Aircraft pilots
and air traffic controllers
Aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers navigate and pilot aircraft, prepare flight plans, authorise flight departures and arrivals, maintain radio, radar and/or visual contact with aircraft to ensure the safe movement of air traffic, check, regulate, adjust and test engines and other equipment prior to take-off and give flying lessons.
- Employees (UK)
- 20k
- Median annual pay
- £107,712
- Exposure score ?
- 0.9/10 Minimal 4.9/10 Moderate strict reading, with tools is 4.9/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.9/10
- Wage exposure
- £194m £1.06bn
Higher exposure than 50% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A real share of the task list is within reach, especially drafting, summarising, research and analysis. People in this role who learn to direct AI well will pull ahead of those who do not.
If you are in this role
Treat AI like a capable junior you manage. Where you would hand a task to a junior with a clear brief, AI can do it now. Spend the time you get back on judgement and relationships.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Use instrumentation to guide flights when visibility is poor.
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Start engines, operate controls, and pilot airplanes to transport passengers, mail, or freight, adhering to flight plans, regulations, and procedures.
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Work as part of a flight team with other crew members, especially during takeoffs and landings.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Use instrumentation to guide flights when visibility is poor.
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Respond to and report in-flight emergencies and malfunctions.
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Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers" (53-2011.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 24 tasks, unaided
Record in log books information, such as flight times, distances flown, and fuel consumption.
Make announcements regarding flights, using public address systems.
What still needs a person
22 of 24 tasks
Use instrumentation to guide flights when visibility is poor.
Start engines, operate controls, and pilot airplanes to transport passengers, mail, or freight, adhering to flight plans, regulations, and procedures.
Work as part of a flight team with other crew members, especially during takeoffs and landings.
Respond to and report in-flight emergencies and malfunctions.
Inspect aircraft for defects and malfunctions, according to pre-flight checklists.
Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment.
Monitor engine operation, fuel consumption, and functioning of aircraft systems during flights.
Monitor gauges, warning devices, and control panels to verify aircraft performance and to regulate engine speed.
Steer aircraft along planned routes, using autopilot and flight management computers.
Check passenger and cargo distributions and fuel amounts to ensure that weight and balance specifications are met.
Confer with flight dispatchers and weather forecasters to keep abreast of flight conditions.
Coordinate flight activities with ground crews and air traffic control and inform crew members of flight and test procedures.
Order changes in fuel supplies, loads, routes, or schedules to ensure safety of flights.
Brief crews about flight details, such as destinations, duties, and responsibilities.
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.
File instrument flight plans with air traffic control to ensure that flights are coordinated with other air traffic.
Perform minor maintenance work, or arrange for major maintenance.
Choose routes, altitudes, and speeds that will provide the fastest, safest, and smoothest flights.
Direct activities of aircraft crews during flights.
Evaluate other pilots or pilot-license applicants for proficiency.
Instruct other pilots and student pilots in aircraft operations and the principles of flight.
Plan and formulate flight activities and test schedules and prepare flight evaluation reports.
Tasks via O*NET "Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers" (53-2011.00).
What AI can already do
15 of 24 tasks, with tools
Use instrumentation to guide flights when visibility is poor.
Respond to and report in-flight emergencies and malfunctions.
Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment.
Monitor engine operation, fuel consumption, and functioning of aircraft systems during flights.
Check passenger and cargo distributions and fuel amounts to ensure that weight and balance specifications are met.
Confer with flight dispatchers and weather forecasters to keep abreast of flight conditions.
Coordinate flight activities with ground crews and air traffic control and inform crew members of flight and test procedures.
Order changes in fuel supplies, loads, routes, or schedules to ensure safety of flights.
Brief crews about flight details, such as destinations, duties, and responsibilities.
File instrument flight plans with air traffic control to ensure that flights are coordinated with other air traffic.
Choose routes, altitudes, and speeds that will provide the fastest, safest, and smoothest flights.
Evaluate other pilots or pilot-license applicants for proficiency.
Record in log books information, such as flight times, distances flown, and fuel consumption.
Make announcements regarding flights, using public address systems.
Plan and formulate flight activities and test schedules and prepare flight evaluation reports.
What still needs a person
9 of 24 tasks
Start engines, operate controls, and pilot airplanes to transport passengers, mail, or freight, adhering to flight plans, regulations, and procedures.
Work as part of a flight team with other crew members, especially during takeoffs and landings.
Inspect aircraft for defects and malfunctions, according to pre-flight checklists.
Monitor gauges, warning devices, and control panels to verify aircraft performance and to regulate engine speed.
Steer aircraft along planned routes, using autopilot and flight management computers.
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.
Perform minor maintenance work, or arrange for major maintenance.
Direct activities of aircraft crews during flights.
Instruct other pilots and student pilots in aircraft operations and the principles of flight.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Associate professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons