Just How Dangerous is a Flying Career?

Is being a pilot still a dangerous job? It depends.
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • While airline flying is exceptionally safe, this article investigates the overall safety of a broader professional pilot career.
  • It uses data to explore the safety landscape for pro pilots and includes personal experiences.
  • The piece provides advice for new professional pilots on how to maintain safety as they accumulate experience.
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Airline flying has become astonishingly safe—but what about the rest of commercial aviation? In this week’s installment of “V1 Rotate,” we take a deep dive into the data to explore the safety of a pro pilot career. You’ll hear my own experiences as a young commercial pilot, and you’ll get advice on how new pro pilots can stay safe as they build experience.

Sam Weigel

Sam Weigel has been an airplane nut since an early age, and when he's not flying the Boeing 737 for work, he enjoys going low and slow in vintage taildraggers. He and his wife live west of Seattle, where they are building an aviation homestead on a private 2,400-foot grass airstrip.

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