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Become An Airline Pilot

By: Les Batchelor


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Being an airline pilot is exciting, although it is pretty hard work too. Given that safety is imperative in the aviation industry, airline pilots have to go through a lot of training, exams and check flights in order to maintain the different skills necessary sharp and up to date. Even a captain of a 747 will have to undertake several exams and flight checks more than a few times a year.

Despite the fact that it looks attractive from the exterior, there is a lot of difficult work that goes into becoming an airline pilot in the first place and then to keep the high standards essential to be an airline pilot. Also, you will not get the big salaries until you become a captain.

How To Become An Airline Pilot?
In order to become an airline pilot, it is required to have a lot of perseverance and put in a lot of hard work. A degree is not a necessity to become an airline pilot in general, however in order to become an airline pilot these days, a degree is a significant plus. Yet, the degree does not need to be in an aviation related subject.

Usually the journey to become an airline pilot commences by getting the Private Pilot Licence. Do your due diligence when deciding on a flight school to obtain your Private Pilot Licence. Don’t just discount an instructor at a local flight academy. The bigger flight schools have a lot of advantages, as their instructors may often be recently retired airline captains with enormous understanding. Local flying schools may have the eager young instructors who may well be suitable for the younger age group.

After you get your Private Pilot Licence, your subsequent crucial goal is to obtain the CPL. This will need you to build up the flying hours as well as taking exams and flight tests. As you are building up the hours for the Commercial Pilot Licence, you may well obtain the instrument rating and/or an instructor rating added to your PPL. An Instructor rating will facilitate you to train and obtain useful experience in addtion logging hours. You should also try to add multi engine ratings to the Private Pilot licence.

The next licence up the ladder is the Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL), which you will require as an airline pilot with a major airline. In spite of this, provided you own the proper ratings, and in certain cases even with about 500 to 1000 hours of flight time, you may get the chance to work for a regional airlines flying turboprop and regional-jet aircraft. These do not require you to own an Air Transport Pilot Licence. You will be able to advance to Air Transport Pilot Licence when you have obtained the necessary experience.

Most airlines typically require you to have Air Transport Pilot Licence and choose hopefuls who have done the integrated courses as these are of known quality and consist of the multi-crew co-operation course. The modular trained pilots are likely to have 1500 hours or more before being accepted although this varies from company to company and also as the market changes. Flying with a regional airline is a worthy advantage as they generally have a strong tie with the bigger airlines.

If you are successful in getting into an airline, then you will start as a first officer. Then you will usually work your way up to become a captain. Though, the chance to undergo training for advancement from the first officer to captain is typically given on the seniority in the airline, not on the flying experience.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Les Batchelor is a retired pilot with over 40 years of experience in both military and commercial flying. If you want know How To Become An Airline Pilot and become an airline pilot with a major airline, you can check out his “How To Become A Pilot On A Budget Guide”.

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