If you are from India and wish to become a pilot, here are some basic regulations from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). When you train at Phoenix East Aviation, you will achieve U.S. Federal Avlation Administration (FAA) pilot certificates. Upon your return to India after training, you will be easily able to convert your FAA certificates to DGCA certificates, because at Phoenix East, you will be training in the special Indian program, which complies with the DGCA requirements. (NOTE: this is not the case in all U.S. flight schools. Phoenix East Aviation has the required India course content and flight hours you need).
BASIC PREQUISITES: 1. you must complete at least Class XII under the 10+2 system with a minimum of 50 percent scores in Mathematics and Physics.
2. To be a private pilot, you must be at least 16 years of age, and to be eligible for a Commercial License you must be at least 17 years old.
3, General physical fitness is mandatory. That means you must be free of any disease that hampers normal functioning.
4. Vision in at least one eye must be perfect: that's called 6/6 eyesight. In the other, you can have an imperfection of 6/9, as long as it's correctable to 6/6.
PRIVATE PILOT LICENSE: Unless you have a Student Pilot License and have one already, you will need to get a security clearance.
1. You will have to fly a minimum of 60 hours. At least 20 of these hours should be solo flying and at least 5 hours should be cross-country flights.
2. When you return to India, you will appear for the written theory examinations (Air Regulations, Aviation Meterology, Air Navigation, Aircraft Engines). You will learn this as a student at Phoenix East Aviation.
3. You will need to obtain the medical fitness certificate.
COMMERCIAL PILOT LICENSE (CPL): This is required to become a commercial pilot.
1. The age bracket for obtaining a CPL is betwseen 18 years and 30 years.
2. You will need a minimum of 250 hours of flying. Of this at least 150 hours needs to be solo flying, 25 hours of cross-country flying, 10 hours of instrument flying, and 5 hours of night flying.
3. A medical certificate from ACFME or IAM when you return to India. (You will already have your FAA medical certificate, as you have trained in the U.S.)
4. Theory tests in Air Regulations, Aviation Meteorology, Air Navigation, and Technical and Planning when you return to India.
5. Once you get the FAA CPL, you will want to continue with multi-engine training, as most commercial pilots worldwide will be flying multi-engine aircraft.
AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT'S LICENSE: The licenses above will approve you to fly as a first -officer (co-pilot). To become an airline captain, you will need the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATP). This is the highest aviation license available. While training at Phoenix East Aviation, you may wish to obtain your FAA APT License. You can then easily convert it to a DGCA License when you return to India.
1. Along with clearning written papers, you will need at least 1,500 flying hours.
2. You will need to pass your medical aviation tests (mentioned above).
AND FINALLY: All the above licenses are renewed annually. You will need to maintain your medical certificate of fitness also. Now, you can continue in your career until age 61 years of age!