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Interview prep · Pilots

Cadet pilots

Ab initio selection: the academic bar, the tests, and what each stage costs.

Based on Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

No hours, no licence, and the longest odds of any route in this section. It is also the only one where the published entry criteria are specific enough to check yourself against before you spend anything.

  1. Entry requirements

    6 published

    What a named publisher says you must already have. Most readers pass or fail here, and finding out on this page costs nothing.

    • Age
    • Academic score
    • Subjects
    • English test score
    • Medical
    • Physical

    Entry requirements

    Cadet pilots

    6 requirements, all as Emirates Flight Training Academy states them.

    • Age

      Emirates Flight Training Academy: “Age 18-21 years old” for high school holders, “Age 21-26 years old” for degree holders.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    • Academic score

      “Minimum high school score of 80%”, or “Minimum GPA of 3.0 in a Scientific or Engineering Major”.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    • Subjects

      High school study must include “Math and Physics and English if non-native English speaker”. This is the gate that most often cannot be fixed later.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    • English test score

      “IELTS score of 6.0, or TOEFL score of PBT 510/IBT 65 is required at the time of application”. Unlike most airline English requirements, this one is a number, and it is needed at application rather than at joining.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    • Medical

      Applicants must “meet the criteria for the GCAA's Class 1 medical certificate”. Sit a Class 1 before committing money to anything else: it is the cheapest way to discover a disqualifying condition.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    • Physical

      “at least 160cm tall and medically fit a BMI of 29 or less”.

      Source: Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

    Requirements can change. Confirm with the employer before you apply or travel.

  2. Selection process

    5 stages

    Every stage below is published by Emirates Flight Training Academy, and no second organisation's process is sourced for this role. Read it as one publisher's account rather than as a survey of the industry.

    Online application review

    Emirates Flight Training Academy states a review period of five working days.

    Published by Emirates Flight Training Academy · read 31 August 2026

  3. How to prepare

    1 guide

    Our guides go deeper, each written from the employer’s own pages.

    What nobody publishes: ask the employer

    • EFTA does not publish passing scores for any individual test, the timeline between stages, or an appeal route for unsuccessful candidates.
    • The Emirates National Cadet Pilot Programme is a separate, sponsored route for UAE nationals. The Emirates Group Careers page for it states an English requirement of ELP 5 or higher and does not publish age, education or selection detail.
    • Fees above are those EFTA publishes for its own process and are not a guide to any other academy. Cadet programme costs vary by an order of magnitude between sponsored and self-funded routes.

Once you are through

Open rolesWhat it paysRecruitment eventsApproved training

Sources & verification

1 official page · 1 publisher

Sources & verification

Cadet pilots

Every requirement and stage on this page links to the page it came from.

  • Emirates Flight Training AcademyAdmissionsRead 31 August 2026

Coaching sites and practice-test vendors are excluded by rule: several contradicted the carriers’ own pages. How we verify

Entry requirements and selection processes can change. Confirm details with the employer before attending. All roles