Built for India's regulator, not ours
Our standard packages are built to CAAP's minimums. This one is built to what India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation wants to see on a logbook before it will recognize a foreign license.
What goes in the logbook, stage by stage
What this program is
We already have a path for pilots who hold hours or a license somewhere else and want to add a DGCA conversion afterward — that's our general international license-conversion track. This is a different thing. It's for cadets starting from zero (or close to it), where every stage, every hour, and the multi-engine rating are sequenced from day one specifically around what DGCA's own process expects, not added on at the end.
Our domestic PPL/CPL/IR packages meet CAAP's minimums. This pathway runs to 230 hours and includes Multi-Engine as standard — because that's the profile DGCA's conversion process looks for, not because more is automatically better.
Most cadets on this pathway arrive with no flight time at all. Students who already hold some hours are equally welcome; prior time is reviewed against CAAP requirements and credited into the program rather than repeated.
Your sponsoring agency handles the ground-school, visa, and placement side in India. We handle the flying, at Mactan-Cebu, on the same fleet every CAFS student trains on.
The path
CAAP specifies the requirements for each license. This pathway sequences all four into one 12-month program, so you move from PPL straight into CPL, Instrument, and Multi-Engine without re-booking or re-onboarding at every stage.
Ground school and first flight hours on the Cessna 152 — the same aircraft every CAFS student solos on. First solo, pattern work, cross-country basics, and the CAAP PPL checkride.
Transition to the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Advanced theory, cross-country hour-building, night operations, and the CAAP CPL checkride — the point at which you're legally a professional pilot.
Flying by reference to instruments alone — the rating that makes scheduled, all-weather operations possible, and the one every airline pipeline assumes on your logbook.
Twin-engine training on our Beechcraft Baron 58 and Piper Seneca — asymmetric handling, engine-out procedures, and the checkride that completes the pathway. You leave with four licenses in one logbook.
230 hours, 12 months is the planned pace. Actual pace depends on weather days, checkride scheduling, and how a student's prior experience (if any) is credited. Your agency counselor and our admissions team confirm your specific schedule before you arrive.
Where you train
This pathway doesn't get a separate or lesser fleet — you train on the same Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Beechcraft Baron 58, and Piper Seneca every CAFS student flies, based at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, a controlled Class-C international airport, under CAAP ATO 84-11.
Drawings are illustrations, not to scale.
Theory for each stage — air law, navigation, meteorology, aircraft systems — is taught in step with the flight hours, not front-loaded and forgotten. Charts, logbook, and flight-planning tools are the same ones you'll use in the cockpit that week.
After graduation — the part that's actually India-specific
Only India's own regulator can issue a DGCA license — that step happens after you return, not in the Philippines. This is the process every graduate of this pathway goes through:
CAAP license issued, logbook built to DGCA's profile.
Your CAAP license and complete logbook are submitted to DGCA for verification — typically a 6–8 week process.
The DGCA written papers — Air Regulations, Air Navigation, Meteorology, Technical General and Technical Specific — plus the RTR(A) radio license exam, all in English.
Renewed at a DGCA-approved Aeronautical Medical Examiner in India.
A final flight check in India, at a bridge school approved by DGCA.
This is exactly why the training pathway looks different from our standard packages — more hours, Multi-Engine included, structured around this process rather than around it being added afterward. The conversion itself, though, is administered in India, not by CAFS.
Full timelines & partner airlines for the India routeWho this is for
Every student on this pathway arrives through a sponsoring agency, who coordinates ground-school, visa, and enrollment logistics alongside our admissions team.
No flight time yet — this is your first cockpit. The pathway is designed to take you from a first solo on the Cessna 152 through to a multi-engine checkride on the Baron 58 or Seneca, in one planned 12-month sequence.
Already have time logged elsewhere. Your hours are reviewed against CAAP requirements before training starts, and credited into the pathway where they qualify — you don't repeat what you've already flown.
Questions we hear most
Our admissions team can talk you through the fleet, the syllabus, and life at Mactan-Cebu.
Contact admissionsLicense conversion is for pilots who already hold flight hours or a license from another country and want to add DGCA recognition afterward. This program is built the other way around — for cadets starting from zero, where the hours, stages and Multi-Engine rating are sequenced from day one specifically around DGCA's own conversion requirements, not added on at the end.
Our domestic PPL, CPL and IR packages are built to CAAP's minimums. This pathway is built to what DGCA's conversion process expects to see on a logbook before it will recognize a foreign license — more flight hours, and a Multi-Engine rating included as standard, not optional.
No. This pathway is built to take a zero-hour student all the way through Multi-Engine. Students who already have some hours logged are also welcome — prior time is reviewed against CAAP requirements and credited into the program on a case-by-case basis.
No — DGCA is India's regulator and issues its own license in India, not in the Philippines. This program trains and issues your CAAP license here, built to DGCA's profile. Afterward, in India: foreign license verification (6–8 weeks), DGCA written exams and RTR(A), a DGCA Class 1 medical, and a skill test at a DGCA-approved school.
Enrollment on this pathway is coordinated through your sponsoring agency counselor, who works directly with our admissions team on your schedule and enrollment. If you're exploring this program and don't yet have an agency contact, reach out to our admissions team and we'll point you in the right direction.
Tuition on this pathway is arranged as part of your enrollment through your sponsoring agency, and your agency counselor holds the current rate for your cohort. Contact our admissions team if you have questions about what's included.
The next step
Your sponsoring agency handles enrollment and scheduling on this pathway, working directly with our admissions team. If you have questions about the training itself — the fleet, the syllabus, life at Mactan-Cebu — our team is glad to talk you through it.