✈️ Ode to Pilots: By Veteran Air Force Pilot & Senior Airline Captain

This article, penned by an Air Force veteran and senior airline captain with three decades of flying experience, passionately demystifies the piloting profession amid widespread unawareness. Highlighting its exclusivity (only 0.007% of the global population are pilots), accessibility (licenses from age 16, no degree needed, training under 2 years), merits (no bosses, protected hours, merit-based, discrimination-free, robust insurance), and India's pilot shortage, it counters myths around cost (₹60-80 lakhs, fast ROI) and job entry for freshers. Recommending dedicated ground schools first (3-4 months, ₹2.5-3.5 lakhs via flexible online exams), the author shares how this led to founding Shockwave Aviators—a unique ‘military ethos meets civilian aviation code of conduct’ in Kochi offering CPL/CHPL theory classes offline/online, AI-enhanced teaching, and a pioneering 50% fee refund for defense families passing on first attempt. Visit: www.shockwaveaviators.com/we-care.

An ode to the airborne....

Hello everyone! I am an Air Force Veteran Pilot and a Senior Airline Captain.

After being in the air for nearly three decades and having felt blessed for every second of it, I felt it was high time I cleared some air about this magnificent profession. Given a chance who wouldn't want to fly? We are 8 billion on this planet and only 0.007 % are pilots!! But not all of us can join the Air Force. Very few get filtered through (my own sons can't, for medical reasons). So, for those who are not lucky enough there's the Commercial Pilot option.

But there is an appalling degree of unawareness about this profession. For instance, nobody knows that you can get a Student Pilot License at 16, a Private Pilot License at 17 and a Commercial Pilot License at 18. It literally means that one can actually fly a plane before they can ride a bike in India! and, that you don't need a degree to become a pilot. A simple 50% in Physics and Mathematics in 10 + 2 makes you eligible. There's more...

A doctor in the making takes 5-7 years, a lawyer 5, an engineer 4, an IT pro 4 but a pilot less than 2!! And the pilot can start earning immediately. No apprenticeship or 'working under someone'. Best part is, there is no boss! Pilots don't 'report' to anyone. They don't have annual targets to meet, ppts to present, meetings to conduct and projects to complete. There's more....

Pilots cannot be exploited. Their working hours are non-negotiable. By Law. Remember the occasional 'Pilot refuses to fly..." headline? That's because they simply are not allowed by DGCA. And yes, every single airline pilot’s flying hours are monitored in real time by their company and DGCA. And the process is completely automated and foolproof. A Piloting career is also the cleanest. By miles.. No bribing, no corruption, no sycophancy and not even nepotism. Only pure merit. There's more....

Pilots have to remain fit and sharp. They are breath analyzed before every flight. Consequentially, they follow a strict alcohol discipline. A boon for themselves, their parents and spouses!! Same discipline with their sleep patterns. Pilots undergo mandatory medicals every year. Therefore, they are much better off in identifying and fending off health issues. What more, even after this if a pilot is an unfortunate victim of a disease or mishap that renders them unfit to fly, either temporarily or permanently, they are mandatorily insured! Its called Loss of License insurance. They can get paid for as long as two years for being medically unfit for reasons beyond their control! No other profession protects you like this. There's more...

Pilot's profession is the most discrimination free. Period. India holds the proud distinction of having the world's best female to male pilot ratio. And its only getting better. Besides, with India and the world staring at huge shortfall of pilots, this is the best time to become one. There's more...but we can stop here and look at the other side of the coin. The catch. There are two..

The first one is that it is apparently expensive. Yes, it is, no doubt. Only those who can afford a private medical or private engineering education should think of becoming a pilot. One may have to spend to the tune of 60-80 lakhs and sometimes, even more, to become a pilot. But one's Return On Investment (ROI) is also the fastest as they may start earning earlier and the starting salaries are also better.

The second catch is that more jobs are on offer for experienced pilots as is the case in almost all careers. Freshers may find it difficult in the beginning to get an opening. But given the sheer demand for air travel in the near future, this situation might change for good.

So, what should be the approach? Aviation training is in two stages. Ground and flying. The ground stage is mandatory before one can start flying and has several theory subjects to pass with very flexible options like OLODE (online on demand exams i.e., one can take them when one is ready unlike fixed dates for NEET/CLAT/JEE/IPMAT etc.). It takes 3-4 months (again much less time as compared to the other professions) to finish the syllabus and may need only 2.5 to 3.5 lakh rupees (all inclusive).

It is highly recommended that one joins a dedicated ground school and pass these exams instead of blocking a large amount of money in flying schools, as regardless you still have to clear the papers. This will also serve as a trial tor one to assess that whether, everything said and done, flying is one's cup of tea or not.

After we realized that my sons were medically ineligible for the Air Force, I started scouting for good ground schools and realized that while there were many, they were not meeting our needs. The good ones were distant but without the option of distance learning. The closer ones lacked the meticulous and methodical approach that us defense people have ingrained in us.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. My wife convinced me to form Shockwave Aviators with like-minded people. We are unique combination of military and civil flying and therefore giving the best of both worlds. The idea was to not just help students clear their initial hurdle but do it in the time and manner befitting this magnificent profession of 'seeing the world from above'. In short, introduce Our Military Ethos into the Civilian Code of Conduct. Our trainers will be continuously mentored and guided on those lines by along with harnessing real time AI to enhance the teaching experience.

We are both offline (Kochi based) and online. We give both Commercial Pilot License (CPL) / Commercial Helicopter Pilot License (CHPL) theory classes, and more importantly, only for defense/paramilitary folks and their kids we have a merit-based plan to return 50% of the fees on passing the exams in the first attempt. This school and this plan as well, is the only one of its kind in the country.

We are on
Website: https://www.shockwaveaviators.com/we-care
Instagram: @shockwaveaviators
Phone: 7004213594 / 9037570853
Fill this form to send us and enquiry: https://forms.gle/F1jhJH3SR3XcYVE8A