• Question: What GCSEs / A levels do you need to be a pilot ?

    Asked by 273spce29 to Aisling, Colin, Laurence, Ned, Niamh on 8 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Aisling Shannon

      Aisling Shannon answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I didn’t do A levels, I did the Leaving Cert, but I think with commercial pilots, it is more about passing the aptitude test. There are lots of ways to become a pilot if that is what you are interested in. First thing would be to try a flying lesson and see if you enjoy it. I have a friend who is a private jet pilot and he learned to fly in the (dutch) air force. Another friend went through the Aer Lingus training to become a pilot. And a friend of a friend in Australia is a postman in the outback who flies the post to all the remote places! So there are lots of different ways to become a pilot which don’t have specific entry requirements – but I guess all of them require you to be at least 18 and having good results will only help (as it shows you can be dedicated to something and not give up if it is difficult)

    • Photo: Ned Dwyer

      Ned Dwyer answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      I´m not sure, but I guess you need to be somewho who is able to stay cool in an emergency situation, who is able to deal with a lot of information coming at the same time, someone who gets on with other people as pilots have to intereact with others on teh aircraft and on teh ground. Numeracy and being able to deal with logic would be good, so I´d say recruiters are looking for an all rounder who shows good aptitude. And definitely you better not be afraid of heights!!

    • Photo: Colin Shirran

      Colin Shirran answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      I’m not sure. I never really looked into a pilots course where you needed any prerequisites in education to start it since most courses you pay for yourself and simply need to pass the exams they set for you. I’m sure there are some that require a certain level of education if they are paying for you to pass the course and then you work for them, but at least when I was searching there wasn’t many places doing that anymore. That’s when I looked into joining the Irish Air Corps so that I wouldnt have to pay to be a pilot. They weren’t taking many people on at the time and I gradually forgot about it. My plan now is to just get a private pilots licence eventually. To get that is similar to a drivers licence, you don’t need any a-levels for that.

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