A step by step guidance to newbies

How to become a pilot

Step 1

First of all you have to decide if you want to become a pilot for your own pleasure or as a hobby or you want to build a professional career in the aviation or airline industry. If you decide to become a pilot for your personal pleasure than you have to obtain a Private Pilot License (PPL) in order to fly alone or with your friends (see Step 2). In case you want to build a career as a professional pilot than you have to obtain a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) or an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL). The requirements for a commercial pilot license are much more than a private pilot license (see Step 3).

Step 2 • Private Pilot License (PPL)

In order to obtain a Private Pilot License you have to be at least 16 years old, to be in a good health condition and you have to have sufficient knowledge of English language. A medical examination according to relevant regulations must take place, in order to obtain a class 2 medical certificate according to EASA regulations (EASA Medical Class 2 Certificate). The medical examination is carried out by an approved medical examination center (AeMC). Than you have to take the TOEFA Exam, a language proficiency test. Our Pilot Academy is a certified TOEFA/ICAO Examination centre so the test will take place at our premises. It is a 30-45 minutes interview. If you pass this test with level of proficiency 4 you will be a holder of the ICAO Language Proficiency Certificate. Now that you have obtained these two certificates (medical and language proficiency) you are ready to enroll at the Private Pilot License training course. Upon completing your theoretical and flight training you must take the relevant exams by the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA).

Step 3 • Commercial Pilot License (CPL) or Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL)

Great! Your decision is to build a career in aviation and/or airline industry as a professional pilot! You have to be at least 18 years old, to be in a good health and physical condition and you have to have sufficient knowledge of English language. Before your enrollment as a full time student in one of our professional pilot training courses, an initial assessment test has to take place:

  • Interview
    An introductory interview will take place by our initial evaluation committee. The interview is conducted at our Academy premises or it can be conducted on-line. The interview is focused on personality and aptitude assessment, numerical and verbal reasoning, professional interest and behavior traits.
  • Medical Examination
    The most important part of the initial assessment is the medical and physical status examination. In order to attend to a professional pilot license course, according to regulations, you have to obtain an EASA Medical Class 1 Certificate. The medical and physical status examination is conducted at an approved Aero Medical Center (AeMC) and it will take place before you attend a professional pilot license course.
  • Sufficient knowledge of English language
    The next step of your initial assessment is to take the test of English for aviation. This test is a 35-45 interview by our assessors. The objective of the test is to determine the abilities of speaking, understanding and communicate fluently in English language. The test is conducted to our Academy. An ICAO Language Proficiency Certificate will awarded to you upon successful result of the test.
  • Familiarization Flight
    The last step of your initial assessment is a 15-20 minutes flight as observer with one of our Flight Instructors. The flight will be operated with a single engine piston aircraft. The objective of this flight to determine that you are able to fly without any apparent problem and to determine that you are able to follow the flight training.

Step 4

After a successful initial assessment you are able to attend as a full time student to one of the courses to obtain a professional pilot license. The professional pilot license courses are:

  • Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot License Integrated course (CPL or ATPL Integrated)
    This is the most popular course in the CPL or ATPL Integrated course. To attend to an CPL/ATPL Integrated course you have to available as a full time student. You will awarded with your Commercial Pilot License including Multi Engine and Instrument Ratings plus ATPL Theory Credit and MCC Completed on license (CPL/ME/IR - ATPL frozen) in a very short time. The average duration of this course is about 14 months according to your performance. The weather conditions in Greece are a ally to your training progress because are ideal for aviation training.
  • Commercial Pilot or Airline Transport Pilot License Modular course
    If you are not available as a full time student, the modular course is for you. You will start and complete you training module by module in order to build your commercial license. These modules are:
    -  Acquisition of the Private Pilot License
    -  Acquisition of the ability to fly at night (Night Qualification)
    -  Flight time building
    -  ATPL Theoretical course (ground school or distance learning)
    -  Acquisition of the Commercial Pilot License (CPL)
    -  Acquisition of the ability to fly multi engine aircraft (Multi Engine – ME)
    -  Acquisition of the ability to fly with instruments (Instrument Rating – IR)
    -  Attendance in a Multi Crew Cooperation course (MCC)

After your successful training, theoretical and flight skill examinations for all above you will be awarded with your Commercial Pilot License including Multi Engine and Instrument Ratings, plus, ATPL Theory Credit and MCC Completed on licence (CPL/ME/IR - ATPL Frozen).

As you can see the «Modular way» is more time consuming and more expensive.