Arts, commerce students may become commercial pilots? No more physics, maths needed: Indian DGCA considers so.

Class 12 students from arts and commerce backgrounds may be allowed to become commercial pilots in India, as per DGCA's new considerations.

If the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) new consideration finds firm ground to take off, class 12 students coming from arts and commerce backgrounds may soon be allowed to become commercial pilots. The DGCA is reportedly giving serious thought to getting rid of the current eligibility for commercial pilot training (CPL) that demands an applying student to have physics and maths in class 12, according to Times of India.

Once finalised, this recommendation will be sent to the Union aviation ministry. When they approve it, CPL training will be open for eligible students (those found medically fit) across streams,” TOI quoted sources familiar with the development.

Veteran pilot Captain Shakti Lumba, who flew for over three decades, also noted that other countries’ eligibility requirements don’t include physics and maths in Class 12 for commercial pilot training. “This is an archaic requirement and needs to go. The physics and maths taught in 12th is not needed by pilots. They already have the required understanding of these subjects from whatever they have studied in junior classes,” he said.

DGCA: More changes coming ahead

As officials seek to streamline pilot training in the country, they said, “A lot of things are in the works and the changes will show very soon.” Meanwhile, a flying school owner remarked that rich people who want to fly a plane don’t necessarily have physics and maths at the Class 12 level when they look out for a personal pilot license (PPL) in India. With that as the reference point, they questioned the contradictory eligibility criteria raised for CPL. “This simply doesn’t make sense,” they said.