Pilot Resume Example

Piloting is a high-skill position that requires extensive training with no room for error. Employers — passenger and cargo airlines — need to know you’re a certified pilot with many flight hours so you don’t make a mistake that could cost millions of dollars and lives.

With a strong pilot resume, you can prove that you’re an experienced airplane pilot-in-command or first officer and stand out from competitors. To help your job hunt, here are three tips for writing your airline pilot resume:

1. Highlight your pilot resume skills

While some level of people skills is useful on commercial flights to keep passengers informed, hiring managers primarily look for your flying skills before they hire you.

Fill your resume skills section with relevant hard skills to reassure them that you have the training and experience to do the job.

Some of the top pilot skills to include on your resume are:

• Flight control software
• Flight management systems (FMS)
• Electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS)
• Route navigation software (Navzilla)
• ADF/NDB
• General computer skills
• Airplane mechanics
• Autopilot systems
• Time management skills
• Instrument landing systems (ILS)
• Geographical knowledge
• Mathematics
• Visual vs instrument flight rules (VFR/IFR)
• Systems evaluation
• Handling rejected takeoffs/missed approaches
• Critical thinking
• Flight operations and control
• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, Google Workspace)

Interpersonal skills don’t hurt because everybody likes pleasant colleagues who can use their communication skills to create a tight-knit crew. But if they have to choose between a good pilot and a nice person, they’ll go with the person who’s less of a flight risk.

Additionally, note how many flight hours you have. It’s expected on any pilot resume.

2. Open with a strong pilot resume summary

A resume summary is a short paragraph located just underneath your name that summarizes the key points of your application and your most impressive accomplishments. It’s a highlight reel for your resume.

Hiring managers usually only spend a few seconds on each application. If they don’t see what they need, they’ll move on to the next candidate. But with a strong resume summary, you can quickly communicate your qualifications, making the employer want to interview you.

This sample has a well-written resume summary:

Commercial Airline Pilot with 8+ years of experience and 7,000+ flight hours, including 2,000+ as Pilot in Command. Solid understanding of modern aircraft technology, aviation best practices, cockpit equipment, and FMS and EFIS operations. Dedicated professional, committed to a safety-first approach while providing a great passenger experience.

From reading this, you immediately know the candidate is experienced, knowledgeable, and has leadership skills. The hiring manager will be able to tell from just these few lines that they’re the right person for the job

3. Add hard numbers to your achievements

“Show, don’t tell” is most well known as a writing rule, but it applies to job hunting too. Quantify the accomplishments on your resume with hard data to demonstrate what you can do in concrete terms. Telling an employer that you’re experienced is not enough — showing you have 7,000+ flight hours is more precise and impressive.

You can find hard numbers throughout your work as a pilot. Flight hours are an obvious example, but you can also use the average number of passengers you transport, your safety record, and the model numbers of planes you’re certified for. Also look for percentages, time, or money saved when you can.

There are several examples of hard numbers in this resume sample:

Accomplished 1,300+ flight hours, including 400 nighttime and 600 cross-country hours

Completed 1,000+ hours of flight with 100% safety record and passenger satisfaction

Operated instruments and devices installed in Boeing 727, 707, and 757 planes while ensuring flight departures and arrivals according to schedule

Hard numbers like these provide irrefutable proof you’re a talented pilot.