The pilot is the most important component of an aircraft, so to speak; thus, in any description about the flight of an airplane what is a pilot is a question that must be answered before anything else.
The pilot or aviator is neither a superhuman nor a perfect being; there are many myths around attempting to portray the character and nature of pilots and aviators, and most of them are wrong. But what is true is that the standards used to judge who can receive a pilot's license are somewhat higher than those used to grant a driver's license because flying is not like steering a car or riding a motorbike. Without the pilot an airplane ceases to fly; it is as simple as that even in the case of sophisticated aircraft that count on even more sophisticated computers and autopilot systems because even to program and manage those instruments the judgement capability of the trained human is required. Thus, the pilot constitutes an essential component of an aircraft.
As in other walks of life, being a pilot implies many things and there are lots of different skills and abilities that lead to different career paths according to the kind of aircraft flown, the kind of missions, the technical characteristics of each aircraft, etc. but commonly, the following main categories apply:
- Private pilot: This person flies with essentially with no direct commercial interests.
- Commercial pilot: This is a professional pilot that gets paid to fly.
- Airline transport pilot (ATP): This is the person that flies for a living in a regular commercial transport company, meaning a passenger or cargo airline.
- Military pilot: Self-explaining, it is a soldier of the air that flies for the armed or security forces of a country.
ut we could classify pilots also according to the kind of aircraft that they fly into:
- Airplane pilot.
- Helicopter pilot.
- Balloon pilot.
- Blimp or zeppelin pilot.
- Sailplane pilot.
- Ultralight aircraft pilot.
- Experimental or test pilot.There are indeed other ways to classify pilots, such as:
- Pilot (just as that): This is the person that controls the flight of an aircraft.
- Aviator: This is the pilot that has some special skills (aerobatics, mountain flying, bush, taildragging or naval pilots).
And there are other more or less academic ways to do so; but it is now enough to say that in order to become a pilot you have to start from the beginning, which generally consists in getting your PPAL (Private Pilot, Aircraft License). ULM or sailplane license.
For various practical reasons, it is usually better to start with simple, easy to fly single-engine airplanes and thus, most people first receive their single-engine, private pilot licenses. The goal of this training is to teach and instil certain basic procedures and habits up to the point that they become reflexes. These procedures and maneuvers are related to the basic flight operations in normal times as well as emergency and air survival situations.
If you would like to become a pilot now, you would have to shop around a bit, trying to find a flight school that suits you best (this is an activity that requires the help of a qualified instructor working in an accredited flight school). This means looking for the optimal investment according to your goals - remember that aviation is an expensive activity - and finding the right school with the right aircraft for you.
And despite the fact that flight training is regulated at the national level and every country has its own rules, it is right to say that most are based on ICAO recommendations and regulations so it is fair to say that there is some degree of international commonality in most flight instruction courses meaning that for the most part, procedures are the same or very similar across the globe.
After you decide which school suits you best, the people there will send you to some medical institute run or authorised by the government organisation that oversees aviation in your country (the FAA in the United States, for example). There you will have to pass a number of medical, physical and psychological tests that are not the terrible hurdle that most people think.
What doctors will try to find out is that in your - and everybody else's case - there are no health issued that could become potentially hazardous in the air, both for you and for other people as well. If for some reason you are not approved for flight status, you will generally be given a reason and you will have a chance to correct the problem; nothing is written in stone, unless you are dead, that is.
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