How to Become a Pilot

For those with no flying experience wishing some general careers advice on becoming a commercial pilot - what it involves, the training courses needed for a licence and the overall costs involved, please download our free eBook on this subject. Feel free to share it.

HOW TO BECOME A PILOT (From zero to hero) Free Ebook Download)

An extract from this eBook follows:

There are two routes to becoming a commercial pilot working for an airline; an integrated course and the modular route. We can assist with either route. Airlines now recruit pilots for both types of schools as long as the schools involved are recognised by them as delivering a well-trained pilot.

Integrated school offer a complete package for your training and are generally good, but very expensive and you may have to pay large sums in advance. Also, there is little flexibility about your training and a high drop-out rate if you are not able to keep up with the high demands of their training courses.

The Modular route delivers the same training and involves 2 or more schools, The main advantage is cost - it is by far the cheaper option that leads to exactly the same qualification to becoming an airline pilot [frozen Airline Transport Pilot's Licence(ATPL)] The modular route costs about two thirds of the price of an integrated course. The drop out rate is much lower as you can progress at your own pace and it offers more flight experience than the integrated route. The ability to choose your own timing for each major element of the course helps the financial outlay.

The Modular route to frozen ATPL is as follows:

Private Pilot's Licence (PPL) - about 50 flying hours.
Commercial Pilot (ATPL) ground school studies. (8 month residential or usually 16-month distance learning course).
Flight Hour building (minimum 150 hours)
Commercial Flight Training, consisting of Commercial Pilots' Licence (CPL) Multi-Engine Rating (ME), Instrumental Rating (IR)
MCC/ASC Course flight sim of commercial jet transport type of aircraft

After completing a PPL locally at any recognised Flying Club, you could come to Scotland to us for 8 months of intense classroom study for the 13 ground school ATPL Theory exams. You have to pass these before starting any commercial pilot flight training. The cost of our courses are on our "Courses & Prices" tab and accommodation costs are about £400 per month (professional room). After this course with us, you can go to any flight training school of your choice (integrated or modular). For example, we work closely with a high quality partner flight schools in Perth, Scotland.

Regarding the ground school studies, there are numerous distance learning (DL) options including our own DL course (self study on your own), but we would always recommend the full-time residential course where the student is taught by fully qualified pilots. Our Staff here are all very experienced instructors and have delivered a highly effective programme for several years with very good results for the students. There is good and low cost accommodation available on site or nearby.

Overall, you should budget £65,000 to complete your licence from no experience using the modular route, including our course costs. Our general guide to becoming a pilot is avavilable on the link above

If we can be of further assistance , do not hesitate to get in touch.