LOOKING FOR A CAREER WHERE THE SKY IS THE LIMIT? Airline Pilot Career Information Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 1 FOREWORD The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) has prepared this booklet for young men and women interested in aviation careers. We hope this information will be helpful to you as you plan for your future. The commercial airline pilot is a member of a proud and demanding profession. The amount of training needed, and the expense of that training, is comparable to the training for a physician. This is understand- able because pilots are responsible for many human lives—sometimes more than 400 passengers on one flight. ALPA pilots are intensely aware of their responsibility. Although they consider the comfort and convenience of their passengers important, they uphold safety as their paramount concern. If you are looking for a career where the sky is the limit, this information can provide you with many of the facts necessary to decide whether becoming an airline pilot is in your future. CONTENTS 4 ............................................. The Piloting Profession 4 ........................................................ Some Statistics 5 ................................................... Pre-Flight Checklist 8 ...................... Flying the Line/Personal Requirements 10 ....................Flying the Line/Licensing Requirements 13 ................................... Where Can I Get More Info? 13 ........................................... Government Resources 14 ............................................ Educational Resources 15 ................................................... Career Resources 16 ......................... The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 18 ....................................................... Looking Ahead 19 ......................................ALPA Pilots’ Code of Ethics 2 Airline Pilot Career Information INTRODUCTION TO AVIATION Every child who watches a bird in the sky dreams of being able to fly. The desire for flight is probably as old as the history of humankind, but only within the past century has controlled flight been possible. Commercial air passenger service began in the 1920s, with just a few thousand passengers a year traveling to and from a handful of cities. Now the world’s air transportation system moves nearly two billion passengers a year to hundreds of cities all over the world. Early commercial pilots flew their routes by looking for familiar landmarks—a certain barn, a river bend, a farmer’s windmill. Sometimes they followed train tracks, and cases have been reported of near-misses with onrushing locomotives during low-visibility conditions. Those pioneer airline pilots would be amazed at present-day cockpits. Technologi- cal advances have changed the speed and safety of travel, changed the aircraft, and changed the demands on the flight crew. Today’s complex air-traffic system and sophisticated aircraft demand skill, judgment, education, and, most important, experience. Pilots control multimillion-dollar vehicles, some carrying more than 400 people plus tons of mail and freight. Such a huge aircraft takes off from a strip of pavement over a mile long and 200 feet wide, touching down again hundreds to thousands of miles away on another strip of pavement. Often the entire journey is made with no ground in sight from takeoff to landing. A takeoff or landing is made on the average of every three seconds by members of the Air Line Pilots Association, International. The scheduled airlines of the United States and Canada operate more than 8,000 aircraft, most of them jets. The big business of air travel requires hundreds of thousands of workers. Many thousands are employed by airlines as mechanics, reservation agents, dispatchers, sales representatives, baggage handlers, office workers, and other important staff members. Additional thousands are employed at airports, in government, and in businesses that support aviation and air travelers. But once the power is applied to the engines, the safety of the flight is the respon- sibility of the professional crew up front. Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 3 THE PILOTING PROFESSION The three positions in the airline SOME STATISTICS piloting profession are captain, first Captain officer (co-pilot), and second officer Commands the aircraft and is responsible (flight engineer). In Canada, the for the safety of its passengers, crew, and second officer and flight engineer are cargo. Requires an air transport pilot (ATP) separate certificates; the second officer certificate (U.S.) or airline transport pilot may hold a flight engineer rating, but a license (Canada). The average ALPA- flight engineer is not necessarily a pilot. represented captain at a major airline is 50 Not all aircraft operated by the airlines years old with 18 years of service and require a second officer; in fact, all annual earnings of approximately new aircraft now are designed to be $182,000. The average ALPA-represented flown with a captain and first officer captain at a non-major airline is 41 years sharing all the duties. old with 10 years of service and annual On most airlines, a pilot progresses earnings of approximately $70,000. into the captain’s position of ultimate Salaries range from $73,000 up to authority and responsibility through $300,000 annually for captains at major experience. Experience is vital because airlines, and from $20,000 up to no two flights are alike, and the $151,000 for captains at non-major manner in which a particular flight is airlines, depending on years of experience conducted will depend on many and the size of the airplane flown. factors. These may include: weather First Officer (aka Co-pilot) on departure, en route, and at the Assists or relieves the captain. Requires a destination; available navigation aids commercial pilot certificate with instru- and air traffic control; aircraft load- ment rating in the United States; in ing; airline and regulatory require- Canada, only a commercial license is ments; and, of course, passenger required. The average ALPA-represented comfort. To meet all these chang- first officer at a major airline is 43 years ing—and sometimes conflicting— old with 10 years of service and annual considerations safely and effectively earnings of approximately $121,000. The requires knowledge and skill that can average ALPA-represented first officer at a be gained only with experience. And non-major airline is 35 years old with 3 only experience prepares a crew for years of service and annual earnings of those rare occasions when it is approximately $33,000. Beginning confronted with an emergency that, salaries for first officers range from if not dealt with promptly and $26,000 to $224,000 at major airlines, precisely, could become a tragedy. and from $12,000 to $73,000 at non- Each pilot position requires a pilot major airlines, depending on the size of certificate and a currently valid medical the airplane flown. certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Second Officer/Flight Engineer Administration (FAA) in the United Though their numbers continue to States, or by the Department of Trans- dwindle dramatically, some airliners in use port (Transport Canada) in Canada. (Statistics, cont’d on page 7) 4 Airline Pilot Career Information PRE-FLIGHT CHECKLIST Preparing for an Airline Pilot Career ³ General Qualifications All pilots are licensed by their national regulatory authority—the FAA in the United States and Transport Canada in Canada. In the United States, a certificate can be refused or revoked if the individual is determined not to be of good character; this stipulation does not apply in Canada. Physical requirements vary with the level of the license, but all pilots must be able to pass a physical examination at regular, frequent intervals. A good educational foundation in mathematics, science, English, and geography is needed. Most airlines prefer a four-year college or university degree. ³ Experience Requirements In aviation, experience is judged in two ways: hours of flying and kind of flying. Most airlines require at least 1,000 hours of flying time, preferably in multi-engine turbine aircraft. The average new-hire at regional airlines has over 2,000 hours; the average new-hire at the major airlines has almost 4,000. Although flight instruction and similar work are good ways to build up the first hours of commercial flying experience, once a pilot has recorded 2,000 to 3,000 hours of flying, additional time confers no competitive advantage unless it is flown in large transport-type aircraft. A pilot with 6,000 hours as a crop duster is probably a very good crop duster—but the airlines want multi- engine, and specifically turbine, experience. ³ Training More than half of the pilots currently flying for U.S. airlines have had military training, with the percentage slightly lower in Canada. In both countries, however, the military are training fewer pilots and requiring longer service commitments. You may reach your goal of becoming an airline pilot sooner through civilian training, much of which is geared to airline flying. Pilot training can be obtained in colleges through aviation courses or from privately operated flight schools. (See page 14 for more information.) Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 5 ³ Civilian vs. Military Background Airline pilots generally come from one of two different flying backgrounds, either civilian or military. Civilian Pilot Civilian pilots normally pay for their own flight training at a Fixed Base Operator (FBO), a university,