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

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

At a glance

Dimension Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Air Traffic Controllers
Median pay $226,600 $144,580
Employment 99,300 22,400
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.9%) About average (+1.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 11,700 2,200
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 31st pct Moderate · 59th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 51st pct · 27% of tasks 59th pct · 31% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
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: Transportation, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Far Vision, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Judgment and Decision Making, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Selective Attention, Time Sharing, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Time Management, Speaking, Active Learning, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Public Safety and Security, Geography.

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

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

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

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 , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Specific to Air Traffic Controllers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers or Air Traffic Controllers — 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 Air Traffic Controllers." 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-air-traffic-controllers

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-air-traffic-controllers,
  title  = {Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Air Traffic Controllers},
  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-air-traffic-controllers}
}

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