Pros And Cons Of Being A Commercial Pilot

A career as a commercial pilot is indeed an excellent choice. You get to fly through the skies, work in other countries, and meet a lot of interesting people wherever you land. However, every job has its benefits and drawbacks. Being a commercial pilot entails more than just thrills and spills. It also entails a great deal of responsibility.

You may have heard or read inspiring stories about pilots, but before you jump to conclusions, consider the following pros and cons. Then, decide for yourself whether it is worthwhile to pursue a career as a commercial pilot.

Pros of Being a Commercial Pilot

Being a pilot enables you to see many different countries

Since pilots have to bring their passengers to many different locations around the world, they will also see many different countries and cities.

Hence, as a pilot, you don’t have to pay significant sums of money like most other people do to travel the world.

You can just do your job, get paid and spend your time in quite interesting places all over the world.

Thus, a career as a pilot may also be great for you if you love to travel and to experience new ways of life.

High social reputation of pilots in society

Another benefit of being a pilot is that they also have a pretty high reputation in our society.

In fact, many people admire pilots and want to be like them. For many people, being a pilot has been a childhood dream.

Yet, only few of those people actually turned their dream into reality.

Hence, if you arrive at several different locations, most people will treat you friendly and with respect due to your high social status as a pilot.

See the world from a different perspective

Being a pilot also enables you to see the world from a different perspective.

While most other people will just go to their boring job every day, you will see the world from many different angles and will constantly realize how small we really are in our big universe.

This can not only expand your horizon, it can also make you humbler since you will realize how small and minuscule we as humans really are in our huge cosmos.

Job never gets boring due to many different flight routes

If you ask pilots whether they get bored with their job sooner or later, the answer for most of them is no. In fact, there are so many different flight routes that it will take pilots decades to fly all of them.

Moreover, flight routes also change and this gives you as a pilot the opportunity to experience new flight experiences on a regular basis.

 

Pilots can get to know different cultures

Another upside of being a pilot is that you will also get to know different cultures.

Since you will have many different destinations you will fly to, you will also stay in many different hotels and you will also have to navigate through many different cultural zones.

In fact, by interacting with locals in many different countries, you will soon realize that life is relative and that what we consider to be normal is just one of many cultural ways of life.
 

It is important to realize that since it also implies acknowledging that our Western culture is not superior to other cultures at all and that we also have many weaknesses as a society.

In turn, this knowledge can lead to a state in which we develop a higher level of respect for other cultures and ways of life, which can make our global society more tolerant in general.

Pilots learn multitasking

As a pilot, you will also have to deal with many different information streams at the same time.

While this can be quite demanding and requires some level of practice to do it properly, you will also learn how to deal with this flood of information.

Consequently, your multitasking skills will improve significantly over time, which can not only be helpful as a pilot, but also to organize yourself in various other parts of your life.

Cons of Being a Commercial Pilot

Pilots are away from home quite often

Apart from the many advantages of being a pilot, there are also several downsides related to this profession.

For instance, one problem with being a pilot is that you will be away from home quite often.

In fact, since pilots have to fly many international routes, it will take them quite long to fly their plane to the destination, rest for a few days and come back.

Before deciding for a career as a pilot, make sure that you are really willing to spend the majority of your time away from home.

High level of responsibility for passengers

While flying an airplane can be quite a lot of fun, it also implies significant levels of responsibility.

Mistakes on your side can lead to catastrophic outcomes and can potentially cost many lives.

While some people love to have these high levels of responsibility, others hate it and don’t want to deal with the pressure that comes along with it.

Consequently, make sure that you have the stomach to take on these high levels of responsibility before deciding for a career as a pilot.

Pilots often have to work on holidays

As a pilot, especially in your junior years, you will also often be required to work on holidays.

While the more senior pilots may have the opportunity to take those days off, you will often have to work on Easter or even Christmas and will be away from your family.

This can be emotionally challenging and can also lead to family problems since your children will often have no empathy for you in this regard.

 

Should You Become A Pilot?

From the previous discussion, it has become clear that there are many advantages and disadvantages to being a pilot.

In the end, you have to decide for yourself whether you want to become a pilot or if you want to go for alternative career paths like becoming a doctor instead.
Anyway, being a pilot is one of the great things.
 

Author,
Andreas