How to become a pilot in Nepal

1. 1Check the medical first. Get a Class 1 medical assessment from an examiner the authority recognises before you spend on anything else. Eyesight, hearing, heart and general fitness are examined.
2. 2Choose a flying school abroad that the authority has approved. It publishes a list of validated schools. Training at a school that is not on it can leave you with a licence Nepal will not convert.
3. 3Get the offer letter and apply for a No Objection Letter. The authority issues one for initial flight training to applicants aged 18 or over with a Class 1 medical, +2 science with physics and mathematics, and an offer from an approved school. The fee on its flyer is USD 125 plus 13% VAT.
4. 4Train abroad through the private pilot licence, instrument rating and commercial pilot licence, building to 200 hours. To carry passengers in multi-engine aircraft you also need the multi-engine rating.
5. 5Return and convert the licence. Pass the authority’s written examinations for conversion and the skill test, and receive a Nepali commercial pilot licence.
6. 6Apply to airlines. Each operator sets further requirements in its operations manual, and trains you on its own aircraft type.

Not for learning to fly from the beginning. The licensing rules require that an applicant “must have completed a course of approved training in a Contracting State and must hold a Commercial Pilot License endorsed with an instrument rating, issued by that State”. Institutes in Nepal offer ground classes and preparation for the conversion examination, and simulator time, but the flying is done abroad.

The countries Nepali students most often choose, according to the trade site Aviation Nepal, are the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the Philippines. What matters is not the country but whether the particular school is on the authority’s approved list on the day you enrol.

No official body publishes a figure, and no major newspaper has reported one recently. The most cited estimate is Aviation Nepal’s, from July 2022: more than USD 70,000 for training in the United States, Canada or Australia, and USD 45,000 to 55,000 in South Africa or the Philippines, which it put at Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Fees, fuel prices and the exchange rate have all moved since, so treat those as a floor.

• Ask the school for a written quotation covering all flying hours, ground school, examination fees, licence fees, accommodation and the hours students typically need beyond the minimum.
• Add the cost at home: the No Objection Letter, medical, conversion examinations and skill test.
• Ask about type rating. Training on a specific airliner is a further cost, and whether the airline or the pilot pays differs by operator. We found no reliable published figure.
• Plan for time without income. A Kathmandu Post report in 2018 noted that more than 200 licensed pilots were unemployed in earlier years. A licence does not guarantee a seat.

The age, medical, education and conversion rules are the same. The flying requirement differs: at least 150 hours as a pilot of helicopters, including 35 as pilot-in-command, 10 cross-country and 10 of instrument instruction, with 5 at night for night privileges. A pilot who already holds an aeroplane commercial licence may credit up to 50 hours. Helicopter flying in Nepal is rescue, cargo and charter work in the mountains, and operators look for experience at altitude.

• A new commercial pilot joins as a first officer. A Kathmandu Post report put the experience needed to command at about 3,500 hours.
• Airlines select on the written test, the simulator assessment and the interview. Bring a logbook that is complete and tidy.
• The aviation CV is its own format: licence number and ratings, total hours broken down by type, medical class and validity. The cabin crew CV example shows an aviation layout you can adapt.
• If the cockpit is out of reach for now, how to get a job in Nepal covers the wider search, and aviation vacancies appear on the jobs board when operators post them.