I'm exploring different career paths and being a commercial airline pilot was one of them but I don't know what you do to qualify to be a pilot?
*You need to get your Private Pilots Licence and a class 1 medical. 45 hours flight, 6 exams.
*Sit the Airline Transport Pilots Licence theory, quite tricky but well within the grasp of an A level grade student I would think as long as you are dedicated and interested. The amount of information you must absorb in the short time period as the most challenging aspect of this course. 14 exams which must be completed in a shortish time scale usually within 6-9 months.
*Build up your flight hours to around 150-200 total
*Complete the Commercial Pilots Licence training. 25 hours flight (IIRC)
*Complete the Multi Engine Instrument Rating training. 45 hours flight (IIRC) The hardest and most demanding part of your initial journey to a professional licence, and the most expensive!
*Complete the Multi-Crew co-operation course. 25 hours sim (IIRC) This teaches the basics of operating together with another pilot on the flight deck
This is the basic path to a professional career as a pilot and will cost £60,000+ and will put you in a position to apply for your first job.
Do you need any qualifications prior to flight school?
No, but it's always an advantage especially as its a very difficult and unpredictable industry and you should have a plan 'B' as the chances of getting a flying job from flight school is slim.
Do you need a degree in Physics?
No, but you will need a decent understanding of maths and physics to pass the ATPL exams.
I recommend now that you download this document
LASORS and spend some time here on PPRuNe using the search function. There are different paths to the flight deck but all the questions you will have, have been answered many times before on here and this is an unfriendly forum for wannabes who are too lazy to do even the most basic of research.
Best of luck.
MP