Have you always thought about what it is like to be a passenger pilot? Have you looked at the sky and watched with fascination the machines gliding over its blue? If you want to fulfill your dreams you must undergo appropriate training and courses as well as Class I or II medical examinations. How to become a pilot?
License Types
- PPL (Private Pilot License) – basic tourist license, entitling to recreational flying, and only in very good weather conditions,
- CPL (Commercial Pilot License) – professional pilot license, authorizing the commercial piloting of aircraft,
- ATPL (Airline Transport Pilot License) – the highest degree of professional pilot in civil aviation; authorizes the control of aircraft above 5.7 tonnes taking more than 9 passengers on board.
These are basic licenses. Added to this are a number of others (approx. 20 in civil aviation), entitling to fly on specific machines, under certain conditions or at a certain position.
During individual trainings, candidates for pilots gain knowledge, among others in the field of:
- aviation law
- aviation medicine
- meteorology
- navigation and radio navigation
- flight rules
- communications
- on-board equipment and electronics
- flight planning and monitoring
- airplane performance.
Mental and physical conditions
A person who wants to become a pilot must pass a number of medical examinations – the higher the license, the higher the requirements. Disqualifications may be, e.g., visual or hearing impairment. Movement coordination, reflexes, etc. are also checked.
A candidate for a pilot must also be a balanced, reasonable, self-controlled, patient, able to concentrate for several hours, with divisive attention and coping with stress.
Pilot – where to work
After completing training with a professional pilot license and additional permissions in hand, you can start looking for a job. This is where the next stage of intensive learning and training begins, because airlines want to employ only the best and most experienced pilots. Often pilots are also required to receive additional training – MCC (cooperation in multi-crew) or JOC (basics of flying on jet aircraft). The recruitment process is therefore very demanding.
Pilot’s career
After the recruitment process, the cadet commences training for the specific type of airline that it will operate on. These are not simple, aeroclub machines that take a few days to familiarize yourself with. It is several months of training on huge (and very expensive) simulators combined with learning the procedures used by a particular carrier. Once, when there were very few pilots, airlines sponsored this cheap training, taking part of the pilot’s later pay as part of a loyalty agreement. Today, more and more airlines are demanding that such money be put out of pocket.
However, once you start working, you don’t stop learning. Annual knowledge checks, simulator tests and training are absolutely required here so that flying crews can fully professionally and above all safely transport passengers.
