Expert: D. Norkus - 3/7/2007

Question
 I am in eighth grade and am thinking about becoming a pilot. I don't have 20/20 vision, but I do have contacts. I would like to know what qualifications I need to be a pilot. I would like to know what a regular day as a pilot would be like. I was told that pilots make around $65,000 a year, is this true? How long does it take to become a pilot? What exactly is a commercial pilot? Is that just a pilot that flies "normal" people around, or is it something else? I must admit, I know nothing about piloting. I don't even know if you are the person I want to be e-mailing! It you are not, please tell me who I should be e-mailing. Thanks alot.
Bethany  

Answer
Bethany,

You can still be a pilot even if you wear contacts. Your vision must be correctable to 20/20 for commercial pilot standards and 20/40 for private. A commercial license is required of any person who flies for hire regardless of the size aircraft or if they carry passengers. From banner towing to airline flying, the pilot must be commercially certificated to get paid as a pilot per FAA regulations.

The qualifications, medically and flight hours of experience , to be a pilot differ from Private (recreational) to professional. A person can earn their private pilot certificate in as little as 40 hours of flight time, although the national average is closer to 80 hours. A commercial license requires 250 hours flight experience (unless done via a special program, then it's 190). However, most airlines require far more hours of experience than that to get a job. The regionals at least 1,000 and the major carriers several thousand.

Read all about what is required for each pilot certificate and rating at this very informative link- http://www.flightinfo.com/learntofly.htm

As far as pilot pay, well people have many misconceptions about that. Starting pay is about $20,000 per year while senior top end pay can be as much as $180-200K. It all depends on the pilots company seniority, aircraft flown and if they are a captain or first officer.

See my website below for an in detail explanation on that as well as a day in the life of a pilot and what it takes to become one among other topics. Since your type of questions are ones I get so frequently, I created a web page to help answer such FAQs more in depth than via this format.

Visit http://www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

After you have checked it out, let me know if you have some more questions. Hope this helps.

Dottie