My Pilot Career – Explained Step by Step

A pilot career consists of many different stages. You start when you you are still in high school. You learn how to deal with maths, physics and the other languages. After graduating you apply at pilot schools and take on their selection processes. In case you are successful you proceed with the next step; the medical. After that nothings stands in your way, except of course a € 100.000,- tuition fee. Get yourself a loan and you are set! Right? Yes! But there is more to it.

Getting into the flight school is considered the easy part. Obtaining your first job as a commercial pilot is the real issue. The training consists of two phases, ground and flight training. Once you complete these two you get your CPL(A) and with that license you are able to fly commercially, hooray!

So whats next? As mentioned earlier, a pilot career consists of many different stages. At this point in that career you are known as an Ab-Initio.

You have your CPL and are ready to fly the big jets! But first you need to get yourself a Type Rating. When you finish a Type Qualification and a Base Training you are then Type Rated for that specific aircraft.

Then you still have Line Training, Line Checks, and half yearly exams called OPC/LPC’s. At this point in your pilot career you are still a ” junior” First Officer. Then there is the possibility to become Captain, Line Training Captain, Base Captain, Regional Base Captain, SFI, TRI, TRE, Chief Pilot and a lot of postholder positions… I wasn’t joking around 😉

In the articles below I explain my pilot career till now!


Today I am going to tell you about the cost to become an airline pilot. I noticed that a lot of people wonder about this and have no clue about the real situation. A few months ago I made the video ‘I Am A Pilot And Incredibly Rich’ to shed some light on this subject. In the following article I will explain…Read More


Up until now, there are a lot of unemployed pilots that are looking for an airline job. I have been there myself and I can tell you that the first airline job is quite hard to find. Airlines hire a relatively low amount of ‘new’ pilots compared to how many pilots enter the market. As you can imagine, the competition… Read More


Last week I flew towards east midlands in England where I completed my base training. Base training is the final part of the type rating where you actually fly the Boeing 737. The idea is that you get into the aircraft and make around 6 circuits. Everything flown manually and without any passengers. Of course we had so many simulator… Read More


A Type Rating is easily said, literally a rating on a specific type of Aircraft. After completing the integrated pilot training you are qualified to earn money while flying a single- and multi engine aircraft. This sounds great but the commercial pilot license with a frozen ATPL is simply not enough to fly commercial aircrafts which are operated by two pilots… Read More


After completing the Type Rating I was ready to fly with passengers from A to B in a Boeing 737-800. Line Training is the final part of the training. You get familiar with passengers, tankering, dispatchers and all kinds of unusual stuff which does not happen in the simulator. It is completely different than all the other parts and therefore very… Read More


As some of you might know I am currently based in Barcelona. This means that I am working/flying out of Barcelona to all kinds of destinations. The City Barcelona is absolutely amazing! Ramblas, the market, Plaza Espana, the beach and the mountains. There are so many things to do. It’s almost impossible to get bored. Everything is cheaper, so… Read More



Instagram: @dutchpilotgirl