Expert: D. Norkus - 11/21/2008

Question
what is involved in the work?
describe the place or places that this work takes place?
what are the general working conditions?
how many people get employed each year or the scope of this work?
what type of training or education is needed to get into this field?
what are the possibilities for advancement?
what can you expect to earn when you start?
what are the future prospects of the job? is this field growing? shrinking?
how do you use writing and or speaking skills in this job?

Answer
Simon

This sounds a bit like a "homework" question, but regarding airline pilots:

1) what is involved in the work?
Flying and other small job related tasks. An airline pilot is responsible for the safe, efficient operation of an aircraft. The captain is the final authority for the safety of the aircraft, passengers and crew. A pilots job duties include: a briefing on the route of flight and expected weather, calculating aircraft weights for take off and landing so aircraft speeds can be computed with those numbers, briefing the flight attendants before the flight on expected enroute weather and any pertinent items to the flight, pre-flight cockpit checks and aircraft inspections, enroute evaluations of the aircrafts performance and position, making required  aircraft logbook entires and reports, entering issues or mechanical discrepancies.

Also, Captain C. A. Stevens wrote an exceptional guide to a typical pilots day, entitled "Your Key to the Cockpit". It has been reproduced on the web and is available here- http://www.aviationphotographs.net/FrontierAirlines/YourKey/yourkey.html
Although it is a bit dated, the basic job tasks still remain the same years later.

2) describe the place or places that this work takes place?
At airports, in aircraft, airspace and airline training centers.

3) what are the general working conditions?
That varies slightly by airline but generally: Up to 8 hours of flight time a day inside aircraft cockpits, and up to 14 hour duty days per FAA regulations. Availability for nights, weekends and rotating shifts. 300-400 hours spent away from home per month and multiple nights per week in hotels.

4) how many people get employed each year or the scope of this work?
It varies. Also, tracking this information is not an exact science. That said, the company Air Inc tries to do just that. Here is a list of their press releases about hiring trends and statistics- http://www.jet-jobs.com/press%20releases/pressrelease.html

According to their Oct release:
"October’s airline pilot hiring numbers reflect the continuing struggles the U.S. carriers are having, despite the end to the constantly rising cost of fuel. Sixty-eight out of 177 (38%) airlines reporting to AIR, Inc. hired 276 pilots in October, bringing the year-to-date total to 6,261. Fourteen of the 40 Non-Jet Operators hired 89 pilots, followed by the Nationals with six of the 34 carriers hiring 65 pilots, and six of the 32 Jet Operators added 20 pilots to their flight decks. There was no hiring activity by any of the 15 Major airlines for the month. As the hiring numbers decreased in October the furlough / laid-off numbers increased, from 3,867 / 1,903 in September to 4,052 / 1,915 in October, respectively."

Also, in contrast to those hiring numbers over 4,000 pilots were on furlough.

5) what type of training or education is needed to get into this field?
A bachelors degree in any subject is preferred or required by the major airlines and an associates degree with a bachelors preferred for most regionals.

Training would include that required to get the FAA private pilot certificate, instrument rating, commercial pilot certificate, multi-engine rating and for some the Airline Transport Pilot certificate. For more on what each certificate or rating requires, visit- http://www.flightinfo.com/learntofly.htm

6) what are the possibilities for advancement?
Upgrade to captain is based on company tenure. Generally, half of the pilots employed are captains and half are first officers. In order for a first officer to advance to captain pilots "senior" to that pilot must leave the company to create a vacancy for advancement. The amount of tenure or "seniority" a F/O has at each airline varies based on attrition and expansion.

7) what can you expect to earn when you start?
Most regional airlines start at about $20,000. The majors at about $30,000. Of course, the compensation varies by airline and their negotiated pay scale with their pilot group. Some, like Southwest start much higher.

8) what are the future prospects of the job? is this field growing? shrinking?

There will always be a need for pilots. The competitiveness of the job market and number of open positions will vary depending on the economy. Currently, in this recession, many pilots have been  furloughed and very few companies are hiring. Thus very few opportunities exist for movement as both regionals and majors have virtually stopped hiring. Compare this to 2007 when fuel was much less costly and airlines were hiring and the regionals were taking in applicants with historically low qualifications.

9) how do you use writing and or speaking skills in this job?
Writing skills are not a factor. As far as speaking skills, addressing the passengers and air traffic control communications (proper phraseology) would be the situations where they would be needed.

For further information, see this site- http://www.pilotcareer.info and the related careers links at page bottom.

Dottie