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	39
Associate Degree	31
Basic Certificate	7

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

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• 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

flight instructor majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• 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 an Associate’s Degree in Flight Instructor?

This major attracts more men than women. About 97% 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	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	15
International Students	9
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Flight Instructor, too. About 29.0% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Flight Instructor Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $96,530 to $169,560 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to flight instructor. This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Flight Instructor

Some careers associated with flight instructor require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

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

Is a Degree in Flight Instructor Worth It?

The median salary for a flight instructor grad is $96,530 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 142% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,132,600 after 20 years!

Trades 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	5,487
Airline/Commercial/Professional Pilot & Flight Crew	2,262
Aviation/Airway Management & Operations	1,797
Other Air Transportation	303
Air Traffic Controller	228
Remote Aircraft Pilot	91
Airline Flight Attendant	81

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.