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Pilot (Commercial)
Flies passenger and cargo aircraft — one of the most regulated professions in the world.
Did you know?
After a 1975 food-poisoning outbreak on a Japan Air Lines flight, airlines began giving pilots different meals from passengers so bad food can't sicken the crew.
How subjects help
- Physics: Understand how air flowing over the wings creates lift and what makes a plane stall.
- Mathematics: Calculate how much fuel a flight needs, with extra in case you have to land somewhere else.
- Geography: Read weather maps to steer around storms and plan a route over mountains and oceans.
- Communication: Speak with air traffic control in short, exact radio phrases so nothing is misunderstood.
A famous name
Sully Sullenberger: Airline captain who safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in 2009; all 155 aboard survived.
Try it yourself: Test-fly two paper planes
- Fold two different paper plane designs, one with wide wings and one with narrow, pointy wings. Give each a call sign starting with "N", like "N-Alpha".
- Stand on the same spot and throw the first plane five times the same way. Write down how far it went and how many seconds it stayed in the air each time.
- Do the same five throws with the second plane. Fly away from faces, pets and anything breakable.
- Circle the three best results for each plane and compare them. Which design flew further, and which stayed up longer? Is it the same one?
Aircraft are tested again and again under the same conditions, and pilots learn exactly how wing shape and weight change the way a plane flies.
Adapted from NASA Glenn Research Center: Paper Airplane Activity.
Also try: Run a tabletop airport.
Known for it in
UAE, Singapore, USA, Australia, Qatar