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Airfield Operations Specialists 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 Airfield Operations Specialists 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.”

Airfield Operations Specialists Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$56,750
$226,600
Employment · BLS OEWS
16,640
99,300
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
65th pct
31st pct

At a glance

Dimension Airfield Operations Specialists Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
Median pay $56,750 $226,600
Employment 16,640 99,300
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+4.2%) About average (+3.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,600 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 · 65th pct Low · 31st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 56th pct · 30% of tasks 51st pct · 27% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (51.8%) —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No 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: Public Safety and Security, Transportation, English Language, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Active Listening, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Inductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Information Ordering, Near Vision, Far Vision, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Flexibility of Closure, Perceptual Speed, Selective Attention, Speech Recognition, Time Management.

Specific to Airfield Operations Specialists

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Coordination
  • Education and Training
  • Telecommunications
  • Written Expression
  • Administration and Management
  • Writing
  • Complex Problem Solving

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 , Data base user interface and query software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Airfield Operations Specialists

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airfield Operations Specialists 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. "Airfield Operations Specialists 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/airfield-operations-specialists-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Airfield Operations Specialists vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/airfield-operations-specialists-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-airfield-operations-specialists-vs-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers,
  title  = {Airfield Operations Specialists 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/airfield-operations-specialists-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.