Excellent. If you are wanting to become a pilot. You will learn the necessary maths during training. Whether you train with an airline or go to a Commercial Pilot training school, independently, the math you need will be in the books you read. Maths are used when working with temperatures and pressures. Air Pressures, oil temperatures and pressures, air temperature and pressures, density, barometric pressure, math for electrical appreciation, amperes, Volts, pressures of hydraulics, speeds, and sine and cosine for wind speeds and crosswind components, distance/speed=time and many more equations, each are completely learnable - maths in navigation is basic trig and geometry, Angles and reciprocals longitude and latitude, great circle tracks, sines, cosines in charts, understanding of GPS nav systems and IRS systems, but there is not a really high mathematical level, it's not academic and you do it a bit at a time as you progress forward and you are SO keen and enthusiastic anyway which spurs you on asking questions among your fellow students and with your trainers. So, if you are lacking in any maths area you will soon pick it up as you need to pass your exams you see? Your first visit might be to a flying school and there you can find out all about it. Everybody is equally keen to answer your questions and point you in the right direction regarding all the books you need. Again, you would be studying the books you need for that particular stage in your flying training. Everybody is keen to share their knowledge with you if you do find a club which you like and everyone is positive - then you have found a good home. Generally, once you become a full-time airline pilot you are making calculations on a daily basis, calculating estimated time of arrival ( ETA's) and, indeed, back-calculating Estimated Time of Departure, we do this to ensure we arrive at a suitable time and not when the destination airport is closed for the night. We also calculate wind speed and direction, wind velocity and we combine this wind velocity with our speed through the air, so that gives us our actual speed over the ground - groundspeed, that way we can calculate our time en route in order to determine our ETA. We also have to calculate takeoff distances and slope angles of runways and braking coefficients on dry, wet, icy, concrete ot tarmac, and also density altitudes especially for takeoffs and landings at airports at high altitudes on a hot day, known in the trade as hot'n'high. So, there's nothing really academic C maths wise but you will be calculating all the time and converting pounds of fuel to kilograms (kg) and litres using specific gravity (sg), but again, it's all in the books and Study Guides. But when you start basic flying training to earn your wings, you won't need all of this stuff, so get on down to your local flying school or club and ask them about training for your first licence which is called a Private Pilots Licence, which everyone has to do first and you will be well on your way to becoming a pilot. It's a lot of fun 😎👍
That's where todays home flight simulatirs migh be the "equalizer" especially for us poor folk... I got my PPL waaaay back in 1979... And the home flight sim was still just getting started Attari and Commador were about it and they were primitive... But now!!! Wow!! They look real!! It can't replace real time dual instruction but... It makes retention of what you learn a lot easier..(to me..) And the technical and math parts make more sense when you can go back and see where you made mistakes.. A WIN WIN SITUATION... GREAT VIDEO!!
I'm hoping to start my pilot training this year. With hard work and the accelerated programs they have these days I hope to be flying as an FO in just a few years with Captain following shortly thereafter. It is currently a perfect time in my life and in history to become an airline pilot and I can hardly wait.
My dad took flying lessons in the 1920s for a time (when he was in his 20s) ... until it got too expensive. He did manage to solo, however, and later in his life, he worked in the aviation industry as an instrument mechanic at SFO for one of the major airlines. I might have liked to follow in his shoes, but that was before women were really accepted in the industry except as stewardesses, and I did NOT want that job. I doubt I could have been a pilot in any case, for my math skills suck big time. To this day (in my 70s), I still struggle, and often even manage to mess up simple addition and subtraction in my checkbook! 😲 That said, due to my dad's history, I've always been interested in aviation.
The short answer is no. You need to be competent at mental arithmetic. There is a fair bit of math required during the exams with a lot of numbers flying around but the math itself is elementary. It is just arithmetic and a little trig. However, for the real flying, fate reserves the death penalty for sloppy work.
What math, to fly a plane ? If you managed to get through high school, you have more than the math skills you need for the job. You get to work with a lot of graphs simple math on a level much less than those in grade 13 (calculus , etc I did not get to G13 while it exist ) You have a lot of regulation and system procedures to learn, human skills and show biz is very important. Show biz is like the preflight walk around, we do the same thing driving a truck, it is basically show biz , you have what a 737 here, so you make sure you poke your head into the intake, especially after maintenance in case someone left a wrench there. But in decades, I never saw the co-pilot of a DC10 or L1011 asking for a zoom boom lift , to check the number 2 engine , after maintenance. So I am forced to conclude , it is OK for that engine to swallow a wrench. I seen most truck drivers finished their circle check paperwork perfectly, for that is what the authorities want to see as prove you did the circle check. I rarely saw the driver leaving the cab or open the hood. Many do not even show up for night shift with a flash light. I have many stories of co-pilots failure to see something they should have. For small planes, especially those parked outside, you basically wanted to know while you have not flown the bird for 2 months in the winter, a fuel truck did not back into the tail. The elephant in the room, no one wanted to see, is the fact we are pilots /drivers, (operators) not mechanics and lack a shop and equipment.
You need to be very good in math to be a pilot, you have to do calculations in your head, understanding advance physics is a must, this is why the require a 4 year collage degree to be a pilot.
The only pilots that need a 4 year engineering degree are those at Edwards as test pilots. Actually , newer planes are easier to fly , with FADEC taking care of everything, But of course it now demand some computer skills. The degree requirement was strictly a screening tool, when they had more people after the job then there were jobs.
Basic maths is all that’s needed to be a pilot. I’ve flown for many airlines over my 27 year career and currently work as a captain for a large airline. Ive got mediocre GCSEs including a C in maths at the end of high school. I don’t have any advanced level qualifications or a degree. It’s a complete myth that you need advanced maths and engineering to be a pilot (3 times table and a pocket calculator is all you need). The real qualifications are a passion for flying, being a great team member, discipline and being a practical and objective thinker.
Good time being an airlines pilots has long gone and things are getting worse. You have to spend over 110,000 USD to get a CPL nowadays. Airlines are paying very little to pilots. Unless you have a deep pocket otherwise please don't. You would rather be a truck driver making more money than pilots with less upfront investment.
