How to become a 747 pilot?
So, you want to be an airline pilot? Well, you are on the right page! My name is Eric and I am a Boeing 757 first officer. On this page I am going to explain how you can become a pilot, but before going into the details I would like to tell you exactly what is the job of an airline pilot and also the lifestyle that goes with it.
As from September 11th 2001, aviation security became a tremendous topic. Access to cockpits are very difficult for aviation enthusiasts and most of them wants to become an airline pilot without having the right picture of the job and this is the reason I want you to know exactly where you are going.
What you need to know about the job of Airline Pilot
I am pretty sure that you think being a pilot is fun because you see the sun every day above the clouds, you fly an extremely powerful aircraft, you get to visit a lot of cities in the world and you earn a lot of money. Well, it is right at some point, but this is not all, let me explain.
As an airline pilot, your main task is to operate a flight from A to B safely. The commander will have the overall responsibility as you know already but, in your early days as first officer you will also be facing a lot of responsibilities since you will be the second in command of an aircraft costing millions of dollars.
In order to operate safely an aircraft you will need to know your aircraft, the company procedures and the rules of the air (To give you an idea, it is about six to height manuals of 500 pages each). This implies that you need to remain up-to-date during your entire career and therefore you will need to work every week to fill the expectation of your employer. Note that every six months you will have to demonstrate your knowledge and capabilities to an examiner in a simulator. This means that every six months you can potentially loose your job if you don’t do it correctly. So, are you strong enough to do this until you retire?
You might think the job is very enjoyable since you will fly with good looking air hostesses… Well, believe it or not it is not so pleasant! As airline pilot, you will also be managing a team of two to 20 cabin crew. If there is a problem, they will come to you to find a solution. Most of the cabin crew are very friendly, but don’t forget that we are just a bunch of human. We all have good and bad moods! When everything is going the right way it is pleasant, but when you got a delay, when the weather is bad, when a passenger is ill and when the salary is not high enough the ambiance will not be as pleasant as you imagine…
