Pilot

In the aviation world, there are plenty of jobs, all with incredibly desirable perks that make the jobs all the more desirable and let’s be fair, they don’t really come more desirable than that of an Airline Pilot.

Pilots operate aircrafts ensuring they follow key flight paths and remain safe. Being a pilot is an exciting and varied career, with a great deal of responsibility.

Pilots are responsible for operating aircrafts of various sizes on short and long haul flights. These can be commercial aircrafts taking passengers and onboard cargo to set destinations, private aircrafts or even aircrafts within the military. It is a pilot’s responsibility to deliver passengers and cargo to their destination safely and efficiently.

Pilots operate aircrafts ensuring they follow key flight paths and remain safe. Being a pilot is an exciting and varied career, with a great deal of responsibility.

Pilots are responsible for operating aircrafts of various sizes on short and long haul flights. These can be commercial aircrafts taking passengers and onboard cargo to set destinations, private aircrafts or even aircrafts within the military. It is a pilot’s responsibility to deliver passengers and cargo to their destination safely and efficiently.

To legally fly in aviation, you need to hold an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).

Pilots have exciting and challenging roles, involving a great deal of responsibility for the safety of passengers and air crew. Their role can take them all over the world.

Your responsibilities as a pilot will vary. Duties usually depend on the type of aircraft you pilot, as well as whether you fly commercially, privately or in a military capacity.

Common responsibilities include:

• Carrying out pre take off checks to ensure all in flight equipment is safe and ready to use including navigation systems, safety systems and more.
• Taking on key route information beforehand to create a flight path, or following set flight paths given by your airline.
• Collecting and assessing any necessary information that could impact the flight, such as weather warnings, and making any pre flight decisions such as delaying or cancelling a flight due to adverse weather.
• Liaising with the ground crew during take off and landing to ensure these are carried out safely and efficiently.
• Taking part in a pre flight briefing with other aircraft staff.
• Passing on any relevant information to cabin crew during all stages of flight, such as whether there is likely to be any turbulence, or whether there may be delays.
• Regularly assessing the conditions of the outside environment throughout the flight, such as assessing for adverse weather and checking for any unplanned aircraft in the air, then making decisions accordingly.
• Sharing key information with passengers where relevant during the flight, such as any expected delays, or whether there is likely to be turbulence or the chance of an emergency landing.
• Managing emergency air conditions.
• Taking detailed notes following each flight in the flight log book, recording any issues as well as key data required by the airline or flight company.
• Working collaboratively with other pilots on board - there are usually at least two pilots on any given flight, and sometimes more if it is a long haul flight.

A pilot salary varies depending on which airline you work for as well as how much experience you have. In your first position once qualified as a junior first officer, you’ll likely earn between £24,000 and £28,000 [1] . First officers have been reported to earn £47,300 [2] .

Highly experienced pilots are called ‘captains’. Depending on the size of their airline, they could earn anywhere between £61,000 and £150,000 [3] .

To legally fly in aviation, you need to hold an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL). There are various routes to achieving this. You will usually need a minimum of 5 GCSEs at grades 9-4 (A*-C) and 2-3 A Levels, depending on your training provider. A good grasp of maths and physics is also usually needed.

The first route is via a degree with integrated pilot training. While you don’t need a degree to…