Aryan · Founder, Ready Aviator · 14 May 2026

From first exam to CPL: what the road actually looks like, in numbers

Theory papers, flying hours, paperwork: we mapped every stage between your first DGCA exam and the licence, with honest numbers about how wide the door is and which stage you control.

First paper to licenceThe road, in numbers

The road

TypicallyTwo to three years
CPLs issued in 20251,628
StagesTheory, flying, conversion
One stage is yoursTwo run on other clocksA record year
Two to three yearsFirst paper to licence in hand.
1,628 CPLsIssued in 2025, the most in any year.
22,933 studentsSat DGCA exams the same year.
One stage you controlThe theory hall. Weather and files own the rest.
Three stages

Theory, hours, paperwork

01The theory hallSix papers, in DGCA's sittings.
02The hoursAt an FTO, weather permitting.
03The conversionMedicals, files, processing.

The weather decides when you fly and DGCA decides when files move. Your preparation sets the pace of the first stage and nothing else.

The door

Wide entrance, narrow door

For every 14 students sitting exams, roughly 1 CPL gets issued22,933 students sat exams in 2025 · 1,628 CPLs were issued that year, an all-time record · not the same people: the licence takes years

■ gets the licence in a given year·the rest are still working through papers, hours or paperwork

Counted from DGCA published results and licence issues. The 22,933 who sat exams in 2025 and the 1,628 issued a licence that year are not the same people: a 2025 licence started years earlier. The gap is the length of the corridor, not a pass rate.

The long view

The door is widening

DGCA issued 578 CPLs in 2020 and 1,165 in 2022, and after a dip in 2024 the 2025 count set the record. Airlines keep ordering aircraft by the hundred, and every one needs crews.

Practise the real papers

The stage you control

Five per chapter, open, with the working underneath.

Question 5 of 20Answer shown

What is the highest latitude listed below at which the sun will reach an altitude of 90⁰ above the horizon at some time during the year?
a23⁰b45⁰c66⁰

How the answer is reached

  1. The sun is overhead somewhere on the earth every day, and that point moves north and south with the seasons.
  2. Because the axis is tilted 23½°, the point stops at 23½° north in June and 23½° south in December. It never goes past either.
  3. 45⁰ and 66⁰ are both outside that band, so the sun never stands at 90⁰ over them.

Answer 23⁰the only latitude in the list inside the band

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Keep reading
How to become a pilot in IndiaThe syllabus, paper by paperFlying schools in IndiaThe DGCA question bank