Making your career as a commercial pilot is one of the most exciting and
handsome job options one can enjoy in life provided you have the passion to fly
high and add adventure in your life. You often find youngsters getting
attracted towards this career, considering the adventure element and the
high-end benefits they receive from this option. This highly rated job option
would demand to undergo an intensive kind of training so as to perform the best.
The profession would also demand some other set of attributes like patience,
long and extended working hours, and devotion, which all are must to posses
before you think of enjoying this career.
If you are keen to make a career in this field especially in countries
like India, you are supposed to know the rules and regulations of getting
commercial pilot license in India, which you often get from DGCA (Directorate
General of Civil Aviation). Once you find the license, you become eligible to
apply in various airlines company and get a job of commercial pilot.
The basic perquisites of CPL in India
The aspirants looking out to make career as commercial pilot in India
should check some basic prerequisites before heading out to this career. These
include both the academic and physical/medical attributes, which are supposed
to be checked and adhered in order to enter into this domain. Well, let us
check the following as under:
First of all, you are supposed to be at least a 10+2 pass out in
subjects like Physics and Maths with the minimum marks of 50 percent. Secondly,
your age should not be less than 18 years for applying for commercial pilot
license, however, for applying this, you are supposed to have the PPL and SPL
training first then only you become eligible for CPL. For SPL (student pilot
license) the age limit is 16, while for private pilot license the age limit is
17. However, you have the choice of enrolling for PPL directly provided you age
is 17 followed by the CPL. With this option, you are supposed to qualify for
the exam as conducted by DGCA comprising of theoretical subjects like air
navigation, air regulation, technical aspects and aviation meteorology.
As far as medical or health point of view, you are supposed to have a
perfect vision in at least one eye. In terms of medical, it is known as 6/6
eyesight. The other eye has the option of having the eyesight of 6/9, which
should be correctable to the perfect eyesight of 6/6. The general physical
fitness comes out to be compulsory, which says that you should be free from any
kind of infectious diseases, which can affect your normal body functions. You
should be competent enough to have the right amount of hours, clear the written
papers and medical exams. In these
exams, you are supposed to get 70% marks. The application form for these exams
can be found out at any flying club office or you can even get the same from
DGCA office by asking them to send you the form by sending a self-addressed
envelope.
The selection procedure for Commercial Pilot License Training Program in India
The procedure for getting selected for the CPL training program is very
much different in India as compared to the other nations. It is often based on
the written and the medical test, once you qualify the two, you are eligible to
enrol for the said program. The candidates once qualify the written exam are
further called out for the medical test, which is always conducted by the
DGCA. The written test session generally carry three different stages – first
is objective type question, then interview and finally you have a pilot
aptitude test as well to clear. The objective type questions often cover
subjects like maths, physics, IQ, Geography, General knowledge and English.
Once you clear this exam, you would appear for the interview, while you would
be then considered for the Pilot Aptitude Test. Then you have the medical test,
which comes at the final exam in the admission procedure. Based on the
performance in different exams, a merit list is then published of the candidates
selected for the CPL training program. The short listed people are then offered
to take admission for the said program in the respective aviation school to
complete the training program and then get the CPL.
The CPL training program
The program comprises of undergoing the 200 hours of flying hours of
different aircrafts (single and multiengine) and 350 hours based ground
training. In ground training, you are covered subjects like Air Regulations, Meteorology,
Navigation, Radio Navigation and technical stuff. Usually the training duration
is 10 to 12 months. Once you complete the program, you end up getting the CPL in India.