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Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers vs Locomotive 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 Locomotive 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 Locomotive Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$226,600
$77,400
Employment · BLS OEWS
99,300
31,990
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
31st pct
34th pct

At a glance

Dimension Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers Locomotive Engineers
Median pay $226,600 $77,400
Employment 99,300 31,990
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.9%) About average (+0.7%)
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. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 31st pct Moderate · 34th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 51st pct · 27% of tasks 33rd pct · 20% 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, Time Management, Speaking, Active Learning, Hearing Sensitivity, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Public Safety and Security.

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Peripheral Vision
  • Mechanical
  • Geography

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Auditory Attention
  • Manual Dexterity
  • Education and Training
  • 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: Spreadsheet software , Word processing software , Route navigation software .

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers or Locomotive 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 Locomotive 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-locomotive-engineers

APA

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

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

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