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Commercial Pilots vs Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

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

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

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

At a glance

Dimension Commercial Pilots Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
Median pay $122,670 $226,600
Employment 51,830 99,300
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+5.1%) About average (+3.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 6,600 11,700
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 53rd pct Low · 31st 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, Operations Monitoring, Monitoring, Problem Sensitivity, Perceptual Speed, Control Precision, Near Vision, English Language, Critical Thinking, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Response Orientation, Reaction Time, Far Vision, Depth Perception, Transportation, Active Listening, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension, Spatial Orientation, Multilimb Coordination, Rate Control, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Learning, Time Sharing, Geography, Public Safety and Security, Flexibility of Closure, Mechanical.

Specific to Commercial Pilots

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

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

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

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 , Analytical or scientific software , Route navigation software , Calendar and scheduling software .

Specific to Commercial Pilots

Specific to Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers

Full profiles

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

APA

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

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

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