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The route into airline pilot

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Physicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Physics HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Design Technologyhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

Advanced Placement

  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Aerospace Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetismhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Aerospace Engineering

    A different route into the same industry, reached without this degree but often chosen alongside interest in it.

    Four to five years. A master's is common and is close to expected for design roles.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • ESAT or PATOctober

    Required at Cambridge, Imperial and Oxford for engineering; not required at most universities.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi engineering composite.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • Security clearanceAt employment, not admission

    Much aerospace work is defence-related and gated on nationality and clearance rather than on qualifications. Worth knowing which employers that opens and closes.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

Saudi Arabia · Saudi Arabia — cadet or academy route

  1. schoolSecondary school3 yr
  2. trainingFlight academy: theory, flight hours and licence issue2–3 yrs
  3. licensingGACA commercial licence and type rating0–1 yrs
  4. practiceFirst officer with a national carrier0 yr

LicensingLicensing is by the national civil aviation authority. A licence issued elsewhere generally requires conversion, which is an examination and paperwork process rather than retraining — but confirm the current conversion requirements before training abroad.

United States · United States — flight hours route, no degree

  1. schoolHigh school diploma4 yr
  2. trainingFlight training to commercial licence and instructor rating1–2 yrs
  3. trainingHour building, usually paid as a flight instructor1–3 yrs
  4. licensingAirline transport pilot licence0–1 yrs
  5. practiceRegional first officer, then major carrier0 yr

LicensingFederal licensing with a substantial flight-hour minimum for airline operations. Medical certification is required throughout and is a genuine ongoing risk to the career.

United Kingdom · United Kingdom — integrated or modular

  1. schoolA-levels, commonly including maths or physics2 yr
  2. trainingIntegrated ATPL course, or modular training spread over longer2–4 yrs
  3. licensingLicence issue and type rating0–1 yrs
  4. practiceFirst officer0 yr

LicensingLicensed by the national aviation authority, with a class one medical certificate required throughout.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 2–4 years.

United States

School-leaving to independent practice: 3–6 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is aircraft maintenance engineer at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 2 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of $48,780–62,630, that is roughly $97,560–125,260 of earnings deferred.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 2–5 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 2 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £54,000–70,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.