# Commercial Pilots

> Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft on nonscheduled air carrier routes, or helicopters. Requires Commercial Pilot certificate. Includes charter pilots with similar certification, and air ambulance and air tour pilots. Excludes regional, national, and international airline pilots.

- **SOC code:** 53-2012.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-2012-00
- **Also known as:** Captain, Commercial Pilot, Helicopter Pilot, Pilot, Charter Pilot, Check Airman, Commercial Helicopter Pilot, EMS Helicopter Pilot (Emergency Medical Service Helicopter Pilot)
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Check aircraft prior to flights to ensure that the engines, controls, instruments, and other systems are functioning properly.
- Co-pilot aircraft or perform captain's duties, as required.
- Consider airport altitudes, outside temperatures, plane weights, and wind speeds and directions to calculate the speed needed to become airborne.
- Use instrumentation to pilot aircraft when visibility is poor.
- Monitor engine operation, fuel consumption, and functioning of aircraft systems during flights.
- Order changes in fuel supplies, loads, routes, or schedules to ensure safety of flights.
- Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment.
- Start engines, operate controls, and pilot airplanes to transport passengers, mail, or freight according to flight plans, regulations, and procedures.
- Plan flights according to government and company regulations, using aeronautical charts and navigation instruments.
- Check baggage or cargo to ensure that it has been loaded correctly.
- Obtain and review data such as load weights, fuel supplies, weather conditions, and flight schedules to determine flight plans and identify needed changes.
- Conduct in-flight tests and evaluations at specified altitudes and in all types of weather to determine the receptivity and other characteristics of equipment and systems.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Operate large scale uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones for various commercial purposes, such as aerial photography, surveying land and structures, or monitoring wildlife.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Operation and Control _(transferable_skill)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Perceptual Speed _(ability)_
- Control Precision _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Depth Perception _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- Geography _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Adobe Creative Cloud software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Aeronautical charts
- AeroPlanner
- Airdata
- Airline Pilots Daily Aviation Log PPC
- AirSmith FlightPrompt
- ArduPilot Mission Planner
- Calibration software
- CloudCompare
- doXstor Flight Level Logbook
- Electronic aircraft information databases

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 42nd percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 44th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 36th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 53rd percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 49th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 5.1% growth (About average); 6.6k annual openings; 55.4k → 58.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $122,670; 51,830 employed.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-53-2012-00_