What Skills Do You Need to Become a Pilot?

Becoming a pilot requires a particular set of skills.

Becoming a pilot, whether commercial or private, is a rewarding challenge. The academic side of flight training can be demanding and requires arduous study. Beyond that, the pilot must be able to practically apply his/her training the dynamics of piloting an aircraft. Successfully becoming a pilot requires an innate personal skill set that must be part of the pilot's personality. The Federal Aviation Administration has identified these skills.

Perception Skills

Pilots must have the ability to differentiate between essential and nonessential information concerning the act of flying and have a sense of perceptual recognition (the ability to focus on essential information). Additionally, pilots must also have a sense of selective perception (the ability to visually focus despite numerous distractions).

Logic Skills

The ability to logically and quickly assess situations is imperative to flying aircraft. Logical reasoning is ability to practically evaluate a set of actions based upon given information. When flying aircraft, the pilot is required to navigate, communicate and operate the aircraft in a possibly changing environment. All of these processes require the ability to logically assess and think through any given situation.

Communication Skills

Communication is an integral part of safely flying an aircraft. A working knowledge of vocabulary and a high degree of word fluency is necessary to successfully become a pilot.

References

• FAA: Pilot Abilities and Performance PDF
• Atac: Flying Skills