The whole process can take anywhere from four to 18 months, depending on things like weather conditions and aircraft availability. This alone might stall your airline career for a couple of years. Assuming you land a decent pilot job, accumulating those hours takes around two years. What really takes time is getting the required flight hours for the license. This is one of our most frequently asked questions: How long does it take to become a pilot? You may choose between an instructor and a home-study course to acquire the required aeronautical knowledge. There are many types of pilots and stages of a career that a pilot goes through. For a fraction of the cost, Pilotinstitute.com offers lifetime access to virtual lessons, instructional videos, and practice questions. While not fit for an airline job, a commercial pilot can make money from several aviation activities like banner towing and aerial photography. Assuming a student has no previous experience, a student can become a private pilot in as little as 4-6 months. Being an airline pilot can be a glamorous, exciting, and highly rewarding job. Whichever option you choose, you can always benefit from an online ground school. Well, the extremely lucrative pilot salary and outstanding benefits don’t hurt! How Long Does it Take to Become a Pilot? Some first officers have waited decades to become a captain while others can upgrade in just a few years, but we’ll set an average range of 5-12 years from first officer to captain at a major airline. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. An Airline Pilot will not only need this Commercial Pilot License, they’ll also need an instrument rating and between 1000-1500 hours of flight experience. Overall, expect four weeks to 12 weeks to become a sport pilot and longer if you want to fly at your own pace. Regarding minimum flight hours, Part 61 requires at least 40, while Part 141’s minimum is 35 hours. You need to build your flight experience to land an airline job. As with any pilot license, you have to submit an application either online or by mail to get a sport pilot license. The FAA allows a person to train at either a Part 61 flight school or a Part 141 flight school. For some positions, it can take up to 10 years of flying experience to even qualify. At AeroGuard, our Pilot Pathway Program is designed to navigate students through this path in 2 years from beginning to ATP eligibility. With all these perks, it’s only logical that it’ll take you a bit longer to become a recreational pilot. As previously discussed, getting your CPL takes between 190 to 250 hours, at a minimum. Starting from 0 experience and moving through PPL, IR, and ultimately that Commercial License can take 7-10 months, and gaining the 1500 hours needed after that can take anywhere from 1 – 3 years depending on the job chosen for building flight experience. Fewer than 200 pilots hold a recreational license in the US according to the latest civil airmen statistics. Before you can even begin your journey to becoming a fighter pilot, you must first become an officer in the U.S. Air Force. If you enrol on an integrated flight training course, you can start the course with no previous flying experience and reach the point of operating a commercial passenger aircraft in about 18 to 24 months. Taking this into account, it can take as little as 12 weeks to get your CPL if you choose an accelerated course. The hour requirement can be reduced to 1,250 or even 1,000 hours depending on if someone has an appropriate college degree. It may be weeks for a few, months for others, and even years for some. Time to learn to fly, from zero to CPL/IR + ATPL theory passes: typically 18 months, plus or minus a few. Let’s focus on the question at hand, though. Outlined here is how long it will take you to become a pilot in the fast track, accelerated Airline Career Pilot Program &emdash; ATP's complete pilot training solution. Depending on your availability and study choice, the duration of ground school could range from two to several weeks until completion. While individuals who opt for this path enjoy the benefit of free training, they do have to serve their country for around 10 years. If you’re looking for an alternative, you could opt for a recreational pilot certificate, which offers access to bigger aircraft and more privileges. You don’t have to invest much time or money into it either. Pilots and stages of a career that a pilot, and even years for some 6 and months... 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