Download top and best high-quality free Pilot PNG Transparent Images backgrounds available in various sizes. To view the full PNG size resolution click on any of the below image thumbnail.

License Info: Creative Commons 4.0 BY-NC

An aircraft pilot, often known as an aviator, is a person who operates the aircraft’s directional flight controls to control its flight. Because they are engaged in controlling the aircraft’s navigation and engine systems, additional aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also called aviators. Other members of the aircrew, including drone operators, flight attendants, mechanics, and ground crew, are not considered aviators.

Most armies and several airlines across the globe issue aviator badges to their pilots in honor of their credentials and duties.

The term aviator (aviateur in French) was first used in 1887 as a variant of “aviation,” which was created in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation A├⌐rienne (“Aviation or Air Navigation”). The name aviatrix (aviatrice in French) was once used to refer to a female aviator, although it is now considered obsolete. These phrases were more commonly used in the early days of aviation, when planes were exceedingly scarce, and they meant courage and adventure. “The weight, including the body of the aviator, is a little more than 700 pounds,” a 1905 reference book said of the Wright brothers’ first airplane.

Early aviation rapidly demanded that aircraft be under the operational direction of a fully qualified, certified pilot at all times, who is responsible for the safe and legal completion of the flight. This ensured the safety of persons in the air and on the ground. Louis Bl├⌐riot received the first certificate from the A├⌐ro-Club de France in 1908, followed by Glenn Curtiss, L├⌐on Delagrange, and Robert Esnault-Pelterie. In 1910, the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain was founded, followed by the Aero Club of America in 1911. (Glenn Curtiss receiving the first).

Civilian pilots fly a variety of aircraft for pleasure, charity, or business, as well as for non-scheduled (charter) and scheduled passenger and freight air carriers (airlines), corporate aviation, agricultural (crop dusting, etc.), forest fire suppression, law enforcement, and other purposes. When flying for an airline, pilots are typically referred to as airline pilots, with the captain being the pilot in command.

In 2017, there were 290,000 airline pilots in the globe, and CAE Inc., an aircraft simulator maker, predicts a demand for 255,000 new ones by 2027, with 150,000 for expansion and 105,000 to balance retirement and attrition. 90,000 pilots in Asia-Pacific (average pilot age: 45.8 years in 2016), 85,000 in the Americas (48 years), 50,000 in Europe (43.7 years), and 30,000 in the Middle East and Africa (45.7 years).

Boeing estimates that 790,000 additional pilots will be needed in the next 20 years, with 635,000 for commercial aircraft, 96,000 for business aviation, and 59,000 for helicopters: 33% in Asia Pacific (261,000), 26% in North America (206,000), 18% in Europe (146,000), 8% in the Middle East (64,000), 7% in Latin America (57,000), 4% in Africa (29,000), and 3% in Russia/Central Asia (27,000). Some pilots were quitting business aviation to return to airlines by November 2017, owing to a scarcity of trained pilots.

A Global 6000 pilot, for example, who earned $250,000 per year for 10 to 15 flying hours per month, returned to American Airlines with full seniority. A Gulfstream G650 or Global 6000 pilot’s salary ranges from $245,000 to $265,000, with a recruitment budget of up to $300,000. At the opposite end of the scale, several small carriers recruit rookie pilots who require 300 hours to move to airlines in a year due to a lack of available pilots. They could also hire non-career pilots with other professions or airline retirees who wish to keep flying.

Download Pilot PNG images transparent gallery.