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Careers · From classroom to cockpit

How to become an airline pilot

A long road, but a clear one — from your first GCSE to the flight deck of an airliner.

Further reading
How to become a pilot in the UK

A full independent guide from Prospects covering qualifications, training routes, costs and career prospects. Opens in a new tab.

Read the guide →
Why fly

The rewards of being a pilot

Flying is exciting and well paid, with the chance to travel the world and never have the same day twice — and the confidence you build stays with you for life.

The pay-off
The benefits of a career as a pilot

Salaries, travel, lifestyle and the rewards of the job, laid out in full. Opens in a new tab.

Read more →
Step 1 · At school
What GCSEs do you need to be a pilot?

A clear breakdown of the school subjects and grades that keep every door open. Opens in a new tab.

Read the guide →
Step 2 · After your GCSEs

Build the foundations

Three things matter most before you spend serious money on training:

Stay in education. A-levels help — Maths and Physics most.

Get a Class 1 Medical. This is the health check that proves you're fit to fly for an airline. Book it early, before you pay for training, so there are no surprises.

Start flying. Begin learning to fly a light aircraft — this first licence is called a PPL (Private Pilot Licence), and it's where Irwin comes in.

Step 3 · The training ladder

Every step, from first lesson to the flight deck

1
Class 1 Medical
A health check that proves you're fit to fly for an airline.
2
PPL — Private Pilot Licence
Learn to fly a small aircraft and go solo. This is your very first licence — everything else builds on it.
3
Airline theory exams
A set of written exams (called “ATPL theory”) covering how airliners and the skies work — the classroom side of an airline licence.
4
Build your flight hours
Keep flying to log the hours you need before you can train commercially.
5
CPL — Commercial Pilot Licence
The licence that lets you be paid to fly.
6
Multi-engine & cloud flying
Extra qualifications to fly aircraft with more than one engine, and to fly safely in cloud using instruments alone.
7
Airline crew training
Learn to work as part of a two-pilot team, the way airliners are flown.
8
“Frozen” ATPL — airline-ready
You now hold everything needed to apply for your first airline job as a co-pilot (First Officer).
9
Learn your airliner & first job
Train on the specific airliner you'll fly (often paid for by the airline), then start flying passengers as a co-pilot — a First Officer.
10
Become a Captain
Once you've flown around 1,500 hours, you can step up from co-pilot to Captain — the pilot in command.
Flight hours · the long climb

How the hours stack up

45
HOURS
PPL solo standard
~150
HOURS
Hour building
~200
HOURS
CPL issued
1,500
HOURS
Unfreeze → Captain

Milestones are illustrative — spacing is not to scale.

Two ways to train

Integrated or modular?

Integrated — one full-time course at an academy, ~18–24 months, zero to frozen ATPL.

Modular — each licence step-by-step, at your own pace and budget. Start with your PPL locally.

Either way it's a serious investment — often £80,000–£120,000. Modular lets you spread the cost over time.

What it costs

Cost of training, compared

Modular · spread over time~£70k
Integrated · 18–24 months~£100k+
Airline cadet · repaid from salary£0 upfront*

*Little or nothing upfront — total is repaid gradually once you're flying.

Can't fund it upfront?

Train through an airline, pay it back later

You don't need the full sum in the bank. Several major airlines run mentored cadet programmes that fund your training up front — you repay it from your salary once you're flying.

✓
Airline-backed place — a conditional job offer alongside your training, so there's a cockpit waiting at the end.
✓
Little or nothing upfront — the airline or its finance partner covers course fees, repaid monthly from your First Officer salary.
✓
Selection early — you apply and are assessed before training, so you know the route is funded before you commit.

Places are competitive — but a PPL with Irwin makes your application stand out.

See British Airways pilot programmes
Is it right for you?

An honest gut-check

Why you should

There are few jobs like it. You get a view of the world almost no one sees, a career that pays well and keeps climbing, the chance to travel constantly, and a real sense of skill and responsibility. If flying already excites you, that feeling rarely fades — most pilots say they'd choose it all over again.

Why you might not

It's expensive and takes years, with no guarantee of a job at the end. The hours are irregular — early starts, long nights, weekends and time away from home — and your medical has to stay valid for your whole career. It's a big commitment to make before you've earned a penny from it.

The best way to find out which side you land on? Get in the air first. A few lessons with Irwin will tell you more than any list.

The first rung is the easiest

Before the licences and exams, you just need to get in the air and see if you love it. That's what Irwin is here for.

Book your first flight →
Ready when you are

Request a lesson

Pick a date and time and we'll confirm by email — usually the same day. Prefer to talk it through? Call 07882 590499.