Chief Pilot

The Chief Pilot is the person ultimately accountable for whether the pilots in a flight operation fly correctly, legally, and safely. That accountability covers a wide domain: hiring the right people, training them to the right standard, ensuring the training records are accurate, managing performance issues before they become safety or regulatory events, and maintaining a relationship with the FAA that allows the organization to operate without enforcement actions.

The regulatory dimension of the role is significant and personal. The Chief Pilot is approved by the FAA and named in the operator's operating certificate. If a pilot flies with expired training, the Chief Pilot is exposed. If training records are inaccurate, the Chief Pilot is exposed. If a check airman conducts inadequate evaluations and line pilots are underqualified, the Chief Pilot is exposed. This is not a role for someone who assumes compliance will happen without active management.

The people management dimension is equally complex. Pilots are highly trained professionals with strong opinions about procedures, operations, and management decisions. Managing a pilot workforce requires technical credibility — pilots accept feedback from people who can fly — combined with management skill to handle performance issues, grievances (in unionized operations), and the interpersonal dynamics of a workforce that spends a lot of time away from home under schedule pressure.

Investigation and safety oversight are recurring responsibilities. When a flight crew has an unstabilized approach, when a runway incursion precursor event occurs, when an automation-related crew deviation generates a FOQA alert — the Chief Pilot determines what happened, whether it reflects a training need or an individual performance issue, and what corrective action is appropriate. Consistent, fair, fact-based decision-making on these cases shapes the pilot workforce's perception of whether the flight standards function serves safety or administrative liability management.

Required credentials:

• ATP certificate with type ratings appropriate to operated equipment
• Current FAA first-class or second-class medical certificate
• FAA approval as Chief Pilot under FAR 119.69 for Part 121/135 operations

Required experience:

• Minimum 5–10 years airline or air carrier experience with progressive responsibility
• Check airman experience: must have held check airman authority and conducted Part 121 or 135 pilot checking
• Prior training department or flight standards role strongly preferred
• Supervisory or management experience in flight operations

Technical depth:

• Deep familiarity with FAR Parts 61, 121 or 135, 91 (as applicable), and ICAO standards for international operations
• Training program development: AQP program management or traditional Part 121 training program administration
• FOQA program oversight: reading flight data, identifying trends, integrating findings into training decisions
• Operations Specifications: understanding what ops specs authorize and how to request amendments
• Crew rest rules: detailed knowledge of Part 117 (or 135.261–271) and their interaction with company scheduling systems

Management skills:

• Union contract administration for Part 121 carriers with CBAs
• Pilot performance documentation: written counseling, suspension, and decertification processes
• Budget management for training, travel, and crew-related operating costs
• Investigation report writing for regulatory submission

Soft skills:

• Technical credibility with pilots — maintaining currency and demonstrating operational competence
• Regulatory relationship management: productive, transparent interaction with the CHDO
• Decisiveness in investigation findings, training standards decisions, and performance actions

Chief Pilot positions are senior roles at the top of the flight operations management hierarchy, and there are a finite number of them. Demand for Chief Pilots grows when airlines expand certificated operations, when new carriers receive operating certificates, and when the current generation of Chief Pilots retires — which is happening at meaningful rates as the cohort hired during the 1980s–90s aviation expansion reaches mandatory retirement age.

The regional airline sector has seen significant structural change — consolidation, bankruptcies, and capacity reductions have reduced the total number of Part 121 certificates. But the surviving carriers are larger and more stable, and they need well-qualified Chief Pilots. The Part 135 sector has grown, particularly in charter and on-demand cargo, creating demand for Chief Pilot qualified individuals in that segment.

Corporate aviation offers a different version of the role. A Fortune 500 company's Director of Aviation or Chief Pilot manages a flight department that may operate a mixed fleet of large cabin jets on a global schedule. Compensation in this segment can match or exceed regional airline Chief Pilot pay, with more schedule predictability and organizational autonomy.

For ATP-certificated check airmen with training management experience, the Chief Pilot path requires deliberately developing the regulatory and management skills that complement technical flying ability. Most Chief Pilots serve as Assistant Chief Pilot, Fleet Captain, or Training Captain before being nominated to the Chief Pilot role — and then must be individually approved by the FAA.

Long-term, the role's function will not disappear as aviation evolves — if anything, the introduction of new aircraft types and operating concepts creates more regulatory and standardization complexity, not less.

Dear Hiring Manager,

I'm applying for the Chief Pilot position at [Carrier/Operator]. I hold an ATP with type ratings on the 737 and A320, current check airman authority on the 737, and 14 years at [Carrier] progressing from line first officer through fleet captain and most recently three years as Assistant Chief Pilot for the 737 fleet.

In my Assistant Chief Pilot role I've been the primary manager for the 737 pilot group — 340 pilots, 40 check airmen, and a training program that runs approximately 120 initial and recurrent events per month. I've managed five FAA surveillance activities including two triennial reviews, served as the company representative in two LOI responses, and worked directly with our CHDO on an AQP expansion that extended recurrency intervals on systems knowledge testing based on FOQA-validated competency data.

On the people side, I've handled 12 performance actions in three years ranging from written counseling through suspension. I believe in proportional, fact-based consequences — the same standard applied consistently is what keeps the pilot group's trust in the system. I've also worked through two grievance arbitrations on training-related matters, which required detailed records and clear program documentation.

The thing I care most about in this role is the quality of checking. A Chief Pilot who accepts mediocre check airmen produces a mediocre pilot group regardless of how good the training material is. I've been very deliberate about check airman selection, observation, and calibration in my current role and I intend to bring that same standard to the Chief Pilot position.

I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss my qualifications.

[Your Name]