CPL Eligibility in India: Every Requirement, in Order
Five gates stand between you and a Commercial Pilot Licence. This page sets out each one, the rule that creates it, and the sequence that stops you waiting on one thing to start another.
Checked against the Aircraft Rules, the DGCA examination and medical CARs and the Pariksha portal on 15 September 2026. Every figure is sourced below.
To hold a Commercial Pilot Licence in India you must be 18, have passed 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics, hold a Class 1 medical, have cleared 5 DGCA written papers at 70% each plus RTR (A), and have 200 hours of flying inside the 5 years before you apply. Training itself can begin at 16.
On this page
- The five gates, at a glance
- Age: what you can hold, and when
- Education: 10+2 with Physics and Maths
- Medical: Class 2 to train, Class 1 to be paid
- Examinations: five papers, and RTR separately
- Flying hours: 200, and what sits inside them
- English language proficiency
- The licence application itself
- What eligibility does not require
- The order to do all of this in
- If you are not eligible yet
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
The five gates, at a glance
Eligibility is not one test. It is five independent requirements, set by different instruments, and you can be through four of them and still be years away. The table is the short answer; the rest of the page is what each one actually involves.
| Gate | What it requires | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 18 to hold a CPL. You can start earlier: an SPL at 16, a PPL at 17. | Schedule II, Section J |
| Education | Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University | Section J, para 1(b) |
| Medical | A Class 2 lets you train. A Class 1 is what the CPL itself requires. | Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7 — Flight Crew Standards, Training and Licensing, Series 'C', Part I, Issue II dated 12 October 2017, Revision 7 dated 01 October 2025 |
| Examinations | 5 written papers at 70% each, plus RTR (A) examined separately. | Schedule II, and Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7, Series 'B', Part I, Rev. 2 dated 13 February 2019 |
| Flying hours | 200 hours total, flown within the 5 years before you apply. | Schedule II, Section J, para 1(e) |
Age: what you can hold, and when
The licences form a ladder, and each rung has its own minimum age in Schedule II of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. The number people quote for “becoming a pilot” is usually the CPL age, which is the last one, not the first.
Flight training, including solo flying under instructor authorisation. Never carrying passengers, never flying for payment.
Schedule II, Section B
Personal and recreational flying. Never flying for payment.
Schedule II, Section E
Flying for payment. Requires 200 hours of flight time.
Schedule II, Section J
Acting as pilot-in-command of a commercial aeroplane.
Schedule II, Section M
Two practical consequences. You can begin flight training at 16 on a Student Pilot Licence, which is three years before the CPL age, so a student who finishes Class 12 at 17 or 18 is not waiting on age at all. And you can apply for a computer number and start clearing written papers from 16, which is earlier still.
There is no upper age limit on the examination side: No maximum age is prescribed. What changes with age is the medical renewal interval, covered below.
Education: 10+2 with Physics and Maths
Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University — Section J, para 1(b). Two subjects, from a recognised board. Not a particular stream, not a particular school, and not a minimum percentage.
If you did not take both subjects
Students from a Biology or Commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through NIOS and then apply. The route is covered in detail in our guide for Commerce and Biology students. It adds time, so it belongs at the front of your plan rather than the middle.
What the paperwork actually asks for
This catches people out. Both the marksheet and the pass certificate are needed for Class 10 and for Class 12. Where a board issues no separate pass certificate, the marksheet must itself read "Marksheet CUM Certificate". Marksheets and certificates must be legible and complete — blurred, cropped or partial scans are a listed rejection reason.
A Board Verification Certificate is also part of the computer number application — unless your documents come through DigiLocker. For the Class X and XII documents fetched from DigiLocker, a Board Verification Certificate is not required. The full rules, including the three different ways a BVC can be addressed, are on our computer number guide.
Medical: Class 2 to train, Class 1 to be paid
Two classes, two purposes, and the order matters more than most students realise.
Class 1
- ✓Commercial Pilot Licence (aeroplane and helicopter)
- ✓Airline Transport Pilot Licence (aeroplane and helicopter)
- ✓Private Pilot Licence, where instrument rating privileges are required
Valid: One year up to the age of 60, and six-monthly thereafter. For single-crew operations, six-monthly above the age of 40.
Class 2
- ✓Private Pilot Licence (aeroplane and helicopter)
- ✓Pilot Licence (microlight)
- ✓Student Pilot Licence (aeroplane, helicopter, glider, balloon, microlight)
- ✓Flight Radio Telephone Operator Licence, and the restricted variant
Valid: Two years up to the age of 50, and one year thereafter.
So a Class 2 is what lets you start, and a Class 1 is what the CPL itself requires — Section J, para 1(c) — a certificate of physical fitness from an approved Medical Board. Aircraft Rules, 1937, rule 39B — no licence or rating under rule 38 is issued or renewed unless the applicant is examined by an approved medical authority and meets the medical standards notified by the Director-General.
Book the Class 1 initial before committing money to a flying school. The student pilot licence only needs a Class 2, but the licence you are training towards needs a Class 1 — and finding a disqualifying condition after paying a deposit is an expensive way to learn it.
The examination covers physical and mental, visual and colour perception, hearing. The standards are those of ICAO Annex 1, Chapter 6. Paragraphs 6.2.2 to 6.2.5 apply to every class, and each class then has its own physical, visual and hearing paragraphs. The requirements in the AICs (Medical) published on the DGCA website apply in addition. The CAR sets out what is assessed. It does not publish a pass rate, and no honest page can tell you in advance whether you will clear it. DGCA lists 13 approved centres; the full list, and which of them are in Delhi and the NCR, is on our Class 1 and Class 2 medical guide.
Examinations: 5 papers, and RTR separately
5 written papers stand between you and the licence: Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Regulations, Technical General and Technical Specific. Examined separately from the DGCA written papers, and required for CPL issue under Section J paragraph 1(g).
Pass mark
70%
per subject, not an aggregate
Fee per paper
₹2,500
regular session; ₹5,000 on demand
A pass counts for
5 years
towards a CPL or ATPL
That last figure is the one students plan around badly. Theoretical knowledge papers must be completed within two and a half years immediately preceding the date of application. For the issue of a CPL or an ATPL, that period is five years. Clearing papers years before you finish your flying hours is not free. Count backwards from the licence application, not forwards from the first paper.
Papers are booked on the Pariksha portal against a computer number, and the full process — including the DigiLocker route that allots the number immediately — is on our computer number guide. The syllabus and the study material DGCA itself names are on our syllabus page.
Flying hours: 200, and what sits inside them
200 hours total as pilot of an aeroplane, flown within the 5 years before you apply, including 100 hours Pilot-in-command, 20 hours Cross-country as PIC, 10 hours Instrument time, 5 hours Night flying.
Read this before you add anything up
The 200 is a total. Every row below sits inside it. They are not additions, and pages that present them as additions produce a figure no rule asks for.
| Inside the 200 hours | Hours | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot-in-command | 100 | of which not less than 15 hours in the six months before applying (1(e)(i)) |
| Cross-country as PIC | 20 | including one flight of at least 300 nautical miles with full-stop landings at two different aerodromes (1(e)(ii)) |
| Instrument time | 10 | of which not more than 5 hours may be on an approved simulator (1(e)(iii)) |
| Night flying | 5 | including at least 10 take-offs and 10 landings as pilot-in-command (1(e)(iv)) |
Two conditions on the total are easy to miss. All of it has to be flown within the 5 years before you apply, so hours flown and then left for a decade do not count. And simulator time is capped: of which not more than 5 hours may be on an approved simulator — everything else is flown in an actual aeroplane.
English language proficiency
Rarely mentioned on eligibility pages, and it will stop a licence application dead. English Language Proficiency has to be cleared at Level 4 or above before the CPL application on eGCA will move. It is one of six prerequisites that page checks, and students routinely meet them one surprise at a time.
The licence application itself
Clearing the gates does not issue a licence. That is a separate application on a separate portal, and it will not proceed until all of these are in place:
- 1Be registered on the eGCA portal with your own eGCA ID
- 2Hold a valid Class 1 medical certificate and the medical assessment sheet
- 3Hold a valid FRTOL or FRTOL(R) with the RTR certificate
- 4Have the e-logbook updated and e-validated by your flying training organisation for flying hours and skill tests
- 5Have cleared the English Language Proficiency examination at Level 4 or above
- 6Have passed the written examinations conducted by the Central Examination Organisation
The two meet in one field: the computer number Pariksha allots appears in the basic details section of the eGCA licence application. Neither portal replaces the other. The whole application, and the two rules that most often cost a cycle, are on our eGCA guide.
What eligibility does not require
Six things widely repeated about CPL eligibility that are not true. Each one costs students either money or a session.
You need a medical certificate before you can sit the written papers.
You do not. The examinations run on the Pariksha portal against a computer number, and nothing in that process asks for a medical. Waiting for a medical before registering costs students a session every year.
There are nine DGCA subjects.
There are 5 written papers. Examined separately from the DGCA written papers, and required for CPL issue under Section J paragraph 1(g). Lists of nine count RTR, Aviation Medicine and Human Performance as separate DGCA papers; none of them is.
The 200 hours are 200 plus 100 pilot-in-command plus 20 cross-country and so on.
No. 200 is the total, and every component sits inside it. Adding them produces a number around 335 hours that no rule asks for, and it is the single most common error on pages about this subject.
You must join a flying school before you can apply for a computer number.
You do not. The computer number is an examination identity. No flying school, no logbook and no medical are involved in getting one.
Commerce and Biology students cannot become pilots.
Students from a Biology or Commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through NIOS and then apply.
The Board Verification Certificate has been abolished.
For the Class X and XII documents fetched from DigiLocker, a Board Verification Certificate is not required. That is a waiver for the documents DigiLocker supplies, not the end of the requirement.
The order to do all of this in
The gates are independent, which means several can run in parallel — and the single most expensive mistake is running them in series when you did not have to.
- 1
Confirm the education gate
Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University. If you did not take both subjects, start the students from a biology or commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through nios and then apply now, because it sits on the critical path and nothing else can begin without it.
- 2
Book the medical before you spend money
Book the Class 1 initial before committing money to a flying school. The student pilot licence only needs a Class 2, but the licence you are training towards needs a Class 1 — and finding a disqualifying condition after paying a deposit is an expensive way to learn it.
- 3
Get a computer number
Online at the Pariksha portal from age 16. Through DigiLocker it is allotted immediately; the manual route takes 15 working days. No medical certificate is needed for this.
- 4
Start the written papers
Book on Pariksha, ₹2,500 per paper in a regular session. Clear them one at a time — but count backwards from the licence application, because for the issue of a CPL or an ATPL, that period is five years.
- 5
Fly the hours
200 hours at a flying school, with the components inside that total, and all of it inside the 5 years before you apply.
- 6
Clear RTR (A) and the English proficiency test
RTR (A) is examined separately and is required for CPL issue. English Language Proficiency has to be cleared at Level 4 or above before the licence application will move.
- 7
Take the skill test, then apply on eGCA
The skill test is flown for an examiner on the type applied for, within the six months before applying. The licence application itself is a separate portal — Services → Issuance of Commercial Pilot Licence.
If you are not eligible yet
Most people who think they are ineligible are early rather than excluded. Three common cases:
You are under 18
Not a barrier to starting. An SPL is available at 16, a PPL at 17, and a computer number at 16. The CPL age applies to holding the licence, not to training for it.
You did not take Physics or Maths
Students from a Biology or Commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through NIOS and then apply.
You are unsure about the medical
Find out before you spend, not after. The CAR sets out what is assessed. It does not publish a pass rate, and no honest page can tell you in advance whether you will clear it. The examiner decides, and booking early is the cheapest decision in the whole plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum age for a CPL in India?
18, under the Aircraft Rules, 1937, Schedule II, Section J. You do not have to wait until then to start: a Student Pilot Licence is available at 16 and a Private Pilot Licence at 17, and a computer number for the written examinations can be applied for from 16.
What education do I need for a CPL?
Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University — Section J, para 1(b). For the computer number application you will also need both the marksheet and the pass certificate for Class 10 and Class 12, not just one of them.
Can I become a pilot without Physics and Maths?
Yes. Students from a Biology or Commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through NIOS and then apply. The requirement is the two subjects, not the stream you originally took or the board you took them from.
Is there a maximum age to become a pilot in India?
Not for the computer number — No maximum age is prescribed. What does change with age is the medical: a Class 1 is valid for one year up to 60 and six-monthly after that.
Which medical do I need, Class 1 or Class 2?
Both, in that order. A Class 2 covers the Student Pilot Licence and the Private Pilot Licence, so it is what lets you train. The Commercial Pilot Licence requires a Class 1. Book the Class 1 initial before committing money to a flying school. The student pilot licence only needs a Class 2, but the licence you are training towards needs a Class 1 — and finding a disqualifying condition after paying a deposit is an expensive way to learn it.
How many exams are there for a CPL?
5 written papers: Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Regulations, Technical General and Technical Specific. Examined separately from the DGCA written papers, and required for CPL issue under Section J paragraph 1(g).
What is the passing mark?
A candidate who secures a minimum of 70% marks in the theoretical knowledge examination of a particular subject is declared PASS. The 70% applies to each subject on its own. There is no aggregate, and a strong paper does not carry a weak one.
How long do my passed papers stay valid?
Theoretical knowledge papers must be completed within two and a half years immediately preceding the date of application. For the issue of a CPL or an ATPL, that period is five years. Clearing papers years before you finish your flying hours is not free. Count backwards from the licence application, not forwards from the first paper.
How many flying hours does a CPL need?
200 hours total as pilot of an aeroplane, flown within the 5 years before you apply, including 100 hours Pilot-in-command, 20 hours Cross-country as PIC, 10 hours Instrument time, 5 hours Night flying.
Do the 200 hours include the 100 hours as pilot-in-command, or are they extra?
They are included. 200 is the total and every component sits inside it. Treating them as additions produces a figure no rule asks for, and it is the most common error on pages about CPL eligibility.
Can simulator time count towards the 200 hours?
Only within one component, and only up to a limit: of the 10 hours of instrument time, not more than 5 hours may be on an approved simulator. Everything else has to be flown in an actual aeroplane.
Do I need a computer number before joining a flying school?
No, and you do not need a flying school to get one either — the two are independent. Getting the computer number early is still sensible, because it is the gate on every written paper and the manual route takes 15 working days.
What does the whole set of DGCA fees come to?
The examination fees are ₹2,500 per paper in a regular session, ₹5,000 per paper for an Online On-Demand Examination, and ₹500 for an oral paper on the second and third attempt. Flying school fees, the medical and the licence service fee are separate and are not set by DGCA.
What else has to be in place before the licence is issued?
Beyond the papers and the hours: a valid Class 1 medical with the assessment sheet, RTR (A) with the FRTOL, English Language Proficiency at Level 4 or above, and an e-logbook validated by your flying training organisation. The date of submission to DGCA is the date the whole process including payment is completed, not the date the form was filled.
Can a foreign national train for an Indian CPL?
The Pariksha process accommodates foreign nationals, with conditions: A valid passport is required before applying. Candidates from Nepal and Bhutan also need a passport. An Indian mobile number is mandatory before registering on the portal. Every foreign national goes through the security clearance process, and files the Security Clearance Form (Annexure A) with the application.
Sources
Read on 15 September 2026. Where a figure could not be traced to one of these, it is not on this page — which is why you will not find a vision standard or a pass rate here. If you are still working out what the acronyms mean, our CPL full form page sets out what a Commercial Pilot Licence is and what it requires.
- –Aircraft Rules, 1937, Schedule II, Sections B, E, J and M — licence ages, the CPL education requirement and the 200-hour experience table, continued in force by section 43(2) of the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024
- –Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7, Series 'B', Part I, Rev. 2 dated 13 February 2019 — pass marks and the validity of passed papers
- –Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7 — Flight Crew Standards, Training and Licensing, Series 'C', Part I, Issue II dated 12 October 2017, Revision 7 dated 01 October 2025 — the Class 1 and Class 2 split, validity and what is examined
- –DGCA Pariksha: the Flight Crew FAQ, the Flight Crew User Manual Issue III of October 2024, and the DigiLocker public notice of 13 December 2024 — the computer number, documents and examination fees
- –DGCA eGCA user manual, Process for submitting a Commercial Pilot Licence application — the prerequisites for licence issue
Work out where you actually stand
Eligibility is five separate answers, and most people reading this are through some of them already. We teach the ground subjects for the 5 written papers, in Dwarka and online, and we arrange flight training with partner flying schools. We do not own aircraft, we do not conduct medicals or examinations, and we do not place anyone into an airline job. What we can do in one conversation is tell you which of the five gates you are through and what the fastest honest route through the rest looks like.
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The five gates
- Age 18 for the licence, 16 to start
- 10+2 with Physics and Maths
- Class 1 medical
- 5 papers at 70%, plus RTR (A)
- 200 flying hours in 5 years