Skills
Commercial Pilot Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in commercial pilots, and how to build and show them.
What skills do commercial pilots need?
Commercial Pilots need technical skills such as aircraft handling, instrument flying, and flight planning, plus people skills like decision making and situational awareness. They also use tools such as Aircraft and avionics and Electronic flight bags such as ForeFlight.
Technical (hard) skills
- Aircraft handling
- Instrument flying
- Flight planning
- Weather interpretation
- Aviation regulations
- Radio communication
People (soft) skills
- Decision making
- Situational awareness
- Composure
- Discipline
Tools, equipment and technology
- Aircraft and avionics
- Electronic flight bags such as ForeFlight
- Weather services
- Weight and balance tools
- Headsets
- Logbooks
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how commercial pilots put their skills to work:
- How to plan a charter flight
- How to perform an aircraft preflight inspection
- How to make a go/no-go weather decision
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Aircraft handling” and “Instrument flying.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “decision making,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Commercial pilot certificate near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our commercial pilot glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Commercial Pilot training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.