Posted inHigher Education Wanted: A new generation of pilots

The Hechinger Report

Reyna Gobel and Alfonso Duran

January 3, 2025

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — In this city roughly 15 miles southwest of Fort Lauderdale, Cessna four-seater airplanes are lined up on a field beside Broward College, a community college offering two- and four-year degrees. Prospective students considering Broward’s professional pilot training program are about to take “discovery flights” to explore whether the experience of flying hooks them into wanting to pursue it as a career.

The demand for new pilots is growing: In the next few years, thousands of pilots will reach retirement age, freeing up openings for younger workers in a field where the median salary is more than $170,000.

Until now, the pilot profession has been striking in its lack of diversity. In 2023, about 90 percent of pilots were male and 80 percent white. Those in the field describe multiple obstacles to changing these demographics: a lack of transparency around how to break into piloting, the high cost of most programs and the perception that the airline industry is unfriendly to women and people from underrepresented groups.

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