What kind of pilot career is right for me?
- Nicholas Dening
- Aug 23, 2023
- 10 min read
If you love the thought of a career in aviation, then there's good news; there are plenty of jobs and there has never been a better time to get into it than right now! That said, sooner or later on your journey, you'll need to make a few decisions and one of the first is what kind of flying you want to do. ie. What kind of pilot career do you want?
Keep in mind that just because you start working towards one kind of flying career, it doesn’t mean you can’t change direction and try something else. As you grow as a pilot you’ll find new opportunities and directions you hadn’t considered previously.
Below is a list of pilot roles. Click on each to read more about the role or scroll through to understand the breadth of roles available to you:
Airline Pilot
Airline pilots, like all aeroplane (fixed-wing) pilots, start their careers by completing the required licensing. This usually comprises a Private Pilot Licence (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL), Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) (to be a captain) and a Multi-Engine Command Instrument Rating (MECIR) (to captain a multi-engine aircraft). There will also be other training/ratings along the way such as night visual flight rules (NVFR) rating, aircraft type ratings or basic gas turbine rating. The path to becoming an airline pilot is unique in that many airlines offer cadetship programs or other incentive programs. These programs will offer to pay all or part of your pilot training in return for a certain number of years of employment with the airline. This helps these companies secure a stable supply of consistently high-quality pilots for the airline and provides significant financial assistance to pilots just starting.
If a cadetship is either unavailable to you or you want to train your way, you need to decide on a flight training school. This could be as simple as finding the one closest to you or it could involve researching the quality of training at schools and their links to airlines. Airlines and aviation companies, in general, are just like any company when looking to hire new staff. If they know the institution you trained at or have ties to it in some way, they may be more likely to hire you, so picking your training school is just as important as selecting a university or college.
Once basic training and required certification are complete the next steps depend a little on the airline. Most airlines start new pilots in the smallest aircraft on regional, domestic or international (short-haul) routes, however, some airlines only offer long-haul international routes. New pilots starting with these airlines will often start as Second Officers (third in command) who will switch out during the cruise to support the Captains and First Officers. Regardless of the airline type, new pilots usually have to go through simulator training first to familiarise themselves with the aircraft type and the procedures you’ll need to know for your new job. You’ll also complete any required written exams at this point. From here you’ll move into a period of flying regular routes with Training Captains who are very experienced pilots and instructors. When you have spent enough time with these Captains and completed the requisite training and experience, you will become a Line Pilot and start flying regular routes with Line Captains.
Regional/Domestic/International (Short-Haul)
The work roster of a domestic, regional or international (short-haul) airline pilot allows them to be home most nights of the week. This means it could be considered the closest thing to having a “normal” job as an airline pilot. This can be very attractive to people looking for a stable life in one location. Domestic, regional and international (short-haul) airline pilots are rostered, like most pilots, so their day could start at any time depending on their roster. A typical day could start in the early morning and finish in the early afternoon or start late and finish well into the night. Pilots will know in advance what routes they’re flying and who the other pilots are that they are flying with from their roster. When they show up at the airport they head to the crew room to check the weather and any additional required information for the planned route. They will ensure their flight plan has been filed before their takeoff and head out to check the aircraft. They’ll confirm the fuel quantity to be loaded on board and check their weight and balance for the flight before starting to run through their preflight checklists.
International (Long-Haul)
The life of an international (long-haul) pilot is quite different from a domestic, regional or international (short-haul) airline pilot. This is because of the unique requirements of flying for long periods over long distances. Long-haul flying involves more than two pilots sharing segments of the flight to share the load and ensure there is a well-rested pilot at the controls at all times. Pilots also require a long rest period before and after each route they fly, meaning layovers in foreign locations for usually a day or two depending on the roster. This is a major reason international (long-haul) flying attracts pilots, however, it is also a major reason pilots leave this type of work since the irregular schedule and time away from home can be difficult to manage with life’s other requirements outside of work.
Aeroplane or Helicopter Pilot
There are several types of flying that are often flown by both aeroplane and helicopter pilots, although they are flown in different ways. These types of flying are described below:
Tour
Tour pilots can be either aeroplane or helicopter pilots, but both do similar jobs. Tour flying involves taking paying passengers on pre-determined routes to show them scenic views or give them the unique experience of a flight over an area of interest. Tour flights typically take off and land from the same base of operations, since the view is the purpose of the flight, not the destination. Tour flying generally requires fewer flying hours and less experience to get into because it is heavily controlled by a limited selection of flight paths within a limited geographical area.
Charter
The role of a charter pilot is as varied as you can imagine. This is because charter in its simplest definition is the hire of an aircraft and pilot to fly somewhere. This could be to collect a farmer from their remote farm, deliver supplies to a remote community, fly VIP passengers from one city to another or deliver a new rotation of crew to a remote oil production site. Many charter companies will specialise in one type of charter or specific market based on their region’s specific requirements, whereas others will be generalists and focus on being agile in responding to their customers’ needs. Companies that conduct charter operations may also take on other work depending on the volume of charter work available. Charter flying is a great learning opportunity in a pilot's career because the variety of work will challenge junior pilots and give them plenty of opportunities to grow. Many pilots stay with or return to this type of work because it can give pilots variety with the stability of living in one location and having reliable work that can still provide challenging flying.
Survey
This type of flying is not often advertised but is nonetheless a common and heavily-relied-upon type of flying that can be great for building flying hours. Energy companies the world over rely on infrastructure spanning great distances to deliver their services. This infrastructure is comprised of powerlines, sub-stations oil and gas pipelines and wells. this infrastructure can be incredibly remote and these companies need efficient ways of monitoring their infrastructure to keep their business running; this is where aircraft come in. Aeroplanes and helicopters are both used to fly along pipelines or powerlines to inspect and report back on any issues. Aeroplanes are able to cover great distances to inspect large areas in a short amount of time, whilst helicopters are able to stop and hover to take images of any problems and drop off repair crews where required.
Agriculture
The agriculture industry is full of tasks that require aircraft, but the main jobs that aircraft are used for in this field (pun intended) are spraying or crop-dusting. This type of flying involves a helicopter or specific type of plane landing near (or on) a loading vehicle, loading up with liquid or powder chemicals and then taking off to spread these chemicals over a specific area. This type of flying requires accuracy and efficiency to deliver the required product to exactly where it is required as quickly as possible. Since the companies and pilots who do this work are highly specialised, they do not often serve other industries and predominantly only complete work for agricultural customers.
Military
Flying in the military is an entry point to a flying career for many pilots, but it can also be a career. Flying in the military is diverse and whether you join the Army, Air Force or Navy (or Marines) will determine what aircraft you fly and what sort of flying you do. If you like the idea of flying fighter jets or attack helicopters, this is also the only job where you can fly these aircraft.
Firefighting
In the last 10 years wildfires/bushfires have become more severe and have started to threaten cities and towns in areas that were not previously used to managing this sort of threat. Locations that were used to dealing with huge fires now have longer fire seasons that stretch resources more than ever before. For these reasons, this type of flying has become more prevalent and important than ever before and can offer pilots financially rewarding and personally fulfilling careers. There is a significant amount of training to become a qualified firefighting pilot on either aeroplanes or helicopters. This is not a type of flying that pilots go into without plenty of prior experience in other parts of the industry since the environment around a large wildfire/bushfire is intense with poor visibility, rapidly changing conditions, lots of other aircraft and no room for error. It requires confidence and the ability to maintain efficient and safe flying for hours on end in the face of these challenging conditions. Different regions and organisations have different requirements for their pilots with this work, so there is no single set of minimum standards for pilot experience, but other types of flying that help prepare pilots for this type of flying are agricultural, SAR, utility and military.
Bush Flying
This is a generic term used to describe the type of flying involved with taking off and landing at remote locations and airfields where there are no services or support. It might be private flying for enjoyment or as a means of transport to a remote dwelling or it could charter operations for a company into remote villages. This type of flying requires very good judgement, situational awareness and aircraft handling skills with flying the aircraft in challenging environments and conditions. It also requires confidence and a practical mind since these pilots are often on their own needing to solve problems that arise in remote locations.
Instructor
Many pilots spend a part of their careers teaching other pilots to fly. This can be both challenging and rewarding and is a good way to build experience and skill. This job involves teaching both theoretical subjects in the classroom and practical lessons in aircraft. Whilst it is obvious that being instructor would involve teaching new pilots, it also regularly involves checking qualified pilots and providing them with additional training. This additional training could be aircraft type training for pilots starting to fly a new type of aircraft, instrument training for pilots learning to fly off cockpit instrumentation or specialised flying training such as mountain flying or external load training. Once qualified and experienced as an instructor, pilots carry these qualifications with them through their career and are often called upon to use them as they are uniquely qualified to train other pilots. There is no doubt that this type of flying and qualification will support a pilot's career for as long as they want to fly.
Helicopter Pilot
A helicopter pilot licence is a unique stream of pilot licence, completely separate and in parallel with aeroplane licencing. Early on a pilot must decide if they want to fly aeroplanes (fixed-wing aircraft) or helicopters (rotary-wing aircraft). If you don't decide early on, it's not the end of the world, but you may have to double up on some parts of training and thereby increasing the cost of training. Much like becoming an aeroplane pilot, to become a helicopter pilot you need to find a good flying school that trains helicopter pilots and complete your private pilot licence (helicopter) at a minimum. From there you can either continue into your commercial licence or remain as a private pilot flying in your own time.
The following jobs are an indication of the unique opportunities available to helicopter pilots:
Utility
Utility work is a loose term comprising several types of flying but basically involves using a helicopter to complete some kind of job other than just moving people from A to B. This type of work could involve constructing buildings or powerlines in remote locations that cranes can't access, lifting mining drill rigs into remote locations, aerial firefighting, pruning branches around remote infrastructure using a saw rig below the helicopter or almost anything else you can imagine using a helicopter for. It is highly skilled work that pilots take a long time to get good at and will continue to strive for higher degrees of perfection throughout their entire careers. It is for this reason that many utility helicopter pilots do this type of flying for most of their careers.
HEMS/SAR
Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) or Search and Rescue (SAR) are similar but different types of flying that often overlap in regions that require pilot crews to complete both types of flying. In large cities these two jobs are distinct and pilot crews will compete one or the other. HEMS is the retrieval and transfer of patients from remote/accident site to hospital or from hospital to hospital. HEMS helicopters are basically the ambulances of the sky and fill a vital role when ambulances would take too long to transfer patients, risking the life of the patient.
SAR is the role of pilots and crews to locate and rescue people stranded or injured in difficult locations and transfer them to safety. This is unique from HEMS because it often involves winching patients from difficult locations where the helicopter can't land eg. cliff faces, boats, dense forest or open water. This type of flying is often conducted in the very worst conditions when life and death must be carefully considered so the risk to the aircrews is not too great. It is both challenging and incredibly rewarding, which is why pilots starting out often aim to be in these sorts of jobs.
ENG
Electronic News Gathering (ENG) is the job of flying overhead events on the ground and recording them via cameras mounted to the aircraft to transmit them back to ground-based stations. This type of flying is becoming commonplace around the world as helicopters can get to a location faster and capture events live from a vantage point that would not otherwise be available.
Police
Flying for the police involves a range of different kinds of flying. Most often it involves orbiting (circling) overhead police operations and supporting police officers on the ground by using aircraft-mounted sensors and equipment. At certain times police aircraft will be required to transfer police to remote locations to complete certain operations. This type of flying fulfils a more para-military role where the aircraft is actively involved as part of an operation rather than just supporting an operation.
I hope the information above has opened your eyes to the options on offer in the aviation industry. There are certainly a lot of different directions you can take a career in aviation should you decide that it's for you. That said, make it your own, take opportunities that come your way and - Fly your own track!
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