Professional Airline Pilot US
for international students

Why enroll with AeroCadet?

• Strategic Approach: AeroCadet understands that simply having the minimum required pilot licenses is not enough to secure a position with top aviation companies. They emphasize the importance of standing out and being unique among other candidates. AeroCadet provides a strategic approach to help pilots differentiate themselves and make a lasting impression on airline recruitment teams.

• Comprehensive Support: AeroCadet offers a personalized team of strategists, career mentors, and airline employment consultants who provide invaluable guidance and support throughout the pilot's career journey. These experts offer insights, advice, and mentoring to help pilots enhance their experience, knowledge, qualifications, and employment references, setting them apart from the competition.

• Industry Knowledge: With their deep understanding of the aviation industry, AeroCadet is equipped to provide pilots with up-to-date information on airline hiring standards and requirements. This knowledge helps pilots align their efforts effectively and efficiently to meet these standards and increase their chances of securing their dream job.

• Career Development: AeroCadet is committed to the long-term success of pilots in the competitive world of commercial aviation. They provide career development resources and assistance to ensure pilots are well-prepared and positioned for growth opportunities in their aviation careers.

• Prestigious Airline Opportunities: By enrolling with AeroCadet and benefiting from their expertise, pilots can increase their chances of receiving job offers from prestigious airlines. AeroCadet's insights and support can help aspiring pilots fulfill their dreams of working for the world's leading aviation companies.

As a leading aviation training and airline pilot career development consulting agent serving the largest international market, AeroCadet offers a tailored approach, expert support, and valuable industry knowledge to help pilots maximize their potential, stand out from the crowd, and achieve their desired career goals in the aviation industry.

Why you need an ATPL (not a CPL) to be airline employable?

Let's face the truth: the top airlines have high pilot recruitment standards that go beyond the basic qualifications of a newly-graduated commercial pilot. The goal for student pilots is to attain the necessary flight time, licensing, and aeronautical experience to become employable by these airlines, which means gaining an edge over the vast applicant pool competition, not just satisfying the basic legal commercial pilot qualification requirements.

Most international student pilots aim for first officer positions with prestigious passenger carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Cathay Pacific, Eva Air, AHK, Fly Dubai, ANA, and more. These airlines hire pilots from diverse citizenship and ethnic backgrounds on multi-year contracts. However, securing these coveted positions requires meeting specific requirements that newly-graduated commercial pilots may not fulfill.

These requirements typically include holding a full, unrestricted Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) issued by a recognized ICAO member state. Preferably, the license should be from a developed, English-speaking country like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and others. This ensures a high level of English language proficiency, which airlines consider crucial. It also helps verify that the pilot has acquired their qualifications legitimately and not through fraudulent means, which unfortunately can be an issue in some developing countries' flight training industry.

Furthermore, significant aeronautical experience is necessary, usually exceeding 1500 flight hours, with a balanced combination of propeller and turbine/jet flight time. For a newly-graduated CPL holder with only 200 hours of flight time, achieving these qualifications and experiences can be a significant challenge, considering the high cost of acquiring flight hours. This is why many new pilots face the dilemma of gaining the required transitional aeronautical experience, leading them to search for underpaid and potentially risky jobs like bush-flying or banner-towing. Some even give up on their aviation dreams in frustration and let their pilot licenses expire, seeking employment in other industries. However, there are alternatives to this discouraging path.

Aerocadet, with its team of consultants who are experienced current (or retired) airline pilots, has developed fully-integrated flight training and internship programs to address this transitional experience challenge. These programs offer a comprehensive solution, taking students from zero experience or any other level they have already achieved to obtaining a full FAA (United States) and TCCA (Canada) ICAO Airline Transport Pilot Licenses. In the process, students gain valuable propeller and/or turbine experience, meeting the pilot recruitment requirements of major airlines that hire contract pilots for long-term, well-paid positions.

By providing a structured training program and internship opportunities, AeroCadet equips its students with the qualifications and experience necessary to stand out and succeed in the competitive airline job market.

How does this program achieve its objectives?

The FPAP-US program is unique: a very few flight training facilities in the World offer a full Airline Transport Pilot License program because it requires at least 1500 hours of flight time in various flight regimes. However, we are able to offer you this program because our FTP is an accredited by the FAA flight academy which has a special permission from the USCIS to issue our students not just a regular flight training visa (M-1) but a full academic visa (F-1). Such visa allows our students to study and, after the achievement of CPL and CFI licenses, undergo structured pilot internships as certified flight instructors and commercial turbine pilots in the United States, regardless of their country of citizenship. In contrast, a regular flight student M-1 visa does not effort any internship opportunities. The F-1 visa internships allow our graduates to build enough flight time to qualify for a full, unrestricted FAA/ICAO Airline transport Pilot License. Yes, a real deal. Not a "Frozen" ATPL (which is just another form of a basic 200-hour CPL), not a "Restricted" ATPL (again it's just a fancy name for a basic CPL), but a full, unrestricted ATPL. The one that the World airlines actually want their pilots to have at the recruitment events and career fares. The one that comes with the real-life employment experience, employer recommendation letters, safety records, etc - all serving as proof that some other companies have already entrusted this pilot with expensive airplanes and priceless lives and he or she did not disappoint. This is the assurance that the world-class airlines want from the resumes of the pilots they are looking to hire.

More and over, our advanced pilot internship partners are able to conditionally offer U.S. and international commercial pilot internship options to all our graduates in order to ensure that students continue developing their aviation careers and widen their aeronautical experience thus becoming more competitive on the current airline employment market. This is why, upon completion of all the internships offered to our students, our company guarantees comprehensive airline employment placement program for pilots who want to work in the leading airlines based in the Middle East, South-East Asia, Central America and Europe.

This program is structured in such a way that every segment leads our students to the ultimate goal: employment in the airlines. The program is divided into the following stages:

Total duration of the program is approximately two and a half years, including flight instructor and commercial pilot internships in the United States, which takes another 18-24 months, and not including Structured internship International as ferry pilot, which is limited to 18 months (Option 5). All stages of flight training are conducted in the United States to a very high standard by an accredited flight academy "Pelican Flight Training". After the completion of flight training phases, student will be offered internship as a flight instructor (6-12 months) and a commercial charter pilot (12 months) and an ability to build a very important to his/her career development flight time. After pilot achieves 1500 hours of flight time, student will be able to obtain his/her full, unrestricted FAA/ICAO Airline Transport Pilot License and proceed with the option 1 (5A) or option 2 (5B) - either working as a first officer at the target airlines, continue building flight hours as an international ferry pilot in Caribbean (British Virgin Islands). This internship will allow students to continue gaining valuable experience working as a professional pilots and building more complex turbine and cross-country flight time. The main program objective is to provide our graduates with the permanent airline employment placement at the industry leaders such as Fly Dubai, Emirates, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Air Asia, Lion Air, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Chinese Airlines, Air Hong Kong, Malaysian Airlines, Jet Star, Tiger Air and many more.

More details about the program and its phases:

At this phase student will be required to complete enrollment application form (here >>>) and provide documents for initial consideration by our company. After application details and document screening, student will be contacted for the initial interview to check his/her knowledge of English. Our requirements are simple: high school diploma (or higher), English knowledge on upper-intermediate level or better, international passport and good health with no disqualifying conditions (see full list of enrollment requirements here >>>) Once all requirements are satisfied, student will be furnished with the flight training agreement, visa support paperwork, preliminary aviation training study materials and TSA security clearance. 

After arrival in the United States at our flight training center, called "Pelican Flight Academy" a student will undergo a short FAA pilot medical. After this, student will start his/her theoretical and practical training: ground school and flying. We aim to conduct at least 3-4 hours of ground school every day and 2-3 hours of flight training together with the ground school. The flight training segment will be subdivided into Private, Instrument, Commercial courses, each giving the student a higher aeronautical license and grade. After completion of this phase, the student will be fully certified Commercial Pilots with FAA/ICAO licenses, rated to operate single-engine, multi-engine aircraft both in normal (VMC) and limited visibility (IMC) conditions. It takes 200 flight hours to complete this stage.

Students will then proceed to obtaining their Certified Flight Instructor license. This is necessary to facilitate the internship phase of our program which allows students to work as commercial pilot flight instructors and start building valuable flight time, as well as getting paid for their work. It takes 25 flight hours to complete this stage

Student, and at this point - a fully-qualified FAA commercial pilot and a flight instructor, will be offered opportunity to work as a flight instructor intern in our FTP academy under the CPT (Curricular Practical Training) program using the unique F-1 visa employment permit benefits. During this period, student may obtain up to 500 hours of additional flight time. Approximately 25% of this flight time will be conducted on multi-engine aircraft. All of the flight time will be logged as PIC (Pilot-In-Command) and in a multi-crew environment. Expected instructor flight time is 80 hours per month, with the expected earnings of $800 – $1200 USD per month.

A student's F-1 visa also offers a unique opportunity to work on the OPT (Optional Practical Training) program for an additional 12-24 months. Such program allows pilots to build additional piston or even turbine time in either flight school or a passenger/cargo charter environment. This options is available for students who completed their CPT, logged over 600 hours of flight time (200 during training and 400 during CPT internship) and have completed CPT with no incidents, no accidents, and commendations from the flight school's chief CFI.

Want to work in the US airlines after this internship? You might qualifty under the EB-1 visa program!

After Student completed his/her CPT and OPT internship, thus logging over 1500 hours of total flight time, he/she will become eligible to apply for a full, unrestricted Airline Pilot License issued under the FAA and ICAO regulations. This will be a full ICAO ATPL, giving a de facto authority to the student to become a commanding pilot on a large passenger category aircraft. An unrestricted ATPL license is a standard requirement for employment as a First Officer with most leading airlines in the Word. It is also the highest aeronautical certification that any pilot can ever achieve. It takes 2 weeks to complete this phase with our partner, ATP flight school.

At this point, our company will continue fostering your pilot career by offering a comprehensive airline employment support with the leading airlines in Asian and Middle East. This service is offered to the full program graduates. There is no limit to the assistance program: we will continue our support until the graduates get permanent airline employment. Of course, it is conditional on the graduate's passing the airline employment interview. Normally, placement programs take 3-6 months. Permanent employment in the United States may be achieved by qualified candidates through EB-1 visa application.

Want to track the latest pilot internship opportunities in the Unites States, Canada and all around the world for low-hour CPL holders? Join this specially-dedicated Facebook group >>>

This optional internship course is offered to our graduates who have completed the CPT and OPT program as flight instructors and/or commercial pilots with good evaluations, showed fair professionalism and acceptable academic achievement, but who were unable to meet the Airline Pilot Internship standards at the time of graduation and need to continue building valuable flight time and grow their aviation experience by working as international aircraft delivery pilots for our international partner, Global Air Holding Ltd located in Hong Kong SAR. This company is specializing in aircraft sales and delivery from the United States to Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia for their international clients. Expected pilot salary is $2000 – $2500 per aircraft transfer. After completion of this guaranteed internship phase, pilot can achieve over 2500 hours of flight time, including valuable turbine (turbo-prop) experience.

Students will receive the following amount of flight training hours during the licensing phases of the program:

Students will receive the following flight crew licenses during this program:

The Academic segment of the theoretical training is an important factor for those students who are planning on advancing their education to an Associate or a Bachelor's level. Although most airlines in the Middle East and Asia do not require a college degree for pilot employment, having such a degree certainly gives a candidate marginal advantage over other applicants in a competitive airline pilot employment market, and allows for significant expansion of his/her employment market spectrum.

This is why we have partnered with a fully-accredited universities in the United States: Thomas Edison State University (New Jersey) and Liberty University, to provide 100% online admission and educational programs to our program graduates who have already earned their ATP licenses. The university issues fully-accredited Associate, Bachelor and Master level degrees via online-only academic programs, while giving maximum amount (of all US and Canadian Universities) academic credits for previously obtained pilot licenses such as CPL, CFI and ATPL, and certain aviation practicum, such as turbine type-ratings or airline experience as FO or CA. No student visa is required to continue studying for the Bachelor's degree with TESU or Liberty U. Studies can be conducted from any country in the world.

Each pilot license and rating earned by our students carries the following academic course equivalent:

More information about pilot licenses/ratings conversion into academic credits may be found on TESU website here >>>

More information about pilot licenses/ratings conversion into academic credits may be found on Liberty University website here >>>

The listed above academic courses and their respective credit hour ratings may be converted into any college or university accreditation scale using the standard European Academic Credit Transfer System.

Please note: all academic credits are approximate and subject to admissions board review and evaluation by the target college or university. Normally, the level of education and practicum upon completion of the training and internship phases equals to Associate Degree in Aeronautical science. Hence, most pilots are able to obtain a full Bachelor's Degree in just 2 years after transferring the academic credits.

During the primary stages of training, flight students are required to stay near the flight training center. The accommodation types are flexible and available on demand. Because students will not be able to work for the initial 12 months of this program (the flight training phase), we have to include the cost of accommodation in the program cost estimate.

Improvised campus apartments are located only a few minutes walk from the airport and approximately 10-15 minutes drive from the beach.

12 months of standard shared accommodation is included in this program. After the initial 12 months lapse, the students are normally allowed to enter internship with the flight academy using the CPT and OPT internship authorization, and can earn sufficient income to cover additional accommodation needs.

The Full Estimtaed Program Cost

The full cost estimate is based on student's compliance with the FAA flight training curriculum, 12-month accommodation costs, and estimated government fees. The cost is broken down into the following mandatory segments: [a] estimated cost of training 0-CPL/CFI/CFII/MEI: $68,310.00; [b] 12 months of shared accmmodation: $9,000.00 USD; [c] government fees (medical, visa, TSA): $775.00; [d] 12 month foreign student medical insurance: $900; [e] ferry pilot internship: $1950.00; [f] Aerocadet and FTP administrative fees: $1050.00 USD.

This is what's included in the Full Cost Estimate:

Optional Private Accommodation Upgrade

All students are offered campus-style shared (2 students in one bedroom) accommodation within 10-15 minutes walk from the airport training center. Students also can opt-in to take a private room accommodation at extra cost. Alternatively, some student elect to purchase a vehicle or a motorcyle and rent theor own accommodation 15-30 minutes drove from the training center. The choice is Student's.

Optional Cessna 152 to Cessna 172 Upgrade

To keep overall costs low, the standard aircraft provided for single-engine training is the CE-152. Students have the option to upgrade to the slightly larger CE-172 for an additional fee. The upgrade to the CE-172 does not add value to the training or licensing program and is available for convenience purposes only. Out of the 237 total flight and FTD hours offered in this progrram, 108.8 of them will be conducted in a Cessna 152.

Optional FAA (US) ATPL Add-on

The purpose of this flight training program is to achieve the highest possible professional pilot level, the Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL). This option becomes available to the student after gaining at least 1500 hours of total flight time through the utilization of the F-1 visa CPT and OPT internships, as outlined in sections 9 and 10 of Aerocadet's flight training and internship agreement. However, achieving this level of experience is ultimately at the student's discretion. The student is allowed to leave the internship at any point for other employment offers from foreign or domestic aviation companies. Therefore, the student has an option to include or exclude ATPL certification in this program, depending on their personal career planning. Further, in case Student starts this program with alredy logged flight time from other flight experiences, such as military or civilian flying as a pilot, and he/she is able to achieve 1500 hours of flight time during the CPT internships and elects to undergo OPT internship for 12 months in the regional airlines, the ATPL certification may be provided to the student by the airline together with the required jet type-rating, free of charge. 

Optional Indian (DGCA) ATPL Add-on

For the students enrolling from India, and planning to work in India after graduation, we have partnered up with Hercules Aviation Training School (HATS) to provide FAA ATPL to FAA DGCA certification and license add-on program in Hyderabad. Students will need to start their DGCA ground school training in India - that phase will take 3 months - then pass their DGCA ATPL theoretical exams, then arrive in the United States for training and internship. After completion of training and internship and ATP certification (phases 1-6), Students will come back to India to conduct their FAA ATPL to DGCA ATPL license add-on phase. This phase will also be provided by Hercules Aviation Training School. This phase will take 2-3 weeks. After completion of the ATP conversion process, Students will be provided with the Airline Pilot Placement Assistance service by HATS with Indigo Airlines. At the end of this process, Student will hold two separate ICAO Airline Transport Pilot Licenses: FAA and DGCA. The full explanation of the specialized program for Indian students is located here >>> The cost of this add-on will include: DGCA Ground School: $2500 USD; DGCA ATPL: $2495 USD.

ICAO PPL Holder (Discount)

Students who are enrolling with a current, unexpired Private PIlot Licenses issued by any ICAO country can get FAA PPL issued by filling out a free IACRA application, and is eligible for a discount from the following overall program cost.

Students Arriving with Familty (Discount)

When arriving with family, students will not be allowed to share campus accommodation. Instead, they will need to rent their own accommodation near the flight center. In such cases, the student must ensure that their budget includes the estimated accommodation costs for the initial 12 months of the training program. This option is also available for students who can stay with relatives living within a 30-minute commute from the FTP. If clause "i" is elected, transportation to and from the training center becomes the sole responsibility of the Student.

Flight Instructor Earnings (Rebate)

This program is integrated with flight instructor and commercial pilot internship (see phase-by-phase outline above). Presuming that the student does not want to transition from flight instructor internship to charter pilot internship, he can count on approximately $20 per hour pay, with a maximum allowed employment hours of 80 per month. This amounts to the potential earnings of $1600 USD per month, over the period of up to 24 month duration of CTP and OPT internships, amounting to a total of:

Additional Expenses

Should a student fail any of the required check-rides, or not adhere to the curriculum set forth by the flight school, he/she will be liable for additional fees resulting from the additional training hours. Such fees will be billed separately and depend on the type of additional training and type of aircraft or FTD.

Living Expenses

Living expenses besides accommodation are not included in the cost estimate. Living expenses are normally considered food/entertainment. We recommend that students include at least $10 per day in food expenses. Because students will not be eligible for employment for the first 12 months, at least $3650 USD (365 days x $10 USD) must be included in the living expenses budget.

Our academy does not require students to pay for the entire flight training program in advance. We have a payment structure that needs to be followed by all students, with some exception. Students must submit the following payments:

Please note: conditions of deposit refund are outlined in the flight training agreement, which students are required to sign upon enrollment and before any payments are due.

Our company can provide administrative support for students to obtain Financial Aid from their respective banks and financial institutions. Such support is offered by providing conditional employment offer letters and training bond contracts. Read the details here >>>

Please note: Aerocadet does not provide flight training sponsorships. Please read the student loan information located via the above link thoroughly before applying for enrollment. 

To enroll into this program, an applicant must have the following documents:

If you need a personal consultation regarding the flight training program, please email one of our highly qualified consultants with a full list of your questions, and receive a structured response within 24 hours.

Download program base structure and pricing break-down here:

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