Commercial Pilots

What Does a Commercial Pilots Do?

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.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities

• 1Check aircraft prior to flights to ensure that the engines, controls, instruments, and other systems are functioning properly.
• 2Co-pilot aircraft or perform captain's duties, as required.
• 3Consider airport altitudes, outside temperatures, plane weights, and wind speeds and directions to calculate the speed needed to become airborne.
• 4Use instrumentation to pilot aircraft when visibility is poor.
• 5Monitor engine operation, fuel consumption, and functioning of aircraft systems during flights.
• 6Order changes in fuel supplies, loads, routes, or schedules to ensure safety of flights.
• 7Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment.
• 8Plan flights according to government and company regulations, using aeronautical charts and navigation instruments.

Required Skills

• Monitoring
• Critical Thinking
• Active Listening
• Reading Comprehension
• Speaking
• Active Learning
• Adobe Creative Cloud software
• Aeronautical charts
• AeroPlanner
• Airdata
• Airline Pilots Daily Aviation Log PPC
• AirSmith FlightPrompt
• ArduPilot Mission Planner
• Calibration software
• CloudCompare
• doXstor Flight Level Logbook

Commercial Pilots Salary