how to become a pilot

How to become a pilot is not difficult task, however requires careful planning.   An airline pilot profession who carry passenger, cargo  to many locations around the world could be regarded very interesting profession to dealt with. He or she must also have a huge challenge and responsibility.

If someone is interested from his childhood with aircraft of course this will be an exciting profession for them.

Pilot profession requiring knowledge and skills with full concentration and good human factor / coordination and cooperation, a pilot must also be calm when facing weather condition.

 

There are several ways to become a  professional pilots ranging from personal program or through flight training sponsored by organization, either private organization , government affiliation programs and or military trained pilots.

An airline pilot who is responsible to carry passengers and or goods, must be experience and discipline. Pilots must ensure that the they can take care of the aviation management in general, from preparation or flight, pre flight check, reviewing the weather conditions, Notam (Notice to Airman), evaluation of the airport, the teamwork, the historical condition of the aircraft previous days and many other consideration for them to make any decision making.

Pilot profession solely responsible for any preparation before the flight, each flight plan filed must also be able to calculate or estimate the fuel required for the trip, through consideration of information from meteorology agency, passenger and cargo loads, although some company have prepared standard fuel loading, but it is the pilot in command responsibility to assure that the expected fuel and anticipated delay have been taken in to account.   Each pilot in collaboration with the flight operations staff or dispatcher, maintenance as well as  to cabin crew and also check that each aircraft and also the system before the plane took off.

 

Finally after landing, when the aircraft parked, and passenger have disembarked,  they have to make sure they did post flight inspection and completely writing the technical log and other trip report.

 

Summary of pilot activities and requirements

• The pilots have to make sure that they are adequately rested, to comply with safety requirements and high vigilance during flight.
• The pilots shall review weather reports and other relevant information from a reliable source.
• The pilots shall review their routing from taxi, take off climb as well as enroute, and in relation of the prediction of wind, traffic, fuel prediction if it require additional fuel.
• The pilots shall Check the aircraft in general, and specific  instruments and equipment on the plane that should works well before the flight begins.
• The pilots shall assure that the safety of the flight have been reviewed including the security aspect of passenger and the goods that are not in place or suspicious.
• The pilots may delegate to the other crewmember about Instruction for takeoff and landing instruction, use of electronic devices and other relevant information’s.
• The pilots have to continuously monitor the flight path and make necessary adjustments according to the weather and or traffic conditions.
• The pilots should inform cabin crew and passengers on the information up to date in every flight affecting the time and or other irregularities.
• The pilots should complete report after landing, including other anomalies in the aircraft

 

Pilot license can be categorized according to its intended function

• Private pilot license, is a license which authorize pilot to fly the aircraft for private purposes without receiving payment., In the US, each pilot requires minimum at least 40 hours of flight hours
• Commercial pilots license, is a license which authorize pilot to fly for remuneration, in order to obtain this license, the pilot must have at least 150 flight hours of total flight time.
• Airline Transport Pilot, is a license which authorize pilot to fly airliners after the pilot ladder of Commercial Pilot LIcense, they can start to build his career by adding flying hours in smaller fleet such as air taxy, or building hours in the flygin schools, to acquire at least 1,500 hours of flying.
• Recently the MPL or Multi Crew Pilot License is the recent development who can take the pilot directly to the narrow body jet such as Airbus A320 or Boeing B737 wihtout collecting 1500 hours of flught time, however the ATO (Aviation Training Organisation) must have agreement with the air operator that they can dly directly with the airlines, either from observer seat, then jump to second officers or direct as first officers in the smaller fleet with the safety pilot.

 

Pilot Jobs Conditions and working hours

Pilot working hours is common like other entertainment industry where the working days may be on week ends and holiday, the only restrictions is the flight time limitation is limited within 7 days ,30 days and annually.  Also the daily flight time limitation, varies depending which regulations, in the US the pilot can fly 12 hours while in European regulations they can be as strict as 9 to 13 hours depending the number of sectors, this rules is continuously being reviewed.

 

For wide body aircraft, normally the pilot will be away from 3 days can be one week or if the pilot work as rotations, it may work away from home for as long as 3 months.

 

Pilot Income

The average pilot salary varies from airlines to airlines, it varies from approximately US $ 50,000 – $ 200,000 per year for the most senior pilot in the management, which include the allowances such as housing, children study, medical etc.
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