How to become an Airline Pilot

2009-05-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Introduction

The aviation industry in India has two distinct sector: Commercial and Military. Commercial aviation includes passenger airlines and cargo planes, international air services, air taxi and charter operations being major function. Military aviation includes the Indian Air Force and the aviation arms of the Navy and Army.

The Commercial airlines have typical Organisational structure.This includes airlines operations, miantenance marketing and finance divisions.The job of pilot comes under the airlines operation division.

This profession, comprising of Captain and Co-pilots constitutes the highly rated and one of the most adventurous career.Its a specialised job and requires intensive training. This profession demands a lot of time, dedication, patience, sacrifice.

Nature of Work

Pilots fly aircrafts on long and short flights. One hour before take-off pilots check pre-flight plans. These includes the route to be taken and height maintained and also include meteorological information. Pilots have to do complex calculations of take-off and landing and they have to work out the fuel needed for distance to be travelled and height and weight to be maintained.They check equipments and insturment and do briefing to the flight crew.Onflight-pilots have to interpret the data on instrument and control. The most difficult part for a pilot job is Landing and Take-off.Pilots maintains contact with air traffic controls and cabin crew through-out the flight. They also speak at intervals to passengers, giving them information over the public address system on speed and height,details of ground areas they are flying over.duties are shared usually with one co-pilot, After Landing the aircraft is taxied to its final position and engines are shut down by pilots. later they prepare a flight report, noting any problems or instrument difficulties.

Personality

Pilot is a profession of discipline, patience, responsibility, punctuality, commitment and dedication. The job requires a lot of hard work, stamina, alertness of mind, adaptability to follow difficult time schedules, ability to think in crisis, good team spirit etc. Apart from possessing these qualities, the persons willing to take up this as profession, should be calm, pleasant, compassionate, understanding and technically sound.

Starting a Career as an Airline Pilot

To be a pilot for hire, you need a commercial pilot certificate. You earn your certificate by passing commercial pilot ground school and logging at least 200 flight hours(Indian requirement), with allotted time dedicated to certain conditions and maneuvers. After you have logged your hours and passed your written ground school test, you will need to pass a check-ride. A check-ride is something like the driving test we take to get our driver's licenses. A Civil Aviation Authority Of Philippines(CAAP) examiner asks you to plan a flight, quizzes you on aviation matters and then accompanies you on a flight. As in a driver's license test, the examiner requests that you execute certain maneuvers and directs your flying throughout the entire flight. If everything goes well, the examiner issues you a commercial pilot's certificate.

Additionally, a commercial pilot needs an up-to-date first- or second-class medical certificate, an instrument rating and a multi-engine rating. For you to receive a medical certificate, an Aviation Medical Examiner must verify that you meet the health and fitness requirements to be a pilot. You need to get an instrument rating to fly with low visibility (in adverse weather and in clouds). You receive an instrument rating by passing instrument ground school, logging a specified amount of instrument flight time (flying without visibility) and passing an instrument rating check-ride. To fly planes with multiple engines (most of the planes in commercial use), you need to have some lessons and pass a multi-engine check-ride. At some point, most airline pilots also get an airline transport pilot certificate. This highest pilot certificate allows you to be the pilot in command (the captain) of a large commercial aircraft. It requires that you pass a written test, have a first-class medical certificate, are a high school graduate and have logged 1,500 flight hours including 250 hours as the pilot in command.

Training of Helicopter Pilots : Helicopter pilots need to have Commercial Helicopter Pilots Licence(CHPL). This licence can be aquired by two stages. The Private Helicopter Licence(PHPL) is granted after 40 hours of flying training (15 hours should be solo) and on clesring the written exams of aviation subjects. 60 hours of flying training has to be completed and a written exam has to cleared. Helicopter Pilots find employment with the commercial organisations, Public Sector organisation and other security/protective agencies.
another way to get a CHPL is:
If you are applying for a commercial pilot certificate with a rotorcraft category and helicopter class rating, you must log at least 150 hours of flight time as a pilot (of which 25 hours, or in accordance with FAA Part 142, a maximum of 50 hours may have been accomplished in an approved flight simulator or approved flight training device that represents a helicopter) that consists of at least: 1100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50 hours must be in helicopters.

100 hours of pilot in command flight time, which includes at least 35 hours in helicopters, and 10 hours in cross-country flight in helicopters.
20 hours of training on the areas of operation as listed for this rating, that includes at least 10 hours of instrument training in an aircraft, one cross-country flight of at least 2 hours in a helicopter in day VFR conditions, consisting of a total straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure, one cross-country flight of at least 2 hours in a helicopter in night VFR conditions, consisting of a total straight-line distance of more than 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure.
10 hours of solo flight in a helicopter on the areas of operation as listed for this rating, which includes at least one cross-country flight with landings at a minimum of three points, with one segment consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles from the original point of departure, and 5 hours in night VFR conditions with 10 takeoffs and 10 landings (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern).

Career Prospects

The demand for skilled, qualified pilots is ever present throughout the world. As the government plans to widen the air services network, the demand for this profession would continue to grow. Nowadays even the corporates are entering this sector, further making this profession an exciting career option. It is estimated that there would be increase in the job position in the near future to improve the existing ratio, which is very low and unsatisfactory at present.

The employment opportunities in this profession are available in government and private airlines (domestic & international), cargo planes, charter planes, private planes.

i hope that the above Information wa helpful. i also welcome your comments and suggestions.

your's truly,

Capt Francis

"keep em' Flying"