AI exposure: Commercial Pilots
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft on nonscheduled air carrier routes, or helicopters. Requires Commercial Pilot certificate. Includes charter pilots with similar certification, and air ambulance and air tour pilots. Excludes regional, national, and international airline pilots.
Reading this score
computedAt 26.0% of weighted task load, Commercial Pilots sits at the 48th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 52.8% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 2.00 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Write specified information in flight records, at 80.0%. The least is Rescue and evacuate injured persons, at 0.0%. A gap of 80.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within transportation and material moving occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 52 roles in the group is 24.2%, and only 20 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 24 tasks, 9 are currently banded exposed, 5 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 1.85 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.75 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.54 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.65 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.00 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 2.00 | 0-3 |
Task by task
24 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write specified information in flight records, such as flight times, altitudes flown, and fuel consumption. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Consider airport altitudes, outside temperatures, plane weights, and wind speeds and directions to calculate the speed needed to become airborne. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.93 | exposed |
| Choose routes, altitudes, and speeds that will provide the fastest, safest, and smoothest flights. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Plan and formulate flight activities and test schedules and prepare flight evaluation reports. | 55.4% | 32.1% | 12.5% | 3.71 | exposed |
| Obtain and review data such as load weights, fuel supplies, weather conditions, and flight schedules to determine flight plans and identify needed changes. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.57 | exposed |
| Plan flights according to government and company regulations, using aeronautical charts and navigation instruments. | 35.0% | 40.0% | 25.0% | 4.65 | assisted |
| Perform minor aircraft maintenance and repair work, or arrange for major maintenance. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 4.16 | exposed |
| Contact control towers for takeoff clearances, arrival instructions, and other information, using radio equipment. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.76 | exposed |
| Request changes in altitudes or routes as circumstances dictate. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| File instrument flight plans with air traffic control so that flights can be coordinated with other air traffic. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 3.95 | exposed |
| Fly with other pilots or pilot-license applicants to evaluate their proficiency. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 3.79 | assisted |
| Monitor engine operation, fuel consumption, and functioning of aircraft systems during flights. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.82 | assisted |
| Order changes in fuel supplies, loads, routes, or schedules to ensure safety of flights. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.81 | assisted |
| Supervise other crew members. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.13 | assisted |
| Instruct other pilots and student pilots in aircraft operations. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 4.09 | untouched |
| Teach company regulations and procedures to other pilots. | 6.7% | 18.3% | 75.0% | 3.66 | untouched |
| Coordinate flight activities with ground crews and air traffic control, and inform crew members of flight and test procedures. | 3.3% | 21.7% | 75.0% | 4.27 | untouched |
| Co-pilot aircraft or perform captain's duties, as required. | 1.7% | 23.3% | 75.0% | 4.94 | untouched |
| Use instrumentation to pilot aircraft when visibility is poor. | 1.7% | 23.3% | 75.0% | 4.90 | untouched |
| Start engines, operate controls, and pilot airplanes to transport passengers, mail, or freight according to flight plans, regulations, and procedures. | 1.7% | 23.3% | 75.0% | 4.65 | untouched |
| Check aircraft prior to flights to ensure that the engines, controls, instruments, and other systems are functioning properly. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.97 | untouched |
| Check baggage or cargo to ensure that it has been loaded correctly. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.63 | untouched |
| Conduct in-flight tests and evaluations at specified altitudes and in all types of weather to determine the receptivity and other characteristics of equipment and systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Rescue and evacuate injured persons. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean. 1 task(s) lacked a usable O*NET weight and are shown but excluded from the weighting.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.