Q&A for How to Become a Pilot

It depends. To become a pilot you first need to satisfy your country's age requirement. Then, you need to fulfill the required hours. Finally, you must pass the flight test. It is possible to become a pilot even before the age of 20.

Yes, as long as your eyesight can be corrected to 20/20 vision with glasses or contacts.

As long as you can use normal controls and still move your hand normally, you should be fine.

You have to choose an aviation degree or you have to study the 11 and 12 classes to continue for pilot training.

If you want to be a private or commercial pilot, there are no educational requirements. To be an airline pilot, most require at least 2 years of college.

Geography is not required; however, if you plan to fly to a lot of countries, it could be helpful.

You could play flight simulators to extend your flying knowledge.

Yes. As long as you can see well with glasses or contacts, you can be a pilot.

Yes.

You can start at any age. 15 and a half is a sort of minimum, because you can get your pilot's license at 16.

The Embry Riddle College of Aeronautics is the best for a college degree and pilot training.

Physics and math would both be good choices, but there aren't any specific subjects that you really need to take.

It takes two to four years, depending on your courses and your flight training.

A device or software that recreates the experience of flight as close to the real thing as possible without putting the trainee in danger of flying a real aircraft. Most flight training programs have flight simulators to train their pilots. There are several flight simulators that can be purchased on the market, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, X-Plane, and DCS World.

Its up to you really. A great way to test out if the job is for you is to book yourself into an introductory "learn to fly" lesson - they usually go for around 30 - 45 minutes in a light propeller aircraft and typically cost no more than $400 (depending on provider). They are a great way to get a taste of the job and also see how you are in the sky!

Yes, as long as you meet all of the requirements to become a pilot.

Since you are still in college, focus on your GPA and try to keep it high (3.5 or higher would be ideal). You can also join organizations or clubs and become a president or vice-president; since you need to become a commissioned officer to become a pilot, leadership skills are essential. Stay in shape, start running if you are out of shape. You can visit a recruiter to tell you what your weight should be to join the military. If you want to be ahead of everyone else, you can take flying classes at a civilian airport. Or if you can afford it, you can even earn your private pilot's license. When you graduate, apply to OCS for Navy or OTS for Air Force.

Try to focus on courses in science or engineering. Courses in thermodynamics or mechanics are helpful. Either way, the courses you will take in flight school will be different than what you will experience in college.

The average standard pilot's salary is around $100,000 per year (USD).

No. Only about 5% of the world's population are ambidextrous, so this would not be practical. It would be a big help if you were ambidextrous, though!

As long as you are cleared by a medical professional, you are free to become a pilot. If your asthma does return, always carry an inhaler and alert your instructor or employers.

Yes, geography is not important to become a pilot. However, mathematics and physics are crucial to becoming a pilot.

Yes. To get a private pilot certificate, you need to be at least 17 years of age. For commercial pilot and ATP flight certificate, you need to be 18.

The average of annual salary of an airline pilots in America earn around USD$80k to $100k.

Yes, if you wear glasses and have a 20/20 vision. Regulations are that as long as you have full vision with or without glasses, you still can fly.

Take a discovery flight with a flight instructor! You'll be able to ask questions about the aircraft and get a feel for flying in a small single engine plane. You can even use the controls. If you really enjoy it, then you can start taking lessons and from there you can move up to bigger and more complex airplanes if you want to turn it into a profession instead of just a hobby.

This usually doesn’t happen - airlines won’t relieve pilots to make room for new ones. Sometimes, though, airlines will relieve pilots if they’re in a financial crisis, often asking for older pilots to consider voluntary redundancies first.

Yes you can get a pilots license for private flying purposes but, in the U.S., pilots must stop flying commercial airplanes at age 60.