Flight Instructor

Types of Degrees Flight Instructor Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many flight instructor graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	47
Associate Degree	40
Basic Certificate	6

What Flight Instructor Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to flight instructor and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Flight Instructor Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in flight instructor should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Flight Instructor Majors

A major in flight instructor prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Abilities for Flight Instructor Majors

As a flight instructor major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Response Orientation - The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.

What Can You Do With a Flight Instructor Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with flight instructor:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	3.5%	$140,340
Commercial Pilots	3.7%	$82,240

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Flight Instructor?

This major attracts more men than women. About 83% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of flight instructor majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2
Black or African American	2
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	37
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Flight Instructor. About 6.4% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Flight Instructor

Some degrees associated with flight instructor may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for flight instructor careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	14.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	22.2%
Some College Courses	2.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	11.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	40.4%
Master’s Degree	6.2%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.8%

Online Flight Instructor Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	3	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	3	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Flight Instructor

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to flight instructor.

Major	Number of Grads
General Aeronautics/Aviation/Aerospace Science & Technology	5,709
Airline/Commercial/Professional Pilot & Flight Crew	2,029
Aviation/Airway Management & Operations	1,864
Other Air Transportation	310
Air Traffic Controller	245
Remote Aircraft Pilot	142
Airline Flight Attendant	53

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.