Pilot resume example and template for Google Docs™
A regional airline first officer applying to a major carrier. Certificates and flight times go first, because that's what the recruiter screens on.
- Parser read 32/32 fields
- 1 page
- US Letter
- Google Docs and Word
- Plain layout
What a parser reads from it
Field by field, from the PDF that Google Docs exports.
32/32
fields read correctly from the resume (US Letter), downloaded from Google Docs as a PDF and read by the open-source OpenResume parser (commit 4f8255a) on Oct 3, 2026.
What the parser read
First 28 lines, exactly as extracted.
Ryan Delgado Salt Lake City, UT | (801) 555-0161 | ryan.delgado@example.com | linkedin.com/in/ryandelgado CERTIFICATES AND SKILLS Certificates: ATP, airplane multi-engine land; CFI, CFII, MEI Type rating: ERJ-170/190 Medical: FAA first class Flight time (Sep 2026): 3,450 total; 2,000 turbine; 2,120 multi-engine Command: 1,330 PIC; 2,000 SIC; 410 instrument EXPERIENCE Wasatch Regional Airlines Salt Lake City, UT First Officer Mar 2024 – Present • Fly 76-seat Embraer 175 routes across the Mountain West, about 65 block hours a month • Completed initial operating experience in 25 hours with no extra training events • Serve on the airline's safety action program review team, reading crew reports and suggesting procedure changes Kestrel Mesa Flight Academy Provo, UT Lead Flight Instructor May 2021 – Feb 2024 • Logged about 1,200 hours of dual instruction and recommended 31 students for checkrides with a 94% first-time pass rate • Wrote the school's instrument ground school syllabus and taught it to classes of 10 • Checked new instructors on standardization flights and kept the training records for FAA audits Bonneville Jet Center Salt Lake City, UT Line Service Technician Jun 2018 – Apr 2021 • Fueled and towed business jets and turboprops, and kept fuel quality records for daily inspections EDUCATION Sego Hollow University Logan, UT Bachelor of Science in Aviation Science May 2021 • Flight team captain; regional precision flight competition, second place
Field by field
What we wrote, and what the parser put in each field.
| Field | Parser read | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Ryan Delgado | |
| ryan.delgado@example.com | ||
| Phone | (801) 555-0161 | |
| Location | Salt Lake City, UT | |
| Link | linkedin.com/in/ryandelgado | |
| Summary | (empty) | |
| Job 1 company | Wasatch Regional Airlines | |
| Job 1 title | First Officer | |
| Job 1 dates | Mar 2024 – Present | |
| Job 1, bullet 1 | Fly 76-seat Embraer 175 routes across the Mountain West, about 65 block hours a month | |
| Job 1, bullet 2 | Completed initial operating experience in 25 hours with no extra training events | |
| Job 1, bullet 3 | Serve on the airline's safety action program review team, reading crew reports and suggesting procedure changes | |
| Job 2 company | Kestrel Mesa Flight Academy | |
| Job 2 title | Lead Flight Instructor | |
| Job 2 dates | May 2021 – Feb 2024 | |
| Job 2, bullet 1 | Logged about 1,200 hours of dual instruction and recommended 31 students for checkrides with a 94% first-time pass rate | |
| Job 2, bullet 2 | Wrote the school's instrument ground school syllabus and taught it to classes of 10 | |
| Job 2, bullet 3 | Checked new instructors on standardization flights and kept the training records for FAA audits | |
| Job 3 company | Bonneville Jet Center | |
| Job 3 title | Line Service Technician | |
| Job 3 dates | Jun 2018 – Apr 2021 | |
| Job 3, bullet 1 | Fueled and towed business jets and turboprops, and kept fuel quality records for daily inspections | |
| School 1 | Sego Hollow University | |
| School 1 degree | Bachelor of Science in Aviation Science | |
| School 1 dates | May 2021 | |
| School 1 GPA | (empty) | |
| School 1, bullet 1 | Flight team captain; regional precision flight competition, second place | |
| Skills line 1 | Certificates: ATP, airplane multi-engine land; CFI, CFII, MEI | |
| Skills line 2 | Type rating: ERJ-170/190 | |
| Skills line 3 | Medical: FAA first class | |
| Skills line 4 | Flight time (Sep 2026): 3,450 total; 2,000 turbine; 2,120 multi-engine | |
| Skills line 5 | Command: 1,330 PIC; 2,000 SIC; 410 instrument |
Shown but not counted
- Salt Lake City, UT: no location field for jobs. It's in the extracted text.
- Provo, UT: no location field for jobs. It's in the extracted text.
- Salt Lake City, UT: no location field for jobs. It's in the extracted text.
- Logan, UT: no location field for schools. It's in the extracted text.
This checks our sample text, read by one open-source parser from the PDF that Google Docs' File > Download > PDF produces. It isn't a score, and it doesn't tell you how Workday, Greenhouse or any other hiring system will read your own resume. Anyone can rerun it: the test repository has the PDF (SHA-256 065782ea005c…), the expected values and the raw results. How we test
About this example
Ryan's certificates and flight times come first, with an as-of date and the categories airline applications ask about, including PIC and SIC. His airline job follows, then instruction, then the line service job that got him into aviation. Education is short.
How to write a pilot resume
Certificates and flight times at the top
Airline recruiters screen on certificates, ratings, medical class and flight hours. Put them first, broken down by total, turbine, multi-engine, PIC, SIC and instrument, plus turbine PIC once you have it. Use the categories and definitions the airline's application asks for.
Say what you fly
Aircraft type, seat count and the kind of flying (regional, charter, instruction) tell a recruiter how your experience transfers.
Show safety and training work
Instructing, checking other pilots and safety committees show judgment beyond flying the airplane.
Keep times current
Update flight hours every time you apply. Recruiters compare them with your logbook.
Cover letter lines for a pilot role
An opening and a closing written for the person in this example. Swap in your own numbers and the role you're applying for. Every template comes with a matching cover letter for the middle.
I'm applying for the First Officer position. I currently fly the Embraer 175 for Wasatch Regional Airlines, about 65 block hours a month, and hold an ATP with 3,450 total hours, 2,000 of them in turbine aircraft.
I'd welcome the chance to interview and can provide my logbook and training records on request. Thank you for your consideration.
Common mistakes on pilot resumes
- Flight times buried in a paragraph. Recruiters look for hours in seconds. Give them their own line.
- Rounding up hours. Your logbook will be checked. Use the real numbers.
- Leaving out non-flying jobs entirely. Line service or ramp work before flying shows you know airport operations. One line is enough.
Templates that suit pilot resumes
Blank versions with a cover letter and references page, in Letter and A4.
Plain
33/33 fields readNothing but text, left-aligned, in Arial. A safe default for any job when you don't want the layout to be noticed.
- 1 page
- Letter + A4
- Docs + Word
Compact
36/36 fields readHalf-inch margins and tight spacing for people with more experience than one page normally holds.
- 1 page
- Letter + A4
- Docs + Word
More resume examples
The writing advice draws on the tasks and tools listed for Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers (O*NET-SOC 53-2011.00) in the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 license. We rewrote it as resume advice. The person, employers and schools in the example are fictional, and the example is written as of fall 2026, so dates and years of experience count to then.