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Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Commercial Pilots

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 Commercial Pilots 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 Commercial Pilots
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$226,600
$122,670
Employment · BLS OEWS
99,300
51,830
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
31st pct
53rd pct

At a glance

Dimension Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Commercial Pilots
Median pay $226,600 $122,670
Employment 99,300 51,830
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.9%) About average (+5.1%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 11,700 6,600
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 · 53rd pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 51st pct · 27% of tasks 51st pct · 27% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
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: Operation and Control, Response Orientation, Transportation, Problem Sensitivity, Operations Monitoring, Control Precision, Reaction Time, Near Vision, Far Vision, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Deductive Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Rate Control, Depth Perception, Judgment and Decision Making, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Spatial Orientation, Selective Attention, Time Sharing, Multilimb Coordination, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Learning, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Public Safety and Security, Mechanical, Geography.

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Time Management
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Hearing Sensitivity

Specific to Commercial Pilots

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Written Expression
  • Manual Dexterity

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: Office suite software , Information retrieval or search software , Data base user interface and query software , Route navigation software , Analytical or scientific software , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Specific to Commercial Pilots

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers or Commercial Pilots — 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 Commercial Pilots." 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-commercial-pilots

APA

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

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

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