How To Become A Plane Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a plane captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a plane captain. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.71 an hour? That's $51,391 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePlane CaptainUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $51,391

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.26%

Asian 2.72%

Black or African American 2.62%

Hispanic or Latino 6.75%

Unknown 5.48%

White 82.18%

Gender

female 12.43%

male 87.57%

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

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a plane captain

Explore plane captain education requirements

Most common plane captain degrees

High School Diploma

39.6 %

Bachelor's

29.0 %

Associate

21.6 %

Start to develop specific plane captain skills

Skills	Percentages
Hand Tools	19.10%
Cleanliness	11.22%
Maintenance Manuals	7.32%
FOD	7.16%
Hydraulic Systems	7.08%

Complete relevant plane captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New plane captains 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 plane captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real plane captain resumes.

Research plane captain duties and responsibilities

Train, direct, and manage firefighting crews, fire-rescue teams, and damage-control parties.
Lead a platoon that earn numerous awards for jamming opposition force artillery nets and conducting counterattacks on opposition electronic warfare platoons.
Experience operation of FMS, HGS, EFIS & GPS.
Clean exterior or interior of aircraft, using portable platform ladders, brushes, rags, water hose, and vacuum.

Prepare your plane captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your plane captain 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 a plane captain resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable plane captain resume templates

Build a professional plane captain 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 plane captain resume.