How To Become A Flight Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a flight director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a flight director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.99 an hour? That's $62,388 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFlight DirectorUS Average

Salary

4.9

Avg. Salary $62,388

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 6.14%

Black or African American 11.27%

Hispanic or Latino 18.71%

Unknown 4.31%

White 59.16%

Gender

female 28.23%

male 71.77%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.3

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a flight director

Explore flight director education requirements

Most common flight director degrees

Bachelor's

56.7 %

Master's

17.2 %

Associate

16.6 %

Start to develop specific flight director skills

Skills	Percentages
Flight Operations	24.39%
In-Flight	18.17%
FAA	14.26%
Raid	12.24%
Safety Inspections	11.81%

Complete relevant flight director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New flight directors 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 a flight director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real flight director resumes.

Research flight director duties and responsibilities

Manage intermediate-level maintenance on fighter aircraft release and gun systems.
Assist in assigning monthly days off calendar for pilots which comply with FAA standard regulations for pilots.
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of missile security operations, disaster control procedures and initiate emergency security actions to counter enemy acts.
Monitor emergency management program and coordinate with departmental personnel to ensure compliance in agreement with program requirements.

Get flight director experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a flight director. The most common roles before becoming a flight director include electronics technician, flight attendant team lead and teacher.

Apply for flight director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a flight director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams