Expert: Ismar Avdic, Eng. - 12/18/2006

Question
Hi. Would you be able to tell me the requierments of becoming a commercial pilot and how tough it is to find jobs as a pilot? Also what their average salary is? Thanks!

Answer
Minimum requirements in USA is 250 hrs total with recent training in commercial maneuvars and logbook endorsement from an Instructor. Find a job as an commercial pilot and pay depend exacly how many flight hours you have and also from fact what kind of flight experience you have. As commercial pilot in USA you can work as glider tow pilot, tow banner pilot, airal agricultural aplicator i exc. However in oredr to get real commercial pilot job as an commercial corporate pilot you have to have type rating and about 1000 to 3000 flight hours turbine experience on the top of your prevoius flight hours. Pay ranges from 10$ per hr for tow banners and little bitter pay for aerial applicators going to 25$per hr, while corporate pilots making in neighbrhood around $70-90,000 per year depending of flight experience. Another thing to mention that finding a job as an commercial pilot is full time job.

Ismar