To become a pilot in Indonesia, you pass a medical and a school's selection, train for a private licence and then a commercial licence with an instrument rating, usually adding a multi-engine rating, and finish with the theory exams airlines expect. From zero, that takes 12 to 16 months at most Indonesian schools, within 18, and costs about Rp 900 million to Rp 1.55 billion all in. Flying for an airline adds a type rating on top.

This guide walks the whole road, step by step, and links to a deeper article at each stage. It is written by Hangar 1 Aero, where airline captains help aspiring pilots prepare before they commit to a flight school.

What does a pilot career in Indonesia look like?

Most people who ask this mean one of two things.

An airline career: flying passengers for an Indonesian airline, or later for airlines abroad. This is the long road, and most of this guide is about it.
Flying for yourself: a private licence to fly for fun, perhaps with an instrument rating. Shorter, cheaper, and just as real a licence.

Between the two sit other professional jobs that many airline pilots do first: instructing, and flying for charter operators across the country's islands.

It is a demanding career. Training is costly, airline places are competitive, and the job keeps testing you for as long as you fly. It is also one of the most rewarding careers there is, and pilots who arrive prepared still get through. Our article on becoming an airline pilot in Indonesia is honest about both sides.

Can you become a pilot?

Before you think about schools or money, check the basics. A school's test fees are usually non-refundable, so it is worth knowing first.

Age: schools set their own limits. Among the schools we studied, the youngest entry age is 16 to 18, and some cap the upper age anywhere from 23 to 35.
Height: some schools set a minimum, around 160 to 167 centimetres depending on the school and on whether you are a man or a woman.
Eyesight and colour vision: good eyesight, and normal colour vision, are common requirements.
English: most schools test it, often with TOEIC. Required scores among the schools we studied run from 450 to 785. Later, your licence needs ICAO English at level 4 or above.
Medical: a pilot medical. In Indonesia a Class 1 medical is valid for six months and a Class 2 for a year. Many schools accept a Class 2 for the private licence; some ask for Class 1 from the start. Take Class 1 early if an airline career is possible.
Education: a high school or vocational school diploma.

If you fall short on one school's criteria, another may set them differently. Our free entry check shows in a minute how you compare with the published criteria of the schools we studied. Then confirm each school's own list.

How do you choose a flight school?

This is the first expensive decision, and the one most families get wrong by comparing brochure prices. The headline fee is rarely what a cadet pays.

Ask every school the same questions, and write the answers down:

What exactly does the fee include, and what does one extra flight hour cost?
How do the hours split between dual, solo, mutual and simulator?
How many aircraft are flying this week, not how many the school owns? How many cadets are training, and how many full-time instructors are there?
How long did the last group really take, and when did they start? The start month matters, because the rainy season, roughly November to March, cancels lessons.
Is the multi-engine rating included? Airlines require it.
Is the school semi-military or civilian? It shapes your whole day.

Our free flight school checklist for Indonesia has every question on one page. Fill it in online and save it, or print it and take it to each school. Then put the numbers side by side in our cost calculator.

Not every school will answer everything, and that is fine. A school that answers openly gives you a better basis to decide, and that counts in its favour.

What does training involve, stage by stage?

Stage	What you learn	Typical time in Indonesia
Selection	Medical, English, psychology, aptitude, interview	A few weeks to a few months
Private Pilot Licence (PPL)	Flying a light aircraft yourself, first solo, first cross-country	4–5 months
Commercial licence and instrument rating (CPL/IR)	Flying for pay, and flying in cloud on instruments	About 9–10 months more
Multi-engine rating (ME)	Aircraft with more than one engine	About 1–2 months, if separate
ATPL theory	The theory exams for the airline transport licence	Varies; often part of a good programme

Ground school runs alongside the flying. Some schools teach all the theory up front, some alternate theory and flying stage by stage, and some put both in the same week. None is wrong, but knowing which you will get helps you prepare.

What makes training take longer? Usually the weather or the student. Less often it is the school itself, with too few aircraft flying or too few instructors. Read how long flight school takes for the detail, including a quick way to check a school's real pace.

What does it cost?

From zero to a commercial licence with an instrument rating:

Where you train	All in
A flight school in Indonesia	About Rp 900 million – 1.55 billion
A flight school in the US, then converting to an Indonesian licence	About Rp 1.9 – 2.5 billion

Ranges from the flight schools we studied, October 2026.

The difference from the brochure price, typically Rp 130–250 million in Indonesia, is living costs, extra flight hours, exams and checkrides, entry tests, medicals, kit, travel and, if it isn't included, the multi-engine rating. Read what it costs to become a pilot in Indonesia for every line, and why the brochure price is the wrong number to compare.

What do airlines ask for?

A commercial licence gets you to the door. Indonesian airlines typically also want:

an Indonesian (DGCA) commercial licence with instrument rating, and the multi-engine rating
ATPL theory completed (the "frozen" ATPL; the licence itself comes at 1,500 flying hours)
often, a type rating on the aircraft they fly, most often the Airbus A320: around US$27,000 at current special pricing, including the base check, and about three months
a valid Class 1 medical, ICAO English level 4 or above, and a clean record
passing their own selection: psychology and aptitude tests, a simulator assessment and an interview

All in, being airline-ready costs roughly Rp 1.5 to 2.2 billion. Read what Indonesian airlines ask for before they hire a pilot.

What happens after the licence?

The gap between a licence and the first airline job can be long, and the route matters. Some airlines pay for the type rating and line training in return for a commitment of several years. Other arrangements exist too, including ones where the new pilot pays for part of the training, but airlines rarely publish these terms, so ask exactly who pays for what before you sign. Many pilots instruct, fly for charter operators or keep flying at a club while they wait, and keep their airline procedures fresh in a simulator.

A licence is about two years in the making, and airline intakes are competitive. Pilots who arrive ready, and stay sharp, are the ones who get through.

How do you start?

Check you can enter: age, height, eyesight, English and medical, against each school's criteria. Our free entry check shows how you compare in a minute.
Do the medical early, before paying any deposit.
Visit schools with the checklist, and compare them in the calculator.
Plan the money to your real goal: to the licence for flying for yourself, to airline-ready for an airline career, with a reserve for the step after.
Arrive prepared. Read how to prepare for flight school, so the first months feel like progress rather than catching up.

If you want to see what training and an airline career really involve before you commit, our 2-Week Pilot Training Experience puts you with airline captains, a psychology specialist and an hour in our Level D A320 Full Flight Simulator (FFS), the highest qualification level a simulator can have. Two weeks to decide, before you spend a billion rupiah.