Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Pilot

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your story, they might be trying to get that job or are already working in the field. Whatever the situation, as with any defining aspect for your character, you’ll need to do the proper research to be able to write that career knowledgeably.

Enter the Occupation Thesaurus. Here, you’ll find important background information on a variety of career options for your character. In addition to the basics, we’ll also be covering related info that relates to character arc and story planning, such as sources of conflict (internal and external) and how the job might impact basic human needs, thereby affecting the character’s goals. 

We hope the sample list of ideas below will show you how to choose and use your character’s occupation to do more than simply reference a day job. For the full entry for this career and over 120 other ideas, check into our bestselling resource, The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers.

Pilot

Overview: There are many kinds of pilots, but only a few can be paid for their services—meaning your character would need to be an airline pilot, a commercial pilot, or a pilot in the military. As the name suggests, airline pilots fly commercial airliners. Commercial pilots may work for a private company or own their own business transporting passengers and cargo, running rescue missions, or doing aerial photography. Military pilot…

Airline pilots don’t tend to have the typical 9-to-5 work schedule; instead they work a series of days followed by a number of days off. A commercial pilot’s workweek…

Necessary Training: Pilots will need a certification that consists of a combination of ground school (any training done on the ground) and flight training. Training can take place at a flight school, through a collegiate program, or …

Useful Skills, Talents, or Abilities: Exceptional memory, mechanically inclined, multitasking, predicting the weather

Helpful Character Traits:

• POSITIVE: Adaptable, adventurous, alert, confident, cooperative, decisive, disciplined, focused,meticulous, responsible, studious
• NEGATIVE: Perfectionist

Sources of Friction: working with a difficult or lazy co-pilot, flying a plane with mechanical difficulties, flying in difficult weather, having to conduct an emergency landing, romantic entanglements with members of the flight crew, failing a drug test, a terrorist or hijacking situation, missing an important event (a child’s birthday party, a vital marital counseling session) due to a delayed flight, having to take less-desired flights…

People They Might Interact With: co-pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, airport personnel, union officials, passengers, hotel personnel

How This Occupation Might Impact One’s Basic Needs:

• Self-Actualization: A pilot who is unable to obtain his desired certification may be stuck doing jobs that are unsatisfying. This could also happen if the pilot’s personal circumstances required him to…
• Love and Belonging: This need could be impacted if the pilot’s work hours and time away from home become a problem.
• Safety and Security: Despite the best training and experience, flying is still a dangerous endeavor. If a pilot encounters a life-threatening situation, it may haunt them…

Common Work-Related Settings: Airplane, airport, hotel room, military base, military helicopter

Twisting the Fictional Stereotype: Creating a non-male pilot could provide a seldom-seen twist.

Visit the other Occupations in our collection HERE.

How will your character’s occupation help reveal their innermost layers?

Much of your character’s life will revolve around their work, and whether they love it or hate it, their job is a great way to show, not tell, their personality traits, skills, work ethic, worldview and beliefs, and more, so we should choose it with care.

To learn more, we recommend The Occupation Thesaurus book. Explore 120+ jobs to choose a profession for your character that showcases who they are, what they want, and what they believe in. Then learn how that career choice can characterize, drive the plot, infuse scenes with conflict, and get readers on the character’s side through the relatable pressures, responsibilities, and stakes inherent with work.

You can find this bestselling thesaurus writing guide in print, ebook, and PDF formats. To see what other authors think of the book, read its reviews at Goodreads.