Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers: where your skills can take you
Pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo. Requires Federal Air Transport certificate and rating for specific aircraft type used. Includes regional, national, and international airline pilots and flight instructors of airline pilots.
Most common qualification in Australia: a certificate or diploma (45% of workers, 2021 Census) · Australian median pay for Air Transport Professionals: A$137,900 full-time (Jobs and Skills Australia) · CASA licence and a Class 1 medical — mandatory; an airline captain needs an ATPL
Job names and descriptions on this page come from the US government's job list (O*NET). Some use American words, for example "elementary school" for primary school.
Three moves that use what a airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineer already knows
Ranked by how much of the job's skills and knowledge carries over. Each one says what the move usually costs in study.
Commercial Pilots
In national shortage — employers actively looking (Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025)
🧰 Your current job already uses operating machines and controls, watching gauges and readings, sound judgement and solving difficult problems.
🎓 A certificate or diploma. About the same level of study as your job, but in a different field: it leans on Customer and Personal Service, which your job does not use much. The most common level in Australia is a certificate or diploma (45%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
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.
Air Traffic Controllers
In national shortage — employers actively looking (Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025)
🧰 Your current job already uses sound judgement, watching gauges and readings, solving difficult problems and working in step with other people.
🎓 No more study. Your current level of study is usually enough. The most common level in Australia is a certificate or diploma (45%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport, and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers, according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.
Nuclear Power Reactor Operators
🧰 Your current job already uses operating machines and controls, watching gauges and readings, sound judgement and solving difficult problems.
🎓 A certificate or diploma. About the same level of study as your job, but in a different field: it leans on Physics, which your job does not use much. The most common level in Australia is a certificate or diploma (68%).
🔎 Find courses for this job on training.gov.au ↗
Operate or control nuclear reactors. Move control rods, start and stop equipment, monitor and adjust controls, and record data in logs. Implement emergency procedures when needed. May respond to abnormalities, determine cause, and recommend corrective action.
These are the three closest moves. The full list holds 24. Answer four quick questions — how much more study, which field, what you want more of, where you live — and the list fits you. Subscribers can plan any move.
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O*NET 30.3 — This service incorporates information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JobMatcha has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
ABS ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update — Australian occupation tags are derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update correspondence tables (ABS, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 4.0), bridged to U.S. occupations via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics SOC crosswalks (public domain). Only high-confidence (>= 0.8) one-to-one chains are shown; other mappings are withheld as 'Australian data unavailable'.
Australian pay and shortage lines: Jobs and Skills Australia.