Aviation as a career

The VoiceTAP (what’s VoiceTAP?) expert for our call on Aviation as a career was Captain Gurbeer Singh Dhillon, who has been working with Jet Airways for around eight years now. Within aviation, the focus was on a career as a pilot.

Listen to VoiceTAP Aviation as a career call by clicking here

Aviation as a career in a nutshell

Career paths in aviation can be divided into the following main parts:

1. Operations: Flight crew – which consists of cockpit crew (pilots) and cabin crew (airhostesses / stewards); flight dispatcher, who take care of paperwork such as flight clearances.
2. Engineering: Maintenance of aircraft is a major task for airlines.
3. Customer service: Front-end operation such as ticketing, baggage handling, etc.

In this article we’ll focus on the cockpit crew line of career.

Eligibility

To be eligible for taking up a career as a pilot, a candidate needs to have done his 10+2 schooling with physics, chemistry, maths (PCM) with at least 50% marks. Physical fitness is a must; a three-day medical test needs to be cleared. Earlier, this could only be administered at Air Force Central Medical Establishment (New Delhi) and Institute of Aviation Medicine (Bangalore) but because of the extremely high demand from candidates, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now authorized a select few private hospitals such as Max Healthcare to carry out the fitness test too. It takes around 8-10 days to get an appointment at a private hospital, but if you want to get it done at a place like AFCME then it takes 8-12 months to get an appointment. Good eyesight is a must – you cannot take up pilot training unless you have unless you have 20/20 vision in at least one eye.

Education

The main certification that you need to become a pilot is a Commercial Pilot License (CPL). First way is to get a Student Pilot License (SPL) which involves a written theory exam, medical fitness test, aptitude test and an oral exam. You can also go for Private Pilot License (PPL) training – which involves flying small planes, initially with an instructor and then solo. You need to fly a minimum of 60 hours to get a PPL. A written exam and medical test is involved. In India, getting a PPL would cost you around Rs 2-3 lakh.

After this you need to get your CPL training. This involves further flying, with a minimum of 250 hours required. Both instructor-led and solo flights are included in CPL training. Various flying clubs and aviation academies India and abroad offer you CPL training. Whether you want to study in India or abroad is a decision you need to take. Studying in Indian will be cheaper, costing you around Rs 10-12 lakh while studying abroad will cost you around Rs 18-25 lakh (in many cases, this includes boarding costs at the flying academy you’re attending). The difference is that getting the license will take about two years in India, but abroad it will take only 6-12 months (depending on your flying academy and how quickly you progress through the course).

Career Trajectory

A CPL allows to join at the level of a co-pilot (“first-officer”) but most airlines prefer to put freshers into training phases first. Classes are held on flight simulators which might be company-owned (located in India) or those belong to manufacturers / their partners (abroad). The kind of training that you undergo also differs on the kind of aircraft that you will eventually fly for the company. The training period lasts for around 6-12 months during which you are paid a stipend of approximately Rs 30000-50000 per month. Once you complete this training, you join in the position of a co-pilot. Starting salaries are around Rs 1.5-2 lak per month.

It takes around 4-5 years to become a captain from being a co-pilot. To become a pilot you need a Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL) for which you need minimum 1500 hours flying experience. Once you pass this exam, you become eligible to become a captain in your company. Salaries for captains average around Rs 2.5-3 lakh per month.

Career Prospects

Despite the current recession there is a dire need for trained pilots in India. Currently airlines need to resort to hiring expat pilots because India isn’t producing enough qualified pilots to meet the demand. So career prospects are definitely good. The boom caused by low-cost carriers has also driven up demand for pilots. Contrary to popular conception, pilots at low-costs are paid salaries at par with those in in full-fledged carriers, give or take a few perks. Typical work week consists of 5-6 days of flying with one day off on reserve duty (you’re asked to fill in if an assigned pilot can’t report for duty on that day).

Besides mainstream carriers, you can also consider flying for companies which operate chartered flights or companies which lease out planes to corporates. You can work for the government too which operates flights for various purposes at the state and national level.

Another education / career path which is not considered by many is to join the Indian Air Force. To join the IAF you need to pass the NDA exam. If you’re successful then IAF pays for your pilot training. This takes around three years and you’re paid a stipend during this period. After successfully completing training you become an Air Force pilot. If that’s the line you want to get into, then good; but if you’re thinking of backing out once the training is done then that’s not possible. Once you’re in IAF you have to work with them unless you are released.

Bottom Line

A career as an airline pilot is a financially rewarding but does need a significant up-front investment. Nevertheless, if flying is your passion you should definitely think about this. As PCM is a criteria (but not any high percentage cutoff as such), engineering aspirants can also explore this as an option if you don’t get the branch / college of your choice.