There’s a huge career awaiting pilots regardless of country, it is so high that the recent survey Boeing made in their “Pilot and Technician Outlook 2022-2041,” showed that there will be a demand for 602,000 pilots throughout the globe and 128,000 new pilots in North America.
To spice it up, Airline and Commercial Pilots earn $134,630 annually when they are in the middle of their career growth according to the U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.
Regardless of how interesting these statistics seem, you and I know that whatever is sweet in life doesn’t come cheap. So is the case here, the cost of becoming a pilot according to ATP Flight School is $96,995 when starting with no previous experience or $75,995 when starting with a private pilot certificate.
So one of the best ways for you to become a certified pilot without breaking the bank or piling loads of loans on your name is by taking advantage of these pilot training scholarships for developing countries. Or, you can still try pilot training scholarships for foreign students, or even for African students.
Let’s go ahead to list these scholarships.
Table of Contents
Pilot Training Scholarships for Developing Countries
Compiling these Scholarships wasn’t easy due to the fact that most flight training scholarships are for citizens of the country or their permanent residents. But, based on serious research, we were able to gather some scholarships, and here is the list;
- EAA Flight Training Scholarship
- The Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships
- Women in Aviation International
- Richard L. Taylor Flight Training Scholarship
- ICAO-Qatar Developing Country Scholarship Programme for aviation professionals
- Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)
- Emirates Aviation University
1. EAA Flight Training Scholarship
This is one of the pilot training scholarships for developing countries that is sponsored by lots of donors, benefactors, and so many others. Due to the generous donation of these people, EAA is able to provide more than $1 million in Aviation Scholarships annually.
To take advantage of any of these golden opportunities, you need to show a very high potential to be actively engaged in aviation. Some of these scholarships include;
- Adapt to Fly Scholarship
- Air Academy Alumni Scholarship
- Jason Kurt Lohr Aviation Scholarship
- Stephen “Ben” Haas Memorial Scholarship
- Tinker Murdock Family Scholarship
- Will Martin Flight Training Scholarship
- Matthew Platt Scholarship
2. The Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships
Annually Ninety-Nines provides various Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarships that will be awarded to their qualified members. These scholarships include;
- Flight Training Scholarship: This is worth Up to $20,000
- Academic Scholarship: Up to Worth $10,000
- Technical Training Scholarship: Worth Up to $20,000 which is awarded to outstanding members to complete an aviation or aerospace technical training or certification course.
- Vicki Cruse Memorial Scholarship for Emergency Maneuver Training: This is fully paid for.
- Kitty Houghton Memorial Scholarship: Exclusively for women pilots in emerging economy countries.
3. Women in Aviation International
This is among the pilot training scholarships for developing countries that are exclusively for women. Annually, more than 100 WAI members are awarded scholarships up to $1 million and you can apply for up to 3 (three) scholarships.
Moreover, you need to be a member of WAI to receive one of their scholarships. Even if you applied in a year and didn’t get any of their scholarships, they still allow you to apply the next year or other years.
4. Richard L. Taylor Flight Training Scholarship
This scholarship is one of the awards provided by the National Air Transportation Foundation’s (NATF) scholarship program to college or university students continuing their education in the aviation industry regardless of country. Applicants of this scholarship need to be enrolled in an accredited university/college, have a GPA of 3.0 or greater, and some other requirements.
5. ICAO-Qatar Developing country Scholarship Programme for aviation professionals
This pilot training scholarship is for developing countries that are in need of assistance in areas of training jointly identified by ICAO and the Government of Qatar. Applicants need to obtain a minimum score (of 5.5) as a general average for IELTS certificate and a (5.5) in each band of the IELTS (reading –writing –listening) in a single sitting.
6. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)
The Singapore Aviation Academy is collaborating with the Singapore Government to provide various scholarships and fellowships to support global human capital development and develop future leaders of aviation. And, based on this strong collaboration they have been able to award more than 8,500 scholarships and fellowships to aviation professionals all over the world including developing countries.
Some of their scholarship programs include;
- Singapore Cooperation Programme
- ICAO-Singapore Developing Countries Training Programme
- African Civil Aviation Commission
- Arab Civil Aviation Organization
- Latin American Civil Aviation Commission
7. Emirates Aviation University
This is one of the pilot training scholarships for developing countries that aims at assisting students to achieve their goals for a successful career in the aviation industry. EAU provides two kinds of scholarships which are;
- The Chancellor’s Scholarship; is awarded only in the first (Fall) semester and is limited to up to ten students in each academic year. Even though it’s limited, awardees will receive up to 100% of their tuition fees.
- The Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship opens more doors for a number of winners, up to 100 students can win the VC’s scholarship but only up to 50% of awardees’ tuition fees are covered.
They also provide International Student Study Package where students coming from overseas get a number of exclusive discounts and benefits.
Conclusion
You can see that there are few pilot aviation scholarships for developing countries, but even though they are few, they are still competitive. So it is still advisable to have that brilliant grade, probably with a record of extracurricular activities you have participated in to stand a better chance of winning any of them.
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