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Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aerospace Engineers

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers and Aerospace 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.”

Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Aerospace Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$226,600
$134,830
Employment · BLS OEWS
99,300
68,440
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
31st pct
66th pct

At a glance

Dimension Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Aerospace Engineers
Median pay $226,600 $134,830
Employment 99,300 68,440
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.9%) About average (+6.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 11,700 4,500
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 31st pct Moderate · 66th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 51st pct · 27% of tasks 61st pct · 32% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (49.4%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No Yes

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, Near Vision, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Judgment and Decision Making, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Learning, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Mechanical.

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

  • Operation and Control
  • Response Orientation
  • Transportation
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Control Precision
  • Reaction Time
  • Far Vision
  • Perceptual Speed

Specific to Aerospace Engineers

  • Engineering and Technology
  • Mathematics
  • Design
  • Physics
  • Science
  • Writing
  • Mathematics
  • Complex Problem Solving

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: Object or component oriented development software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Process mapping and design software , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software , Analytical or scientific software .

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Specific to Aerospace Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers or Aerospace 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. "Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aerospace 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/airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-aerospace-engineers

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-aerospace-engineers,
  title  = {Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aerospace 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/airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-aerospace-engineers}
}

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