How To Become A Commercial Pilot In 5 Simple Steps

There are many different career paths to choose from. But for some people, there is one career path that they know is their passion and desire. They have no other careers in mind. The most impassioned job seekers are those that want to get a job as a pilot. If you want to be a commercial pilot, and only a commercial pilot, it can be limiting in your job opportunities. There is a lot of competition. That makes it harder to get a job. However, it is worth the additional effort if you have the passion for it. Learn how to become a commercial pilot below to get your career started in a field you are passionate about.

Get An Education

Get a college education if you want to start a career as a commercial pilot. Not all commercial airlines require their pilots to have a bachelor’s degree. However, many top commercial airlines do. You would be wise to pursue higher education. It will improve your odds at getting a job as a commercial pilot. Although, there may be better major choices than choosing to pursue an accounting degree. If you have an education and another job candidate does not, who do you think hiring managers will pick? Pursue some type of higher education before learning how to become a commercial pilot. You will have much more success in your commercial pilot career if you do.

Become A Private Pilot

First, you will need to get certified as a private pilot. This pilot certification is necessary before you can progress to getting certified as a commercial pilot. Private pilot certification requires you to learn the fundamentals of flight and piloting. During this time, you will learn all about airport communications, airplane operations and maintenance, plane maneuvering and similar topics.  Then, you log flight hours to demonstrate your proficiency with your newly acquired private pilot skills. In order to get a private pilot certification, you will need to be eighteen years old and be able to communicate proficiently in your native language. Once you have this private pilot certificate, then you can work up to becoming a commercial pilot.

Get A Medical Certificate

In order to get certified as a commercial pilot, you will need a medical certification first. An aviation medical certificate is a crucial component to getting your commercial pilot certification. Commercial pilots are required to have a 2nd class medical certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, at a minimum. Without that 2nd class aviation medical certification, you will not be able to get jobs as a commercial pilot. You can also elect to pursue a first class medical certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration medical examiner to wow future human resources departments when you apply for jobs. 1st class medical certificates are even more valuable when it comes to finding commercial pilot jobs in the future. Take care of getting this aviation medical certification before you ever attempt to get certified as a commercial pilot. This way, your efforts to learn how to become a commercial pilot will not have been for nought.

Gather Additional Certificates

You will need to gather additional certifications in order to become a certified commercial pilot. Now that you have logged enough flight hours and become a private pilot, you should not stop flying. The more flight hours you log, the quicker you will be able to gain additional certifications. During this time, you will want to work towards earning the instrument rating and commercial certificate. In order to get an instrument rating certificate, you will need to log 50 hours of cross country flight as Pilot-in-Command. You will also need an additional 40 hours of real-life or simulated instrument conditions. To get a commercial certificate, you will need at least 250 total hours of light time, 100 hours as Pilot-in-Command and 50 hours of cross country airtime. You will also need 10 hours of dual instruction in a complex aircraft in addition to those requirements. Then, you will be officially able to become a commercial pilot.

Get Final Ratings

Now after all these other certificates, you can finally work on your final ratings to become a commercial pilot eligible for all commercial pilot job openings. You will need to pursue a multi-engine rating first. Then, you will also need to continue logging flight hours to get your certified flight instructor instrument, or CFII. Finally, you will need to get certified multi-engine instructor ratings. Once you have these three additional flight certificates and ratings, you will finally have completed all the different components of becoming a commercial pilot. Then, you can begin looking for work.

Ultimately, most commercial airlines hire commercial pilots that have logged at least 3,000 hours total flight time. Of those 3,000 hours, at least 1,500 of them must be multi-engine flight time, and another 1000 hours must be logged as PIC of a turbine powered aircraft. That is why it is so difficult to become a pilot for commercial flights. Thankfully, we have roadmapped how to become a commercial pilot for you, to make it easy. This way, you can follow all the steps it takes to become a commercial pilot with a bunch of pilot job opportunities at their feet. Then, all that is left to worry about is you own performance management. Good luck, and fly safe!