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From your first discovery flight to a professional aviation career — this guide shows you every step, cost, and milestone along the way.
Whether you dream of flying for the airlines, corporate aviation, or specialty operations, your journey starts here.
Explore your pilot pathway through three lenses: requirements & timeline, costs & privileges, and your total investment at each stage.
Hours, timeline, and requirements for each certification
Costs, what you can do, and effort level
Running total and eventual income ranges
Experience flying and see if you enjoy it
Can fly solo after instructor endorsement, cannot carry passengers
Can fly anywhere VFR, carry passengers, split costs with passengers. Cannot fly for compensation or hire. Cannot fly through clouds.
Building experience toward next ratings, same privileges as PPL
Can fly in clouds and low visibility (IFR), file IFR flight plans, still cannot fly for hire
Can be paid to fly, can fly for hire, required for professional pilot jobs
Flight Instructor Path
Business Aviation Path
Fly private jets and business aircraft, salary based positions
Unique Opportunities
Flight Instructor Path
Explore our study materials to prepare for each certification step. We've got resources for every stage of your pilot pathway.
Browse Study Materials