you don't have to get 55
percent i don't know why but a lot of
people think 55
is required to do your cpl no it is not
all you require is passing marks in
class 12 and passing marks in maths
and physics now some of you may have
been doing a diploma
now you might ask a diploma while
appalling one section answer is yes
if your diploma university or if your
college from where you're doing the
diploma
if they can issue something as an
equivalency certificate
so it's a basically certificate which
tells the dgca
that you are equivalent to class 12 or
the diploma that you've done is
equivalent to a class
12th from a normal cvc board or an icsc
board
if your college can provide that
absolutely perfectly fine you can still
be a pilot you do not need to give iit
jee
you don't need to give means you don't
have to have your graduation degree you
don't have to be a post graduate
none of that is required all that is
needed
is just class 12th pass so the next
thing after your class 12th
or after your graduation or after your
post graduation whenever you're ready to
become a pilot and start pilot training
in india.
The next thing that you have to do is
make sure that you're medically fit
that is done by clearing your medicals
so there are two medicals that you'll
have to do
first when you get started you have to
do something another class to medical
links are in the description you can
speak to the doctors
and they will help you out with your
class to medicals
please call up the doctors in your
medical i can tell you some things
i'm not a doctor so i don't know the
details however i can tell you a few
things
the most common question is are
spectacles allowed yes they are allowed
your vision has to be six by six or your
vision has to be absolutely perfect
be it with spectacles or without
spectacles it does not
matter after you clear your class to
medical the next thing is a class
one medical now a class one radical is
done by the air force initially
it can also be done by a few private
hospitals again
links for it on how it is to be done in
the description you can check it out you
will only start your aviation career
after you make sure that you're
medically fit because it makes
absolutely no sense to put in money
and start your training and then
eventually finding out that you are not
even eligible to get a license
because a class one medical is a
requirement
to get a cpl license however the thing
is class 1 medical takes time you don't
get the dates
very easily so if your class 2 medically
fit you can start off
with at least your ground training but
make sure that before you go for your
flying that your class
one medical is cleared so to recap we
cleared our class 12th with maths and
physics we secured passing marks
and then we did a class 2 medical class
1 medical
may be done at a later date then the
next step
is to clear your dgca exams now to get
your cpl license
which is basically the license which
allows you to fly an aircraft for
commercial purposes
to get that license you have to complete
two requirements one is your exams
so you have to clear some theoretical
exams and the second one is the
practical requirement which is basically
the flying that you do
so first we will clear all our dgca
exams
and only then will we proceed for flying
if you want to know the reasons for that
i have a page the link should be coming
up here
and i have finally figured out killing
so the link should be here for that
page you can check it out it will tell
you why you should be clearing your
exams first and
then go for your flying so to clear your
dc exams you will have to take ground
classes
there are in numerous people who give
ground classes including myself i have
my own academy as well i'm sure a lot of
you already know you know the other
vision academy
you can go to any of these ground
schools i would suggest you take some
reviews ask people around
and then go to a nice place because a
lot of people
don't have the knowledge and they'll
still be teaching and then you'll just
end up wasting time as well as money
so then you start off with your ground
classes and then you appear for your
dgca exams
now before you appear for dgca exams you
need to have something known as a
computer number
this computer number is basically your
something like a roll number with dgca
with which you can appear for exams
so this computer number application
process is again the link in the
description you can check that out
you have to register on dgca website you
have to send them some physical
documents
all of it will be in the description you
can check it out so once you secure your
computer number
and once you've finished off your ground
classes you will have to appear for dgca
exams
these exams are a total of five
in number they are as follows navigation
technical meteorology regulations and
technical specific
these five exams are conducted by dgca
exams are all multiple choice questions
they are done at ddca centers exams are
conducted every three months
so you have exams four times in one year
the passing percentage for these exams
is 70 percent
all the questions are multiple choice
questions there is one more exam that
you have to clear and that is called
rtr now it's an exam which is conducted
by wpc
it's a government body and they conduct
this exam every two months
so this exam is conducted six times
every year so all in all we have
a total of six exams five by dgca
and one by wpc out of these exams
navigation
and technical are vast they are big
subjects and i would personally
recommend that you take ground classes
for them
if you want you can try and clear
meteorology and regulations on your own
they're comparatively smaller
however personally if you ask me i would
recommend that you take classes for all
the exams because tomorrow when you go
for an airline exam
your knowledge will be tested and you
get proper knowledge when you're being
taught properly
but then ultimately it's your choice so
you can appear for the dgca exams
n number of times there is no limit on
how many times you can give an exam
if you fail once you can give it twice
thrice as many times as you want
you have to clear the exams just once in
your entire life
the exams are also valid for five years
so within five years of clearing your
exams you have to submit your papers to
dgca for the issuance of your commercial
pilot license and complete your pilot training
in india.
so once we've cleared our exams with
dgca
we will now proceed to a flying school
when you go to a flying school
you will be issued initially with
something known as a spl and this will be the
first step of pilot training in india
in india
which is a student pilot license this
license is nowadays issued by the flying
school itself they will conduct a very
small oral exam
and which is basically a formality
because you've already cleared the dgca
exams so you already have the knowledge
so you clear that spl exam and you get
your spl license
this license allows you to fly those
small training airplanes
also there's some paperwork to be done
at a flying school you can contact a
flying school and they will guide you
perfectly on what all paperwork is
required
i will also put a list in the
description of all the flying schools in
india
unfortunately that list is not fully
updated by dgc as of now
however you can still check that out
majority of the flying schools on that
list are still functioning and you can
call them up
now when you go to the flying school you
have to fly for 200 hours
that's the requirement in india out of
those 200 hours
185 hours will be on a single engine
aircraft
15 hours will be on a multi-engine
aircraft then there are few more
hours which are done on a simulator all
in all
once you've complete all these
requirements then the flying school will
help you
gather up all your documents you will
submit all those documents
to the dgca and then you will get your
license
if you're wondering on which flying
school to choose out of that
list that i just gave you in the
description you can always check out
my page again the link will come up
somewhere here
and you can check out that page in that
i have told you how you can find out
which is the best flying school for you
in
india or abroad and that is how you will
get your cpa license
i'll just quickly recap whatever i've
said till now first thing is class 12
with maths and physics
then you do your class 2 medical then
you do your ground classes and clear
your dgc exams in the meantime you also
do your class 1 medical
once all of this is done then you go and
proceed to a flying school
and then you fly for 200 hours and at
the end of it
submit your papers and get your cpa
license that's the basic
overall procedure on conventional cpl
from
india now after you get your cpl license
which is issued by dgca
once that license is received you are
now eligible to apply in airline
vacancies
so now what you do is you sit at home
you study you keep your knowledge
updated
or you can prepare for something known
as atpl exams
atpl is the next higher category of
license so first you got spl license
when you joined the flying school then
you got your cpl license
after you completed your initial flying
and then finally the highest category of
license is called atpl license
it is required when you become a captain
so it comes at a very later stage but
you can already clear your exams because
you're just sitting at home waiting
so after your cpa license sit at home
study
work hard and gain knowledge and you
wait for airline vacancies to come
airlines will always post their
vacancies on the career section so each
airline has a website
each website will have a career section
you can go there
and once you click you will find all of
the current vacancies
please do not believe any touts there's
lots of people cheating in the market
lying to people do not fall for them
only
reliable source for vacancies is airline
career section
and the official website from there you
find out which vacancies are coming out
apply for those vacancies
and go through the airline selection
process now the airline selection
process is different for each airline
so covering all of that in this one
single page is pretty much impossible
however
that is at a very later stage and right
now honestly it wouldn't really matter
also there is a question of type rating
now type rating is basically learning
how to fly the bigger airplanes
when you do your cpu license you learn
how to fly the small aircrafts a
two-seater or a four-seater or a six or
eight seater but airlines require you to
fly
the big airplanes so type rating is
learning how to fly those bigger
aircrafts to do your type rating there
are two options
one is either you can do it on your own
after you get your cpl license
the other option is you first go through
an airline selection process
and then the airline will tell you which
aircraft to go on and where to go for
your type rating
so either of these options can be chosen
depending on the market conditions
right now i can't tell you which is the
favorable option
because it depends solely on the market
conditions at that point of time
doing your type rating on your own has a
few advantages
and a few disadvantages the advantages
are
you will get preference in airline
selection so whenever the airline comes
out with vacancies
all the type rated people will be
selected first and then the cpl holders
will be selected
but the problem is one the cost type
rating is costly and secondly
it's a ticking time bomb type rating
expires
it has validities within three years if
you don't get a job
your type rating will be totally gone
you have to renew it every year
or every two years or every three years
depending on however you choose
but it is a costly affair and it's a
white elephant to maintain
so that's the disadvantage the safest
option is
wait for vacancies to come join an
airline and then go for your type rating
and then finally after getting selected
with the airline you will be sent for
your type rating or if you've already
done it you will be sent for your
airline training
now airline training is basically the
airline will take care of it
they will teach you how to fly the
aircraft they'll teach you their own
procedures
and at the end of the airline training
you will be finally
released as a first officer all of this
process
all of this has no defined time period
i can't tell you you will complete this
in two years three years four years
it's not in your hands and it's not
exactly possible to define a time limit
i've seen people finish off the whole
process in less than two years
i've also seen people who've waited for
like eight nine ten years
this depends upon a few factors such as
when the vacancies come out how quick
you are with clearing your exams how
good your flying school was
and a lot of other factors and now
coming to the most important question of
them all
how much does it cost the most common
question that i get
see flying in india is a very variable
thing
in the sense there are flying schools
where you can do your cpl for as little
as 16 lakhs
and you can go all the way up to about
40 45 even 50 lakh rupees
so the cost is very varied but on an
average
in today's scenario as of 2020 your cpa
will cost you somewhere close to about
35 lakh rupees
including everything your stay and all
35 lakh rupees is the amount that you
should
at least keep in your head it might go
plus or minus 5 lakhs that depends
the next big cost is your type rating
type rating
if you do it on your own will cost you
anywhere between 10 to 15 lakh rupees
and the third major cost is when you
join an airline
nowadays you also have to pay for your
airline training
airline training is again a costly
affair the cost
that airline will ask you for are varied
indigo will ask you somewhere close to
about 20 lakh rupees spiced it will ask
you somewhere close to 50 lakh rupees
but on the whole
on an average going all the way from
just a 12th pass or just a graduate
to the cockpit of an airliner all of
this will cost you on an average
of about 60 to 65 lakh rupees in today's
date
remember these rates keep on changing
and they're usually increasing with time
now rather disclaimer all of these
costs that i just told you they're all
as of now
and they're all average costs these can
change with time
these can change with airline to airline
so please don't quote me on this
and lastly i would like to answer some
very common questions that i keep on
getting
one is height minimum height
requirements
so as of now dgc does not specify any
minimum height required to be a pilot
however i have heard and i've seen
airlines
not hire people who are less than 152
centimeters
152 centimeters so it's
a good idea to make sure that you're 152
centimeters
or more another very common question is
about weight if you're overweight or
underweight it's
not a problem unless it's like too much
and
you will only get a recommendation on
your medical which will tell you that
you're recommended to gain weight or
you're recommended to reduce weight
otherwise you will not fail your medical
if you're slightly overweight or
slightly underweight
another common question that i get is
that will good marks in my schooling or
in my graduation or
if a graduation degree will help me out
in the future well honestly
no airlines do not really care about how
much you scored in your class 12th or
how much you scored in class 10th
or if you have a graduation degree or if
you're a phd or if you're an iitn
no one cares about that you will not get
any preference
another common question is that i need
to do a degree as a backup plan
now that is not a bad idea honestly
doing a degree as a backup plan is a
very good idea
however i personally it's my own
personal view you might differ on this
but i personally think that if you have
a primary plan
which is being a pilot and a secondary
backup plan
you first work on the primary plan first
you become a pilot and complete your
pilot training in india.
and then you work on a backup plan you
don't go the other way around where you
work on a secondary backup plan first
and then you work on your primary plan
so i recommend that you first do your
cpl. Start pilot training in india and
finish off become a pilot and then you
grade your graduation degree
which is something what i have also done
so if you guys have any more questions
please do feel free to drop them in the
comments below i will try and answer
them soon