Career Pilot

Career Development

Career development is critical to ensuring your success in landing a flying career. There’s a lot to learn, both about the industry and about potential employers. How can you be as prepared as possible for the opportunities that are out there?

The job market can be more fickle than in many other industries; knowledge is your key to making the best decisions in this regard. Where is the industry growing? Who’s hiring? What are the current employment trends? Articles in this section will help to assure that you have a fundamental understanding of subjects and issues that, while they may not be as exciting as flying itself, are equally important to your career as a professional pilot.

Q&A: The Career Advisor

Wayne Phillips, AOPA Flight Training's careers columnist and a Boeing 737 instructor, offers career advice. E-mail your question. We can't reply personally but you could see it answered here.

• I am thinking about an airline flying career. What's the real hiring picture today?
• Wayne, I have a simple question. Why should I consider becoming an airline pilot? Please tell me some real facts.
• I finally received the call! I have an invitation to interview with my top-choice regional airline. Do you have any suggestions?
• Your article about the so-called pilot shortage is a disservice. You need to set the record straight. There is no shortage. If the age 65 rule goes into effect, those guys flying for the regional airlines will be stuck in a dead-end job.
• I have done as much research as possible on flight academies. I have read all the brochures and spoken to counselors. I will begin making my rounds visiting each one. Which one is the all-around best? I have also tried looking at some blogs online trying to get some feedback from students, but it was not much help at all.
• I have a dilemma. I am 24 years old and a high school graduate. For the past three years, I have been flight instructing at a local FBO and flying charter in a King Air. Now I am applying to the regional airlines. Although I know that there are ways for me to earn a college degree at a local community college or online, I honestly don't have the time or motivation to devote to studies. Do I really need a degree to make it as an airline pilot?
• I am thinking about a career change. Is 42 years too old to realistically think about flying as a professional pilot?
• I had a DUI conviction on my record when I was in college, and I hear that it is a real deal breaker for the airlines. Am I dead in the water?
• I've been reading the Career Pilot section faithfully since it first appeared last year, but there seems to be a lot of emphasis on airline careers. After reading an article about air taxi flying that featured Sarah O'Brien giving her take on that career track ("Careers: Flying For Hire," March 2007 AOPA Flight Training), I must say that Part 135 flying seems to be more up my alley. Is the charter segment of the industry experiencing the pilot shortage, too?
• I am in high school and I am looking into aviation colleges and flight schools, but I do not have 20/20 vision and wear glasses. Am I wasting my time trying to become a pilot?
• I have been reading your features and advice since I started flying in 2004 at Palwaukee Airport outside of Chicago. I am curious. What do you consider the best flying job out there?
• All this talk about the pilot shortage is now obsolete. With the Age 60 rule gone, airline hiring will come to a halt. In other words, all those airline wannabes out there just had their career path destroyed. A retraction is in order.

Career Tips

Karen Kahn, a captain for a major U.S. airline and an aviation career counselor, offers tips to help you on your way to an aviation career. Visit her Web site.

• Can anybody fly the plane?
• Getting back into flying
• Planning your aviation career
• The networking factor
• Good instrument skills--a must
• Early job opportunities: Make your own
• Big school or small school?
• Simulators: help or hindrance?
• Am I too old?
• Checking out your local flight school
• Do I need a degree?
• From amateur to pro

AOPA has compiled a list of articles to help get you started:

• Tactical Decision: Pilot opportunities abound in the armed forces
• Airline Aspirations: What it takes to make it
• Tyranny of Numbers: Got to have those hours
• Out of the valley: Airline industry posts improvements in 2006
• Hurry Up and Wait: A day in the life of a commuter pilot