Airline and Commercial Pilots

Airline and Commercial Pilots typically perform the following 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. • 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. • Choose routes, altitudes, and speeds that will provide the fastest, safest, and smoothest flights. • Direct activities of aircraft crews during flights. • Record in log books information, such as flight times, distances flown, and fuel consumption. • Instruct other pilots and student pilots in aircraft operations and the principles of flight. • Make announcements regarding flights, using public address systems. • Coordinate flight activities with ground crews and air traffic control and inform crew members of flight and test procedures. • 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.