Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh

How to become a pilot in Bangladesh

Five licences in order, each with its own minimum age, education, medical class and flight-hour requirement, plus two routes that sit beside the ladder. Every figure on these pages is cited to ANO-1, the Air Navigation Order that has governed pilot licensing since it was gazetted in April 2024, and the written exams follow the CAAB technical examination syllabus (Issue-1, 10 August 2005).

The path, in order

1Student Pilot Licence SPLStart here. You need SSC (Science) and a medical, and you will be flying solo under an instructor's supervision within months.
2Private Pilot Licence PPL40 hours of flying and nine written papers. You may carry passengers, but never for money.
3Commercial Pilot Licence CPL200 hours for aeroplanes, 150 for helicopters, and HSC (Science) with Physics and Maths. This is the licence that lets you be paid.
4Instrument Rating IRA rating on top of your licence, for flying in cloud. Airlines treat it as compulsory.
5Airline Transport Pilot Licence ATPL1,500 hours for aeroplanes, 1,000 for helicopters, and 21 years of age. The captain's licence.

+Multi-crew Pilot Licence MPLAn airline-focused route straight to the right-hand seat, aeroplanes only. One 240-hour approved course rather than licence by licence. It replaces the PPL-then-CPL climb for airline cadets, so it is an alternative to the ladder rather than a step on it.+Flight Instructor Rating FIROptional, and the usual way to build hours towards an airline job while being paid. It branches off from the CPL rather than sitting on the main ladder.

Compare the licences

Licence	Min age	Education	Medical	Hours — aeroplane	Hours — helicopter
SPL	16 years	SSC in the Science group, or equivalent, plus demonstrated aptitude for a pilot	Class 2 Medical Assessment	—	—
PPL	17 years	SSC, or equivalent	Class 2 Medical Assessment	40 hours	40 hours
CPL	18 years	HSC (Science) with Physics and Mathematics, or equivalent	Class 1 Medical Assessment	200 hours	150 hours
MPL	18 years	Set by the approved training course	Class 1 Medical Assessment	240 hours	—
IR	Set by the licence you already hold	HSC (Science) with Physics and Mathematics, or equivalent	As required by the licence you hold	50 hours	50 hours
ATPL	21 years	HSC (Science) with Physics and Mathematics, or equivalent	Class 1 Medical Assessment	1,500 hours	1,000 hours
FIR	Set by the commercial pilot licence requirement	The knowledge requirements for a Commercial Pilot Licence, plus twelve instructional subjects	As required for the Commercial Pilot Licence	The Commercial Pilot Licence experience for the category	The Commercial Pilot Licence experience for the category

Hours shown are the total flight-time minimum. Each licence page breaks that down into pilot-in-command, cross-country, instrument and night time, with the rule for each.

What the written exams cover

CAAB examines nine technical subjects. PPL is examined on its own syllabus; CPL, ATPL and the Instrument Rating share one, with each topic marked for the licences it applies to — which is why the syllabus pages are split by licence and by aircraft category.

Browse the syllabus

Pick your licence and aircraft category and the syllabus filters down to just your topics — all eight syllabus pages.

A note on the sources

The law changed in 2024 — the requirements did not

Pilot licensing in Bangladesh is now set by ANO-1, gazetted on 8 April 2024 under the Civil Aviation Act 2017 — the Act that replaced the 1960 Ordinance the Civil Aviation Rules 1984 were made under. Its twelve-month transition ran out in April 2025. The Rules of 1984 have not been repealed, and CAAB orders still refer to them, but they are no longer the instrument that governs licences: the phrase does not appear once in ANO-1. Every figure on these pages is cited to ANO-1.

Age, academic qualification, medical class and every flight-hour minimum for PPL, CPL, ATPL and the Instrument Rating are identical under ANO-1 to what CAR 84 required. Four things did change:

Student Pilot Licence validity — was 12 months, tied to the medical examination (CAR 84 r.22(2)); now 5 years from the date of issue, renewed against a current Class 2 Medical Assessment. ANO-1, 2.2.10 and 2.2.11
Student Pilot Licence medical — was “medical fitness under rules 51 and 53”, without naming a class; now a Class 2 Medical Assessment, stated outright. ANO-1, 2.2.3
Multi-crew Pilot Licence — was present in CAR 84 (r.25), but with no published examination syllabus; now a full licence with its own requirements, privileges and a 240-hour approved course. ANO-1, 2.5
ATPL (Helicopter) skill test and MCC — was not addressed at all; now the skill test must be flown as pilot-in-command of a helicopter required to be operated with a co-pilot, and MCC training is mandatory. CAO-PEL (ATPL-H) 01/2025

This site is not CAAB and does not publish regulation. Read the source documents: ANO-1 — Air Navigation Order, Personnel Licensing (Gazetted 8 April 2024) and Pilots' Technical Examination Syllabus for PPL, CPL, ATPL, IR & FIR (Issue-1, 10 August 2005). Flight-training organisations, course fees and the licence application procedure are not in either document and are not covered here.