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Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

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 Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors 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 Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$226,600
$63,940
Employment · BLS OEWS
99,300
10,160
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
31st pct
22nd pct

At a glance

Dimension Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors
Median pay $226,600 $63,940
Employment 99,300 10,160
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.9%) About average (+5.2%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 11,700 1,100
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 31st pct Low · 22nd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 51st pct · 27% of tasks —
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman 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: Transportation, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Far Vision, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Judgment and Decision Making, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Selective Attention, Time Sharing, Multilimb Coordination, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Time Management, Speaking, 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
  • Written Comprehension

Specific to Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Administration and Management
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Administrative
  • Learning Strategies
  • Coordination
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Mathematics

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 , Word processing software .

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Specific to Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers or Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors — 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 Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors." 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-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-airline-pilots-copilots-and-flight-engineers-vs-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors,
  title  = {Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisors},
  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-aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisors}
}

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