Flight Bag · Hangar Talk
At our pilot training expos in October 2026, students sent their questions to the stage through our app, anonymously. Here are the ones every future pilot asks, answered with the official rules.
Last checked November 2026
"Hangar talk" is what pilots call talking shop about flying. These answers are general. Your school, your airline and your aviation authority have the last word.
01 Hangar Talk
For the license itself, no school grade is required. EASA, the FAA, CASA in Australia and CAA NZ ask for age, a medical, English, exams and flight experience. Schools and airline cadet programs set their own entry rules on top. Singapore Airlines, for example, accepts A levels, a diploma or a degree, or five O level credits including English, mathematics and a science. Check what your school asks for before you apply.
Read more How to become a pilot
The license rules do not ask for physics as a school subject. You learn the physics you need in ground school: how wings lift, weather, engines and navigation. Some schools and airline cadet programs do ask for a science subject, so check their entry rules. Solid basics in math and physics also help in aptitude tests.
Read more How to become a pilot Pilot aptitude tests
Yes. The license does not ask for any degree or academic background, so a diploma in business or a degree in anything else is fine. Schools set their own entry rules, so check them. In the USA, a degree with an aviation major from an FAA-authorized institution can even lower the hours for the airline license.
Read more Integrated vs modular training
No. The license rules set minimum ages, not a maximum: first solo at 16 (15 in Australia), a private license at 17 and a commercial license at 18. The limit comes at the end of a career: under the ICAO standard, pilots on international commercial flights with two pilots may fly until 65, and single-pilot commercial flying stops at 60. Some airline cadet programs set their own age range: Qatar Airways, for example, takes cadets who are older than 17 and younger than 27. For older students the main difference is the medical, which has to be renewed more often with age for some types of flying.
Read more How to become a pilot The medical and English
Every school and airline has its own process, but most look at the same things: a medical you can pass, English good enough to train in, the basics in math and physics, and how you do in an aptitude test or an interview. Aptitude tests also look at how you work with others.
Read more Pilot aptitude tests The medical and English
Yes, you can prepare: practice makes you familiar with the format and the time pressure. A retake soon after rarely changes the result, so the DLR, which tests pilots for European airlines, recommends waiting six months. Prepare well the first time. Our free practice test helps you start.
Read more Pilot aptitude tests Free practice screening
02 Hangar Talk
Glasses and contact lenses are generally fine if they give you the required vision, and you carry a spare pair. Laser surgery is not required. If you have it anyway, all four systems can accept it once your eyes have healed and are stable:
Tell your aviation medical examiner before any eye surgery. The exact vision limits differ by system, and the examiner measures them.
Read more The medical and English
Not for the license. The pilot medical checks your eyesight, hearing, heart and more, but not your height. What matters is that you can reach all controls and see outside, and seats and pedals can usually be adjusted. Some airlines set their own minimum, though: Qatar Airways, for example, asks its cadets to be at least 160 cm tall. If you are very short or very tall, ask your school to let you sit in its training aircraft before you pay, and check the rules of the airlines you would like to fly for.
Read more The medical and English
It depends on the type of color deficiency and on the authority. Every system has further tests after the first plates test, and in Australia and New Zealand a practical assessment can lift restrictions. Have it assessed by an aviation medical examiner before you choose where to train.
Read more The medical and English
It depends on the condition, and only an aviation medical examiner can tell you. Talk to one before you pay a school. Declare every past and current condition: hiding one can cost you the certificate later, and in New Zealand it is an offense.
Read more The medical and English
The price depends on the examiner, so ask before you book. You often do not have to travel far: for an FAA, CASA or CAA NZ medical there are examiners in several Asian countries and in the United Arab Emirates. A first EASA Class 1 medical is the exception: it is not available anywhere in Asia or the Middle East today.
Read more The medical and English
03 Hangar Talk
You need two different things. For the license, aviation English at ICAO Level 4 or higher: a speaking and listening check about flying, so spelling is not part of it. For the school and the student visa, usually a general English test such as IELTS, with a score the school or the visa sets.
Read more The medical and English
It is not a memory test. Examiners rate six areas: pronunciation, structure, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and interaction, and your level is your lowest score of the six. Level 5 is re-tested every 6 years, Level 4 every 3 years (every 4 under EASA), and Level 6 never. Our free account has aviation English listening and the phonetic alphabet to practice.
Read more The medical and English
Your school or the visa decides. For an Australian student visa you need a test from the official list, taken at a secure test center. In New Zealand, the USA and Europe the school decides what it accepts. Ask the school before you book a test.
Read more The medical and English
04 Hangar Talk
It depends on the country and the school. Our cost guide compares course fees and living costs at our partner schools from their current prices, and lists the extras most quotes leave out. Accommodation and living costs are usually not in the course fee, so plan them separately. The budget estimator works out your own number.
Read more What pilot training costs Budget estimator
Many schools split the fee into stages that you pay as you progress. Paying per stage is also safer: if you stop, or the school runs into trouble, you do not lose everything. Get the payment plan and the refund terms in writing before the first payment.
Read more What pilot training costs Airline cadet programs
That depends on your contract, so ask before you sign: does training pause, can you continue later, and what happens to the money you have already paid? On a student visa you usually cannot close the gap with a job, so plan the money for the whole course before you start.
Read more Airline cadet programs Can I work part time while I train?
It depends on how the price is set. With a fixed price for the whole course, you pay the same however fast you are. If you pay per flight hour, fewer hours cost less and extra hours cost more. Ask the school which one it is, and what one extra hour costs.
Read more What pilot training costs
The big scholarships come from airlines. Some pay for your training, some add a salary or a monthly allowance, usually for their own citizens or residents, and in return you fly for them for some years. Places are few and selection is tough. Government student loans in Australia, New Zealand and the USA are not open to international students, so most families combine savings, bank loans at home and payment plans.
Read more Airline cadet programs
That depends on the school, and some programs already include it. Our guide to what comes after the license lists which partner programs include an instructor rating.
Read more After your license
05 Hangar Talk
Some count, up to a limit, and only in approved simulators. Your logbook records simulator time separately, so airlines can always see it. For the EASA airline license, for example, up to 100 of the 1,500 hours may be in simulators, and at most 25 of those in the simpler kind of device (an FNPT).
Read more After your license
It can make cockpits and checklists feel familiar, but it does not count. Only approved training devices can be logged for credit: in the USA, for example, the FAA must have evaluated and approved a device before time in it counts, and the time is logged apart from flight time.
Read more Licenses explained
There is no fixed number. Under the FAA, for example, you need a short knowledge test, training in a set list of maneuvers and your instructor's endorsement, and your instructor decides when you are ready. Ask your school how long its students usually take. If you have flown solo before, bring your logbook and ask how much of it the school can credit.
Read more Licenses explained
Not while you are a student pilot. Under the FAA, for example, a student pilot may not fly as pilot in command with a passenger on board. Once you hold your private license, you can take them flying. Whether family may visit the training campus is up to the school.
Read more Licenses explained
You can fail an exam and retake it, within limits. Under EASA, for example, you need 75% to pass, you have 4 attempts per subject in up to 6 exam sittings, and all exams must be done within 18 months. What your school does after a failed attempt, such as extra lessons or a pause, is in its own rules, so ask before you enroll.
Read more Licenses explained
In basic training you fly normal instrument approaches. CAT II and CAT III approaches go down to very low cloud and visibility and need extra approvals and training, so they usually come later, with your airline on your aircraft type. In the USA, for example, a pilot's Category II authorization needs an instrument rating, 50 hours at night, 75 hours of instrument time and 250 hours cross-country as pilot in command.
Read more After your license
The license is the same, a commercial or airline license for airplanes. On top, every airliner needs its own type rating, for example for the A320 or the 737 family. Under the FAA, every airplane over 12,500 pounds and every jet needs one.
Read more Licenses explained After your license
No ATPL needed. Under EASA, the flight instructor course needs at least a commercial license (or a private license with extra conditions), 10 hours of instrument instruction and 20 hours cross-country as pilot in command. Under the FAA, you need a commercial certificate and, for airplanes, an instrument rating. You can take the course without planning to teach, but it is a professional course with its own cost.
Read more After your license
Only if your program says so. Under EASA you need the MCC before your first type rating on an airliner, unless the type rating course includes it. Our guide lists which partner programs already include it.
Read more After your license
With modular training, often yes: theory, licenses and ratings are separate courses. Make sure the authority that will issue your license accepts the theory course and the exams. Pausing is possible, but things expire: under EASA, passed theory exams count for 36 months towards a commercial license, and medicals and visas run out too. Check all three before you take a break.
Read more Integrated vs modular training
Our partner programs take 7 months to 24 months from the first lesson to the commercial license. Weather, exam dates and any extra hours you need can stretch it.
Read more How to become a pilot
Roughly the minimum for the commercial license, plus any extra hours you needed: 150 in an integrated course and 200 in a modular one under EASA, CASA and CAA NZ, and 190 at a Part 141 school or 250 under Part 61 in the USA. The 1,500 hours for the airline license come later, while you work.
Read more Integrated vs modular training After your license
Yes, that can happen. A school can only train as many students as it has aircraft and instructors for, and start dates differ from school to school. Ask for the next free start date before you plan your visa, and get it in writing.
Read more How to become a pilot
Weather matters: low cloud, strong wind and storms cancel training flights, and in many places winter brings more of them. Ask your school how many flying days it usually loses in each season, and plan your start with that in mind.
Read more Where to train
06 Hangar Talk
It depends on the visa. On an Australian student visa you may work up to 48 hours per fortnight while your course is in session, and unlimited hours in scheduled breaks. In the USA, M-1 students may not work during training at all. Elsewhere your visa conditions decide. Plan your budget without counting on a job.
Read more F-1 vs M-1 visa for flight training
The dates on your visa stamp only decide when you can enter the USA. How long you may stay depends on your status. As an F-1 student, that is as long as you study ("duration of status"), plus any approved practical training. CPT happens during your program, OPT after it. A new rule would end duration of status, but a court blocked it; our F-1 vs M-1 guide follows the case.
Read more F-1 vs M-1 visa for flight training
Only with a visa that lets you work, and a student visa usually does not. In the USA, students can work after training in approved practical training, on an M-1 for at most 6 months. Australia has working holiday visas for passports from more than 40 partner countries and jurisdictions; for New Zealand, ask Immigration New Zealand about the options. Check whether your passport and your age qualify before you choose where to train.
Read more F-1 vs M-1 visa for flight training After your license
07 Hangar Talk
Yes. Teaching is one way to build hours: you log flight time towards the 1,500 hours for the airline license while you earn money. You need the instructor rating, an employer and the right to work in that country. No program can guarantee an instructor job afterwards.
Read more After your license
Not straight away in most cases. Between a fresh commercial license and an airliner seat there are usually a multi-engine instrument rating, the theory for the airline license, a multi-crew course and a type rating. Some airlines train you on their type, others ask you to arrive with it. Each airline sets its own requirements, so read its career page.
Read more After your license Airline cadet programs
Usually you need the license of the country the airline is from, so you convert yours at home. How much you must redo depends on the authority: some credit most of your training, some only accept schools they have approved. Airlines also often ask for the right to live and work in their country. Our guide covers 26 places, including Malaysia.
Read more Convert your license
Some have partnerships with airlines, and some airline cadet programs train at a set school. But no school can promise you a job, and neither can we. Ask the school which airlines its graduates fly for today and how many found work within a year, and get anything it promises in writing.
Read more After your license Airline cadet programs
It depends a lot on the country, the airline and your seat, so there is no one number for Asia. One official example: in the USA, the median pay was USD 232,140 a year for airline pilots and USD 123,220 for commercial pilots in other flying jobs (May 2025).
Read more After your license
08 Hangar Talk
Not on airliners for now. They fly with two pilots, and EASA, Europe's aviation authority, has studied flying with only one pilot in the cockpit during cruise. The final report of that study (2025) says the same level of safety as with two pilots "can currently not be demonstrated". Nobody can promise what happens in 20 years, but the two-pilot cockpit is today's rule.
Read more How to become a pilot
Hard. When borders closed in 2020, air travel collapsed and many airlines stopped hiring. Since then it has come back: IATA counted 3.8% more air traffic in 2024 than in 2019, the last year before the pandemic. Aviation goes up and down with the world economy, so plan for slow years: an instructor rating and savings help you bridge them.
Read more After your license
A university program gives you a degree as well as the license, and takes longer. An academy trains you for the license only. The license is the same. In the USA, an aviation degree from an FAA-authorized institution can lower the hours for the airline license to 1,000 or 1,250, and a degree program usually means an F-1 visa, which allows more work after training.
Read more Integrated vs modular training F-1 vs M-1 visa for flight training
These are New Zealand qualifications. The New Zealand Diploma in Aviation (General Aviation) at Level 5 covers the commercial pilot license theory and flying a small single- or multi-engine airplane. The Level 6 diploma builds on it, with a strand for airline preparation or for flight instruction. The license itself comes from CAA NZ, not from the diploma.
Read more Country guide New Zealand Integrated vs modular training
09 Hangar Talk
Spiders, rarely. Wasps, yes. In Australia, small mud-dauber wasps can build nests in the probes that measure airspeed. In 2013 a nest almost blocked a probe on an Airbus A330 at Brisbane, and the crew had to turn back with a Mayday call. That is one reason your walk-around before every flight includes a check of these probes. You learn it from day one.
Read more Licenses explained
Ask us. Our advice is free for students, and good questions end up on this page, without your name.
