Being a pilot is fulfilling and flying an aircraft is fun. For some people, it's the perfect job. It has been said that a pilot's job is hours of boredom occasioned by periods of sheer terror. This is perhaps an exaggeration, but sometimes you can’t but agree. It is really fascinating to see someone who controls a gigantic machine, flies it off the ground and then safely returns it. They wonder what it is like to be responsible for hundreds of lives or goods worth millions. When people see the inside of a cockpit, they are amazed. They stare at the aircraft’s dashboard of dials and ask more questions than have answers. Pilots are the end operators in a team of highly trained professionals. They are the movie stars of the air transportation show, because they are the most visible people to the public, while most of the other team members remain behind the scenes.

Piloting is a serious business. To be a pilot for hire, you need a commercial pilot certificate. You earn your certificate by passing commercial pilot ground school and logging at least 250 flight hours, with allotted time dedicated to certain conditions and maneuvers. After you have logged your hours and passed your written ground test, you will need to pass a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test, an examiner asks you to plan a flight, quizzes you on aviation matters and then accompanies you on a flight check-ride. A check-ride is something like the driving test we take to get our driver's licenses. As in a driver's license test, the examiner requests that you execute certain maneuvers and directs your flying throughout the entire flight. If everything goes well, the examiner issues you a commercial pilot's certificate.

A pilot certificate lasts forever, but to exercise particular flight privileges i.e. to fly particular planes and to fly in particular conditions, a pilot must have certain experiences. This means that if you haven't flown a type of airplane for a while, you can't just hop in and take it for a ride. You must have flown a certain number of hours within a certain period of time or had a designated instructor evaluate you and sign you off as qualified.

Additionally, a commercial pilot needs an up-to-date first- or second-class medical certificate, an instrument rating and a multi-engine rating. For you to receive a medical certificate, an Aviation Medical Examiner must verify that you meet the health and fitness requirements to be a pilot. You need to get an instrument rating to fly with low visibility. To fly planes with multiple engines, you need to have some lessons and pass a multi-engine check-ride. At some point, most airline pilots also get an airline transport pilot certificate. This highest pilot certificate allows you to be the pilot in command or the captain of a large commercial aircraft. It requires that you pass a written test, have a first-class medical certificate, are a high school graduate and have logged 1,500 flight hours including 250 hours as the captain.

To be hired, you need flight experience. Your level of experience is based on the number and complexity of aircrafts you have flown, and which crew positions you have held. On an airliner, the captain is the pilot in the left seat. The pilot flies the airplane, makes all the command decisions and is responsible for the flight's safety. The captain's job is a big responsibility. It calls for tough decisions and requires more than just the technical skill involved in flying the airplane. The captain is a team leader and must establish an effective crew atmosphere, with good communication and resource management. A captain must pass many written and practical tests and have his or her performance evaluated regularly.

Depending on the specifics of the airline and the pilot's personal situation, a pilot could be away from home only during the day or only at night, or might be on the other side of the world for 14 days or more! It takes a special family to cope with the regular absence of one of its members. Pilots often joke that they're gone so much they've actually been married for only half the time since their wedding date. A pilot's work day, or duty day varies depending on a number of factors, such as the number of pilots a plane needs and whether the flight is international or domestic.

A pilot’s long duty day can last 16 hours or, on international flights, have no limit at all. Fortunately, most pilots' working agreements limit duty days to something less than the legal maximum. Scheduled flight time is limited to 8 hours for domestic flights and 12 hours for international flights.

Pilots have a stressful job and follow a difficult career path, but most of them wouldn't be as happy doing anything else. Most pilots have wanted to be a pilot from a very early age. Very rarely does someone without a deep passion for airplanes and their history become a pilot. Lots of people think it would be a pleasure to fly, but those who eventually make it to the cockpits are extremely dedicated to getting there. There are many hurdles and obstacles on the road to becoming a pilot but those tough times never last, only tough pilots do.