Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Median salary

$232,140

Average salary

$288,650

Employment

103,560

Projected growth

3.9% growth

Annual openings

11,700

Typical entry education

Bachelor's degree

What Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Do

Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo. Requires Federal Air Transport certificate and rating for specific aircraft type used. Includes regional, national, and international airline pilots and flight instructors of airline pilots.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
Self-employed: Not available

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 4 of 5

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience: A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations.
Education: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Job training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

Transportationimportance 4.8/5
English Languageimportance 3.9/5
Public Safety and Securityimportance 3.7/5
Mechanicalimportance 3.7/5
Geographyimportance 3.7/5
Mathematicsimportance 3.4/5
Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.4/5
Physicsimportance 3.3/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

Importance of Being Exact or Accurate4.8/5
Spend Time Sitting4.7/5
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.6/5
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls4.6/5
In an Enclosed Vehicle or Operate Enclosed Equipment4.6/5
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.5/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Commercial Pilots96% skill match
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders94% skill match
Locomotive Engineers93% skill match
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators92% skill match
Power Distributors and Dispatchers91% skill match
Coil Winders, Tapers, and Finishers91% skill match
Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers91% skill match
Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters90% skill match

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

Operation and Controlimportance 4.9/5
Operations Monitoringimportance 4.6/5
Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 4.0/5
Time Managementimportance 3.9/5
Coordinationimportance 3.6/5
Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.6/5
Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.3/5
Systems Analysisimportance 3.3/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Other Software Used

AeroPlanner
AirSmith FlightPrompt
Airline Pilots Daily Aviation Log PPC
CoPilot Flight Planning & E6B
Document Object Model DOM Scripting
Electronic aircraft information databases
IFT-Pro
MJICCS PilotLog

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

Cautiousness
Attention to Detail
Self-Control
Dependability
Stress Tolerance
Self-Confidence
Leadership Orientation

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

RealisticMedium
ConventionalMedium
EnterprisingMedium
InvestigativeMedium
SocialLow
ArtisticLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).