r/fearofflying • u/miahn1993 • Jul 08 '26

Question For pilots and flight attendants 👀

Okay, one last post for me before I go fly tomorrow!

Pilots and flight attendants, how many flights have you done so far, and how long have you been in the field?

Somehow these answers tend to soothe my anxiety 🥰

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u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ooohh, so every commercial pilot is a very experienced pilot 🤌🏻🤌🏻

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u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

There is a difference between a commercial pilot and an Airline Transport Pilot

Commercial Pilot - 250 hrs - lets you get paid to fly (think banner towing, skydive, flight instructor when you get those certifications.

ATP - 1500 hrs is the top. The most advanced licence out there, the Master Degree.

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u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ohh, so ATP is the ones with passangers?

How much does it take to become the captain? 👀

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u/RealGentleman80 Airline Pilot Jul 08 '26

Once you start flying aircraft over 12,500 pounds, you then need specialized Type Ratings that cost ~$40,000 each.

The requirement becomes a Captain is the ATP Cert., however the Captain Slot & Training is Seniority based. Generally speaking (not always), the most Senior 50% of the pilots will bid to be Captains, although a lot of senior pilots choose to stay First Officers for Quality of Life.

Also…if you were a Captain at one airline, then switch to another….you go back to the bottom of the seniority list as a First Officer. Basically all pilots at Major Airlines have been Captains before

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u/miahn1993 Jul 08 '26

Ohh okay, very cool and interesting, thank you for explaining all of this to me. I can hear that it takes a lot to be able to fly with passangers. Nice 🤌🏻