Let’s fly: Everything you need to know to become a pilot

Ahmed Sarwar is a 25-year local who has recently graduated as a pilot from New Zealand. We sat down with him to have a bit of chat about how aspiring pilots can prepare themselves for the profession, and the dos and don'ts of the process.

What are the basic requirements (Physical and academic) to qualify for pilot training?

It depends on which country you're training in. In Bangladesh, I discovered the requirements are high for no apparent reason. Schools such as Galaxy and Arirang require you have an academic background in science. Same in Malaysia. But countries like Australia, New Zealand or the United States require that you be of 16-year-old for PPL (Private Pilot Licence) and 18-year-old for CPL (Commercial Pilot Licence). They also require a minimum educational requirement of O Level but no science background. The entire background thing is completely unnecessary as flying is something you have never learned in your life. It's an entirely different game. It's not like you have to be very good at physics or maths to learn flying. You don't need to be good at maths, you just have to be smart about it. You need to be able to make quick calculations in your head. They teach you everything from scratch. 

The physical requirements are quite strong. A PPL Pilot holds a class-2 medical and a CPL Pilot requires class-1 medical which is a bit more restricted. This status has to be renewed every year, by a six-hour-long medical test. The eye checkup itself needs almost two hours. If you wear glasses or contacts, that is not something to worry about as long as you see what they want you to see. There are also ear and lungs checkups, calorie counts and many other tests. If you don't qualify in the test, you lose your license right away no matter how many years you have been in the profession.

How can one join a flying school?

It's a bit harder when you go from Bangladesh to New Zealand. When I went to New Zealand in 2017, there was no proper agency to facilitate the visa process, nor were there any facilities of e-visa. I had to send my passports and other documents to India first for the process to start, as India is the closest embassy for Bangladeshis when it comes to the visa procedures for New Zealand. From contacting the flying school that I wanted to attend to the IELTS exams and other paperwork, I had to do everything on my own. Nowadays there are agencies who can handle these procedures directly, and e-visas make the process easier as well.

The easiest way to enrolling yourself to a flying school is to go to the website and send an e-mail to the designated individual. They usually don't take more than 2 days to reply. They are persistent. I exchanged almost 500 emails till I reached New Zealand.

How much does it cost and how long does it take?

This is a critical question because the costs are not rigid in this case like usual academic costs and tuition fees. In this case, it's of a more practical education than a theoretical one, and that has a lot to do with fuel prices, which fluctuates frequently.

The school I went to gave me an estimated cost of 85 thousand New Zealand dollars in the beginning. When they estimate the costs, they expect you to succeed in every manoeuvre in the first try. There are 10 theoretical courses in the CPL training, which they expect you to pass at one go. But what happens is that we can hardly get it done at one try, so we have to repeat several exercises and courses, and that increases the costs and tuition fees. In Bangladesh, the training doesn't include multi-engine or ILS ratings.

When the trained pilots join Bangladesh Biman or local airlines, they are sent or Dubai or Spain to complete the multi-engine training. But when you join Emirates or Qatar, they want you to have every training and they are not going to pay for it. So I took the multi-engine training which cost me 30 thousand New Zealand dollar and the ILS rating training which cost me 10 thousand New Zealand dollars. I took as many pieces of training as I could because I wanted to aim at the international airlines, like Qatar or Singapore Airlines.

In the beginning, it is assumed that the training will be done in a year, but since a lot depends on the weather, that is not the case. Most flight tests are done visually, so if the weather is slightly adverse, the tests have to be cancelled. Took me two years to complete my training. It depends on the trainee, to be honest. One instructor is assigned to four trainees. If you come home on a vacation, when you go back you have to resume from right where you left the training.

What is the most difficult and/or challenging part of pilot training?

Obviously the actual flying because when we start we are completely new at it. Every manoeuvre comes with a new set of challenges because they make you aware of every emergency that can occur. Some tasks like the spiral dive can be a bit daunting, it might scare you for a while or can even get you sick. In terms of physical training, force landing was the toughest task for me, where the instructor shuts the engine off mid-air and you have to land the aircraft safely no matter where you are.

What is the starting salary of a pilot and what do you think are the best airlines to work for now that you're done with your training?  

For Bangladesh, the average starting salary for a pilot is around BDT 1.5-2 lacs as far as I know. By the time you become a captain, it's close to BDT 6-6.5 lacs a month.

When you're in Bangladesh, you need a Bangladeshi flying license to get a job here. But when you're in, suppose, the UK, you'll need a license from there or convert your Bangladeshi license to a UK license. As I just completed my training from New Zealand, I have the license from the New Zealand Civil Aviation. So my first target would be to work for an airlines that is based in New Zealand. If I come back to Bangladesh and start working for Biman, I'll have to convert my New Zealand license to a Bangladeshi one.

Considering the devastating effect pandemic had on the aviation industry, do you think the new pilot will have a difficult time getting a job?

Due to the covid situation, it is difficult to say which airlines will be the best option, as none of them is hiring at the moment. But I think this is the right time to start training because, by the time the training ends, the world might restore some level of normalcy and the airlines would start hiring again.

Aspiring drone pilots get a little help earning their wings

Sarah Macey is the training and operations manager at the Virginia Tech Drone Park. Her driving motivation is to make it easier for students who are interested in drones to explore their curiosity and learn to fly capably and safely. The park’s latest initiative is offering small grants to help students get more serious about drones by bringing them closer to a key certification.

A Remote Pilot Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration is the drone equivalent of a driver’s license. It’s widely known as a Part 107 license — shorthand for 14 CFR Part 107, the federal regulations that cover commercial flights of small drones — and it’s required to fly a drone for business or commercial purposes, nonprofit work, or education. Under Virginia Tech’s drone policy, it’s also required for flights on Virginia Tech property or with aircraft the university owns.

“The Part 107 certificate is necessary for so many things,” Macey said. “One of my goals at the drone park is to look for ways to support students here, both through things like flight training, and education about drones and safety, but also through opportunities that can build their resume and help them in the future, like getting their Part 107.” 

The certificate requires passing a knowledge exam that covers basic aviation principles, airspace classification, safety practices, federal regulations for drone use, and how to interpret the cryptic aviation weather reports and dense sectional charts that represent aviator-essential features like topographical information, visual checkpoints, and airspace classes in an intimidating jumble of coded lines and symbols. Tutorials and study guides for all this are widely available online for free; Drone Park staff are happy to help aspiring test takers, too. The test itself, though, costs $160.

Macey didn’t want that fee to be a barrier that kept a dedicated prospective pilot from getting certified. So she decided to start the grant program, which will refund the test fee for 15 undergraduates this spring (as long as they pass the exam by the end of the semester). To apply, students fill out a one-page form that asks why they’re interested, how they plan to use the certification, and how they expect it to advance their career. Applications are due Feb. 19; Macey expects to announce the winners in early March. 

The Drone Park is managed by the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, which joined forces with the College of Engineering and the Office of the Provost to build the unique facility three years ago. At 85 feet high, it’s the tallest drone park in the country. It has more than 3 million cubic feet of flight space. A drone lending library and adjacent lab make it easy for students to practice their skills and work on projects; experienced staff provide training and education. 

“Our vision for the Drone Park was that it would become a resource for the whole campus,” said Stefan Duma, the Harry Wyatt Professor of Engineering and ICTAS’ director. “Not just in terms of the physical infrastructure, but also a resource for information and training. Virginia Tech is nationally renowned for its drone research, and the drone park is a conduit for students to tap into that expertise and develop skills they can apply in their own careers. This program is another way we can help create opportunities for the students who are going to shape the evolution of this technology.” 

A small cohort of interns help Macey staff the park. Three of them have gotten their Part 107 certificates, and more are studying for the exam now. Macey said that going through the certification process builds the students’ confidence and establishes a foundation of safety and regulatory knowledge that helps them move beyond recreational flying to more sophisticated applications. “They feel like they’ve earned a new level of respect in terms of teaching and talking about the technology,” she said. 

One of those interns is Luis Pol, a senior computer science major who had never flown a drone before he started working at the park two and a half years ago on a tip from his roommate. Now, he plans to pursue a career in the drone industry after he graduates and is glad to have the Part 107 certificate on his resume. 

It has also allowed him to flex his flying skills beyond the boundaries of the drone park, at the Drillfield, Lane Stadium, and other campus locations. His favorite project, he said, was getting aerial footage of Corps of Cadets training exercises that the cadets could use like game tapes to assess their performance. 

“It’s a great way to be involved with different parts of the school and explore more outside your area of expertise,” Pol said of the certificate. 

Preparing for the exam typically takes about 20 hours. Pol and two other interns who took the exam with him treated their study sessions as competitions, grilling each other on sectional charts and reciting the NATO phonetic alphabet backwards. All three passed with high scores. 

Macey laughs when she remembers her own experience taking the Part 107 exam for the first time a few years ago.

“I didn’t know anyone else who had studied for it or gotten it, and I had no clue what I was doing,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m excited about the program: Not just to help students pay for the test, but also to let them know that there’s a resource to help them study and ask questions, because I would have loved that. One of my goals is to make the process a lot less intimidating and more accessible.”

As for Pol, he just took the recurrent test to renew his certification. What’s his advice for someone preparing for the exam the first time? Study up on those sectional charts, which often pop up in the test questions. “You need to learn how to read a map.” 

But mainly, he said, “Don’t be scared.”

The pilots forced to change career completely

Mr Bailey was a commercial pilot for more than 20 years

As airlines around the world remain grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic, we speak to three pilots who have had to leave the industry and take up completely different jobs.

After two decades as a pilot for travel firm Thomas Cook, Christopher Bailey was left unemployed when the company collapsed in September 2019.

However, he wasn't out of work for long, as a month later Emirates employed him as a pilot of its giant Airbus A380 planes, with a start date of January 2020.

Mr Cook and his family had to quickly relocate from the UK to Dubai.

"We sold everything, the house, the cars, everything - we started a new life out there. It was very exciting and we were loving every minute of it," says Mr Bailey, 44.

But six weeks into his new job, coronavirus wreaked havoc on the aviation industry, with entire fleets of planes grounded by the lockdowns.

"Before we knew it, I was made redundant for a second time," says Mr Bailey. "But this time it was obviously more serious because there were no other jobs available.

"We had to return back to the UK, but we had nowhere to go - it was a stressful situation."

Mr Bailey was let go by Emirates in May of last year. He and his wife had to find their daughter a secondary school back in the UK, and then look for a house nearby.

"We bought a house over the phone from Dubai - we had no other options. We flew back to the UK, and put stuff back in a shipping container in Dubai," he says.

Mr Bailey applied for jobs as a warehouse operative and delivery driver, but didn't hear back from any of the companies.

He suggests that it is difficult for a former pilot to get on the bottom rung of the ladder in a different industry, as employers think he or she is overqualified. And he adds that it is equally tough to get a job higher up the ladder because firms are wary that pilots are not interested in doing the job long term.

However, Mr Bailey, who now lives in Lancashire, did finally manage to find new employment. In October of last year he got a job at a Covid-19 testing site run by security company G4S. Just one month later he was promoted to become a manager at the firm.

"I think my transferrable skills have been recognised - attention to detail, managing big picture situations, and overseeing things from afar, as well as being comfortable with very strict rules and procedures while having to manage a team," he says.

Mr Bailey is one of many pilots around the world who have had to leave the industry since the coronavirus pandemic started. In Europe alone there were some 10,000 unemployed commercial pilots in November, of which 1,600 were in the UK, the British Pilots Association warned.

Stav Nemirovsky was a pilot for Israeli flag carrier El Al for more than four years before flights were grounded in early 2020.

Apart from a number of trips to and from China last May to bring back medical equipment and masks, his work came to a standstill. So in the autumn the 34-year-old decided to leave the industry.

"I was always looking for new challenges, and when this happened it gave me the opportunity to apply for a new job at an IT company," he says.

Mr Nemirovsky was hired as an engineer by Israeli cyber security firm Guardicore, despite not having any prior IT experience.

"I'm doing on-the-job training at the moment - I'm learning from my peers about the technical side of networks and Guardicore's cyber security products. I've got a lot to learn, but I'm confident I can do it."

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Mr Nemirovsky believes he has several key skills that helped him to get the job, and which also will help him to do well in his new role.

"During the screening process I was able to cope with new material in a short time, and absorb a lot of new information that I wasn't really familiar with," he says.

"Meanwhile, one transferable skill from being in the cockpit is that the work is characterised by standard operating procedures - which means you have to know your job, learn it quickly, and work with a number of different colleagues all of the time."

Mr Nemirovsky adds that he has no plans to go back to being a pilot when the pandemic finally ends.

Another former pilot who says that the skills he learned in the cockpit helped him with his new job is Waylon Parker, who previously flew for Australia's Qantas Airways. Since September he has been driving giant trucks at a gold mine in the middle of the Outback.

"Managing your energy, driving a large vehicle, and a lot of the safety processes, are very similar to those that we have in aviation," says the 41-year-old. "Compared with other people who just joined the company, I clearly have an advantage with my experience."

While Mr Parker is very grateful for the opportunity, he says it is a lot of hard work and very long hours. In addition, the mining camp in Western Australia's Pilbara region is hundreds of miles from the nearest small town, which can make it very isolating.

His passion for flying remains, and to keep that going he has a side business in which he and a business partner do aerobatic flights on an ex-military aircraft from the 1970s.

Mr Parker also hopes to be able to return to flying passenger aircraft when the pandemic finally ends. "I will return to commercial flying as soon as I possibly can," he says.

"I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to get into mining and I have met so many amazing lifelong friends at the mine but flying is my passion, and my first love, and I miss it terribly."

Mr Bailey also hopes to return to being a pilot, but wonders if that might not happen. "I miss flying very much indeed. [But] there is a chance that by the time this is over, we could be considered as having too much skill fade to ever return to flying."