How To Become An Airline Pilot: What It Is and Career Path

What is an airline pilot and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an airline pilot. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.12 an hour? That's $85,534 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAirline PilotUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $85,534

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.8

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.26%

Asian 2.74%

Black or African American 2.65%

Hispanic or Latino 6.88%

Unknown 5.50%

White 81.97%

Gender

female 7.64%

male 92.36%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

9.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.4

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an airline pilot

Explore airline pilot education requirements

Most common airline pilot degrees

Bachelor's

69.8 %

Master's

14.6 %

Associate

12.5 %

Start to develop specific airline pilot skills

Skills	Percentages
Aircraft Systems	34.61%
FAA	12.74%
PIC	11.85%
Flight Operations	10.13%
Federal Aviation	8.12%

Complete relevant airline pilot training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New airline pilots learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an airline pilot based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real airline pilot resumes.

Research airline pilot duties and responsibilities

Serve as a professional pilot managing a flight crew and ensuring safe transportation of VIP's internationally.
Assist with all aspects of administration, logistics and equipment inventory, ensuring successful financial execution.
Conduct pilot proficiency and standardization evaluations in both A320 aircraft and simulator.

Prepare your airline pilot resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your airline pilot resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an airline pilot resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable airline pilot resume templates

Build a professional airline pilot resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your airline pilot resume.