Pilot Career Counselling: Free, End to End

Rules and figures checked on 16 September 2026. Sources below.

Quick Answer

Is pilot career counselling free?

Yes. We One Aviation Academy provides career counselling free of cost, and it covers the route end to end — from whether you clear the education gate, through the medical, the computer number, the 5 DGCA papers and choosing a flying school, to what the licence does and does not lead to. There is no charge and no obligation to enrol.

What this is

•Free of cost, with no obligation to enrol
•End to end: the whole licence route, not only the part we teach
•In person in Dwarka, or by phone or email
•Bring: your Class 12 marksheet, any quote in writing, and your date of birth
•Parents welcome — most of what is discussed is money, timelines and risk
•What it is not: a promise of a job, a pass, a salary or a shorter route

The eight decisions, in the order that wastes the least money

Most counselling pages ask you to get in touch to find out what will be discussed. This one tells you now. Every item below has a rule or a published figure behind it, and each links to the page on this site that sets it out in full — so you can work through the whole thing yourself if you would rather.

1
Whether you clear the education gate at all
Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University Students from a Biology or Commerce stream clear both subjects as private candidates through NIOS and then apply. This is first because it is the only one that can add a year at the front of the plan, and it is the one people most often discover late.
CPL eligibility, gate by gate →
2
Whether the medical is likely to be a problem
Class 2 to begin, Class 1 for a Commercial Pilot Licence, at one of DGCA's 13 approved centres. Book the medical before committing money to a flying school. A student pilot licence 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. We are not doctors and cannot assess you; what we can do is make sure you book it before you spend anything large, rather than after.
Class 1 and Class 2 medical →
3
Which licence you are actually aiming at
Student Pilot Licence from age 16, Private Pilot Licence from age 17, Commercial Pilot Licence from age 18, Airline Transport Pilot Licence from age 21. Most people mean a Commercial Pilot Licence when they say "become a pilot", but not everyone does, and the answer changes the cost by an order of magnitude.
The full route, stage by stage →
4
Getting the computer number started early
It needs no medical certificate and no flying school, it can be applied for from age 16, and through DigiLocker it is allotted immediately. Starting it early costs nothing and saves months. 15 working days on the manual route.
The computer number guide →
5
Planning the written papers around their expiry
5 papers — Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Regulations, Technical General and Technical Specific — at 70% each, ₹2,500 per paper. Clearing papers years before you finish your flying hours is not free. Count backwards from the licence application, not forwards from the first paper. That sentence alone has saved people a re-sit.
DGCA Pariksha and the session calendar →
6
Choosing a flying school on evidence rather than a brochure
DGCA publishes the approved list — 41 organisations as on 30 March 2026 — and ranks them, weighting Operational Aspects at 40%, which covers aircraft utilisation and the student-to-aircraft ratio. That is what decides whether your 200 hours take eighteen months or four years, and almost nobody asks about it.
How to check an academy before you pay →
7
Reading a quote line by line
Private schools publish very little, so the figures circulating online cannot be traced to a document. The one publicly comparable price is Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA)'s published ₹55,00,000. Bring a quote and we will go through what it excludes — that is often the useful hour.
What can and cannot be shown about cost →
8
Being honest about what comes after the licence
The Ministry of Civil Aviation's published position is: "There is no shortage of Pilots/Crews in the Indian Aviation Sector. However, there is a shortage of commanders on certain types of aircraft." So the licence does not make you scarce, the first job is competitive, and the large step in pay comes with command. Better to know that before you commit than after.
Pilot pay: what is published and what is not →

The order matters more than any single item. The two that end plans — the education gate and the medical — are the cheapest to check and the ones most often left until after money has been spent.

What counselling cannot do

Worth saying plainly, because a counselling page that implies otherwise is selling something it does not have.

×We cannot promise you a job. We do not employ pilots, and hiring is the operator’s decision.
×We cannot promise you a pass. The papers are set and marked by DGCA, at 70% each.
×We cannot assess your medical fitness. That is a DGCA-approved examiner’s job, and the answer is worth having early.
×We cannot reduce the 200 flying hours or the 5 papers. Nobody can; they are set by regulation.
×We cannot tell you what you will earn. No Indian airline publishes a pilot pay scale.

And the honest frame around the whole career, from the Ministry of Civil Aviation itself: “There is no shortage of Pilots/Crews in the Indian Aviation Sector. However, there is a shortage of commanders on certain types of aircraft.” A licence does not make you scarce. Command does. That is the single most useful sentence in any conversation about this career, and it is better heard at the start than at the end.

What to bring

–Your Class 12 marksheet, or your expected subjects if you are still in school
–Any flying school quote you already have, in writing
–Your date of birth, because several gates are age-bound
–Whether you have started a computer number or any medical already
–The question you have not been able to get a straight answer to anywhere else

Our student checklists cover the same ground in list form if you would rather work through it on paper before speaking to anyone.

The last one is the most useful. If there is a question you have asked three places and got three different answers to, bring that — and if we cannot source the answer either, we will say so rather than guess. That is the standard the rest of this site is written to.

Being exact about who we are

We teach the DGCA ground subjects and arrange flight training with partner flying schools. We do not own aircraft or simulators, we do not employ pilots, and we do not place students into airline jobs — hiring decisions rest with the operator.

Which means a fair amount of a useful session is about flying schools we do not run and decisions we do not profit from. That is the point. We have been teaching the DGCA ground subjects from Dwarka Sector 7 since 2009, and most of the DGCA machinery a Delhi student needs is already in this city.

Frequently asked questions

How much does career counselling cost at We One Aviation?

Nothing. It is free of cost.

What does "end to end" mean here?

That the guidance covers the whole route rather than only the part we teach: the education gate, the medical classes and where they are done, the computer number, the 5 written papers, choosing a flying school, RTR (A), the skill test and the licence application — and what realistically follows it.

I am still in Class 11 or 12. Is it too early?

No, it is the best time. The one decision that cannot be undone cheaply is subject choice: Class 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics from a recognised Board or University Getting that right while you still have the option costs nothing; fixing it later costs a year.

I am past the usual age. Is it too late?

There is no upper age limit on the DGCA examination side — No maximum age is prescribed. What changes with age is the medical, which is assessed by a DGCA-approved examiner rather than by us, and the commercial reality of a shorter career runway. Worth discussing honestly rather than being told either yes or no by a website.

Do you counsel students who will not train with you?

Yes. It is free and there is no obligation, and a fair amount of what is useful in a session is about flying schools, which we do not run.

What should I bring?

Your Class 12 marksheet, or your expected subjects if you are still in school; Any flying school quote you already have, in writing; Your date of birth, because several gates are age-bound; Whether you have started a computer number or any medical already; The question you have not been able to get a straight answer to anywhere else.

Where and how does it happen?

In person at C-404, 3rd Floor, Ramphal Chowk, Block C, Palam Extension, Sector-7, Dwarka, New Delhi 110077, or over the phone on +91-9667370747, or by email at info.weoneaviation@gmail.com.

Will you tell me what a pilot earns?

We will tell you what is published, which is not a salary — no Indian airline publishes a pay scale. What is published is the government’s position that there is no shortage of pilots but there is a shortage of commanders, and that is more useful for planning than any figure.

Sources

Free, and no obligation

C-404, 3rd Floor, Ramphal Chowk, Block C, Palam Extension, Sector-7, Dwarka, New Delhi 110077. Phone +91-9667370747 or write to info.weoneaviation@gmail.com. Minimum age for a Commercial Pilot Licence is 18 — flying for payment. requires 200 hours of flight time. — but there is no minimum age for a conversation about getting there.