Also called: Flight Service Station Specialist, Pilot Weather Briefer
Gives pilots weather briefings, files flight plans, and helps lost or troubled small-plane pilots by radio.
A flight service specialist answers calls and radio requests from private pilots, explaining thunderstorms or icing along their route. If a pilot is lost, they help locate the plane and coordinate search and rescue.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 2 years after high school. Aviation weather and air traffic training; many have pilot or controller backgrounds.
Ways in: Certification, Military, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Aviation, Meteorology.
Shrinking (about -2% over 10 years). A small, shrinking workforce run by an FAA contractor.
High risk for 10 years. Automated weather briefings and online flight plans already replaced most of this job; few openings remain.
Classes: Earth science, Geography.
Official data: O*NET occupation 53-2021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.