Aviator

An aviator or an airman is a person who flies aircraft for pleasure or as a profession. The word is normally applied to pilots and flight instructors, but it can be applied more broadly, for example to include people such as wing-walkers who regularly take part in an aerobatic display sequence.

The word aviatrix was used to refer to female aviators, reflecting the word's Latin root, but that usage is now depreciated. In civilian aeronautical usage, an airman is analogous to a seaman in nautical usage. As a gender-specific term, its use is also depreciated. In U.S. Federal Aviation Administration usage, an airman is the holder of an airman certificate issued by its Airmen Certification Branch.

History

The first certificate was delivered by the Aero Club de France to Louis Blériot in 1908, followed by Glenn Curtiss, Leon Delagrange and Robert Esnault-Pelterie.^{[citation needed]} Sabiha Gökçen was the first Turkish female aviator and the first female combat pilot in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Statistics

In the United Kingdom as of 2000 there were 31,885 private pilots and 16,449 airline and commercial pilots (ATPL and CPL) registered with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Among private pilots, only 6% are female (approximately 1800). In the commercial sector this percentage drops to only 2%.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration estimates there are 609,737 active pilots with US Airmen certificates as of December 31, 2005. [1] Of these, about 6% (36,584) are female.

The U.S. state of Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita: out of an estimated 663,661 residents, 8,550 are pilots, or about one in every 78.

Civilian

Civilian pilots fly privately for pleasure, charity, or in pursuance of a business, for non-scheduled commercial air transport companies, or for airlines. When flying for an airline, pilots are usually referred to as airline pilots, with the pilot in command often referred to as the captain.

United States

Legacy airlines such as American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, long considered the most prestigious and lucrative employers, have slashed their pilot payscales and benefits in the face of fierce competition from low-cost carriers. In fact, Southwest Airlines captains and first officers both start off with significatly higher salaries than the legacy carriers. As of May 2004, median annual earnings of airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers were $129,250. [2] However, such salaries represent the upper level of airline pay scales. Salaries at regional airlines can be considerably less - though according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, median annual earnings of commercial pilots were $53,870, with the middle 50 percent earning between $37,170 and $79,390. [3] Pilots making very large salaries are typically senior airline captains, while pilots making very small salaries are generally low-seniority first officers. In practice, most pilots make reasonable average working salaries. A large variability in salaries can easily skew an average. Thus, the use of median wages to gauge such things as salary. Where large gaps are seen between a median figure, and a lower bound figure, this usually reflects those who don't stay in that particular field. Viewing this middle ground in context to the upper bound numbers can give a burgeoning pilot an idea of what to expect if they are able to stay with flying as a full time career. Based upon voluntary pilot reports, many US airline payscales are listed here: [4]. Most airline pilots are unionized, with the Air Line Pilot's Association(ALPA) being the largest pilot labor union in the United States.

International

In some countries (e.g., Pakistan, Thailand and several African countries), there is a strong relationship between the military and the principal national airlines, such that many or most airline pilots come from the military; that is no longer the case in the USA and Western Europe. While the flight decks of US and European airliners do have many ex-military pilots, they have just as many, if not more, pilots who spend their entire career as civilians. With the increasing popularity of European-style airline training schools in the USA and the fact that military training and flying, while rigorous, is fundamentally different in many ways from civilian piloting, it seems likely that the percentage of ex-military pilots flying for the airlines will continue to decrease.

Military

Military pilots fly under government contract for the defense of countries. Their tasks involve combat and non-combat operations, including direct hostile engagements and support operations. Military pilots undergo specialized training, often with weapons operation and defensive maneuvering. Some military pilots are also civilian pilots.

Aviators in space

In human spaceflight, a pilot is someone who directly controls the operation of a spacecraft while located within the same craft. This term derives directly from the usage of the word "pilot" in aviation, where it is synonymous with "aviator". Note that on the US Space Shuttle, the term "pilot" is analogous to the term "co-pilot" in aviation, as the "commander" has ultimate responsibility for the shuttle.

Trivia

• Major General Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager's manner of speech (a laid-back, West Virginia hillbilly drawl which Tom Wolfe refers to as "poker-hollow") was emulated by his fellow test pilots during flight after Yeager broke the sound barrier. This permeated into the general pool of military pilots, who became the core of the US airline pilot roster, and so was the basis for the characteristic unflappable, confident, reassuring tone of voice used by American airline pilots to this day.^[1]

See also

• List of aerospace engineers
• Pilot licensing and certification
• Workplace safety

References

Wikipedia information about Aviator This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aviator". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.