Airline Pilot

A career as an airline pilot is only for individuals who are willing to dedicate a large amount of time and money before they can finally achieve their dream of flying large commercial airlines. Pilots must be willing and able to take responsibility for the safety of the aircraft they are flying, as well as all the passengers and cargo onboard. This career is for people who have a passion for flying and for traveling all over the world.

Airline pilots are responsible for flying passengers and/or cargo on flights for a wide range of purposes, including business, commerce and leisure. The nature of the flight can be either short-haul or long-haul. Most commercial aircraft are operated by two pilots, the captain - or the pilot in command, and the first officer - who assists the pilot out. In long-haul flights, the captain and first officer continuously rotate their duties so that fatigue can be averted. Long-haul flights with no stopovers often have four airline pilots so that any two can be awake to operate the aircraft at a given time.

There are two major career paths that one may follow as an airline pilot. Pilots who fly short-haul flights may fly the same aircraft several times in one day. Their flying hours are generally fixed and they may wake up and sleep in the same bed on any given day. Other pilots, who fly long-haul flights, normally do not wake up and sleep in the same bed on any given day. They must get used to spending nights in unfamiliar places, and spending long hours in a cockpit of a large commercial airliner. However, most pilots do not get to choose the routes they fly as these are assigned by airlines depending on their skill and experience levels.

Typical airline pilot duties include making sure the cargo and passengers have been loaded, ensuring the flight instruments are working properly, taxiing the plane to the runway, taking off, maintaining the plane at cruise altitude, making safety and information announcements to passengers, fly the plane to maintain flight level, making an approach to the destination airport, landing, taxiing to the gate, ensuring disembarkation and parking the aircraft. Their job also includes communicating with air traffic controllers, calculating required fuel levels, checking weather conditions and checking aircraft weight.

In India, airline pilots earn anywhere between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 800,000 per month, depending on their employers and level of experience. On average, airline pilots in the United States earn $60,000 annually.

Life as an

airline pilot

can be exciting. Airline pilots get to travel the world free of cost. However, life on the go involves long hours and a highly stressful job. It is not easy working with the idea that you have so many lives in your hand. Although pilots generally have fixed schedules, flights are often in the middle of the night. Pilots may not be able to maintain an ideal family or social life, and they should get used to sleeping in the rest area of an aircraft.

The biggest perk that draws people to this profession is the fact that it enables people to see places that they may not otherwise be able to afford. Plus, many airlines give family members of pilots cheaper, or even free travel. This means you can enjoy flying a plane and visiting new places alongside your family. Pilots are generally very well-respected in society. They are also paid fairly well.

Airline pilots are often assigned routes over and over, which means things can get monotonous. Besides that, they have to go through a long and expensive training process before they can actually fly a commercial airliner. Airline pilots have to deal with a lot of stress on a typical day at work since they are responsible for a lot of lives and the slightest mistake could be catastrophic. It is difficult to spend time with loved ones as an airline pilot since a lot of time is spent in the cockpit of a plane or in an unfamiliar place.

The level of competition to become an

airline pilot

is fierce. It is anticipated that the number of jobs in the aviation industry for airline pilots will grow steadily over the next decade. The number of entrants into this field is also increasing, so it is expected that only the most well-trained pilots will find themselves jobs at high-paying airlines.

Airline pilots from all over the world can find jobs, since the job involves you moving around a lot. The closer you live to a major international airport, the more time you can probably spend at home, if the airline you work for has a base there of course. In India, all major cities have busy international airports, so they are the best places to become airline pilots.

Read English, maths and physics in Class 12. After that undergo a pilot training course from a reputable directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA)-approved institute. You must meet the criteria as per DGCA’s Class I medical assessment rules. It’s mandatory to complete 200 hours of flying and clear theory papers to be eligible for the commercial pilot licence (CPL). You can also get trained at a reputable institute in the United States, Australia, Canada or any country approved by the DGCA, but clearing DGCA exams is necessary for the CPL. After that you need to have multi-engine endorsement to apply for an airline job. Then, you get training on simulators to get the endorsement to fly as a first officer (co-pilot).This training takes six months to a year after you get the CPL