Co-Pilot Qualifications

Video Transcript

"To become a co-pilot, quite a bit of training that's...that's going to be necessary. First off, anyone is going to start off with your basic private pilot license. Once you gain enough experiences becoming a private pilot, you can move on to the next rating, which is going to be your instrument rating, which is going to teach the pilot how to fly. Fly the airplane based just solely on the instruments inside without actually looking outside. Once you have enough experience as an instrument pilot, you can move on to be a commercial pilot. Commercial pilot is basically the rating that's going to allow you to be paid for what you're doing. Most aircraft that are used, that it's going to require a co-pilot, is going to be a multi-engine aircraft. So, a multi-engine aircraft is also another rating that you're going to have to add on once you become a commercially rated pilot. Most pilots at that point are going to have to find a way to build some hours to apply for jobs. So the route a lot of people take is going to become a certified flight instructor. And once you get that rating, you're going to teach other people how to fly, build time doing that, and once you build enough time you can apply for, you know, a regional carrier or a major airline. And at that point, you're going to be trained in new systems, bigger, larger aircraft. Become more familiar with the air traffic control system, and the most updated aircraft in the world are flown today. It takes quite a bit of training, quite a few years to get to that point. Most of time, I'd say, building the hours in between your ratings is the part that takes...takes up the majority of your time, to be able to get the ratings. Once you have a commercial rating, a multi-engine rating, you can get what's called the ATP rating, which is going to let you be able to fly passengers and larger aircraft."