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Air Traffic Controllers vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Air Traffic Controllers and Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Air Traffic Controllers Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$144,580
$226,600
Employment · BLS OEWS
22,400
99,300
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
59th pct
31st pct

At a glance

Dimension Air Traffic Controllers Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
Median pay $144,580 $226,600
Employment 22,400 99,300
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+1.2%) About average (+3.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 2,200 11,700
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 59th pct Low · 31st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 59th pct · 31% of tasks 51st pct · 27% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman Yes No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Problem Sensitivity, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Selective Attention, Active Listening, Deductive Reasoning, Speaking, Inductive Reasoning, Flexibility of Closure, Transportation, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Perceptual Speed, Time Sharing, Near Vision, Far Vision, Speech Clarity, Monitoring, Information Ordering, Speech Recognition, English Language, Written Comprehension, Public Safety and Security, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Time Management, Geography.

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

  • Speed of Closure
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Coordination
  • Education and Training
  • Category Flexibility
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Visualization
  • Auditory Attention

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

  • Operation and Control
  • Response Orientation
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Control Precision
  • Reaction Time
  • Rate Control
  • Depth Perception
  • Spatial Orientation

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Data base user interface and query software , Word processing software .

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Air Traffic Controllers or Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Air Traffic Controllers vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Air Traffic Controllers vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-air-traffic-controllers-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers,
  title  = {Air Traffic Controllers vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/air-traffic-controllers-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.