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Airline Pilot

Do you want to become a Airline Pilot? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Airline pilots are responsible for flying aircraft safely and efficiently. They fly on short-haul flights (within the UK and Europe) and on long-haul flights (for example, to the USA, India and Africa). The work of a pilot involves:

• before the flight - making various checks, briefing the cabin crew and contacting air traffic control
• during the flight - checking the plane's instruments and using a computer to monitor progress, contacting the cabin crew and air traffic control, and making announcements to passengers
• at the end of the flight - bringing the plane in to land, taxiing the plane to its final position and writing a report on the flight.

Salaries range from around £16,500 a year to over £66,000 for some jet aircraft captains.

Pilots work shifts that may include nights, weekends and public holidays. They spend long hours sitting in flight decks, which are usually comfortable but very confined.

An airline pilot should be:

• physically fit, with good eyesight and normal colour vision
• good at maths and physics
• confident using technology
• able to interpret maps and 3D displays
• calm and able to take charge in an emergency
• interested in flying as a business.

There are over 10,500 airline pilots in the UK working for around 30 airlines. The number of airline pilots is increasing, but there is very strong competition for vacancies.

The minimum qualification needed to become an airline pilot is a ‘frozen' Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL). Entrants need at least three GCSEs/S grades (A-C/1-3) in English, maths and science, or the equivalent, or a pass in maths and physics tests. They must also pass a full medical examination.

Full-time training for the ATPL usually takes twelve to eighteen months. Training can also be done in stages after gaining a Private Pilot Licence and 150 hours' flying experience. Most pilots pay for their own training, which is very expensive.

Airline pilots start work as co-pilots, after which they may become fully qualified first officers. Promotion to captain usually takes around seven to ten years. Experienced pilots can combine flying with training pilots or management work. Some transfer to ground-based management. It is possible to go into other flying work, for example flying instruction or agricultural flying.

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