Eva Lucas started her formal pilot training at 19 and got her commercial license at 21.
Lucas, now 23, is a private pilot flying a Gulfstream jet across the world.
She says the money is good and she’s traveled to Peru and South Korea, but dating is hard.
While some Gen Zers grapple with the 9-to-5 grind in their first entry-level jobs, Eva Lucas pilots private jets across the globe for the ultrawealthy and VIPs.
The French-born pilot said she went from a novice flyer at 19 to a private-jet pilot making $60,000 in three years.
From getting invited backstage to a celebrity DJ’s concert to missing out on holidays, Lucas told Business Insider about the highs and lows of being a young pilot.
It doesn’t have to take years to become a private-jet pilot
Lucas moved to Florida with her family when she was 14. At 17, Lucas told BI she was passionate about travel. Lucas’s parents suggested she take an introductory flight to see if she’d like to learn how to fly at a local flight school.
“It was then I knew flying was what I wanted to do,” Lucas told BI.
Lucas started formal training when she was 19 after getting her green card. She earned her private-pilot license in four months. By 21, she also secured her commercial license, she told BI.
Training for a private-pilot license costs between $6,000 and $20,000, and a commercial license costs similar amounts, according to Indeed’s guide to becoming a pilot.
It normally takes pilots longer to get their licenses, she said, but she took daily lessons.
“During commercial training, I had a two-hour lesson every morning and then would work in my family’s pastry shop in the afternoon,” she said. “Most people fly maybe two or three times a week. So it depends on how much you want to get it done.”
Lucas worked for a year teaching flight lessons at a flight school in Tampa before she was offered a job as a private-jet pilot. She spent another month learning how to fly a Gulfstream jet with her new company before she took her first official flight as a private pilot.
The starting salary is solid
“Salaries start around $60,000,” Lucas said, though this can vary depending on the size of the jet and the pilot’s role in the cockpit.
Career pilots can make hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average US pilot salary in 2022 was $225,000.
The schedule is 20 days on, 10 days off
Being a private-jet pilot is not a typical 9-to-5. Instead, Lucas works on a 20-10 schedule where she’s on call for 20 consecutive days and off for 10.
Those 20 days can comprise a couple of flights with long layovers in international destinations, or there could be many smaller flights across the US — it depends on the client.
“During those 20 days, I have to be ready to fly whenever the client wants,” Lucas said. “If we have a pop-up trip, they will call us and we will have to go to the airport.”
Some flights are added to her schedule in advance, but it often changes. Lucas may fly for multiple clients during those 20 days since the company charters its airplanes to anyone.
The company covers all her travel expenses
When Lucas is on the job, all her accommodations and daily meals are paid for, regardless of the destination.
“We stay at Marriott hotels and get $75 a day for food if it’s domestic and $125 a day if it’s international,” Lucas said. “I love to treat myself and enjoy nice places with my coworkers. Clients don’t invite us to dine in with them but could invite us to see their show or the reason for their travel.”
She’s flown to South Korea, France, Colombia, the UK, and the Caribbean.
“If a flight is very far away from the US, we have a tendency to stay there until the passengers want to come back,” Lucas said. “For example, I have stayed eight days in Lima, Peru.”
If the destination is in the US or the Caribbean, Lucas said, they will fly to drop off the passengers, stay overnight, and then pick up another client.
She’s been invited backstage with famous DJs
The profession comes with its share of glamorous experiences, Lucas said. Her favorite was when she had to fly a famous DJ to a concert in Denver.
She was invited backstage for the show and got to see the performance for free.
“We had VIP passes and everything,” Lucas said. “And then the following day, we just flew him back.”
Dating can be tricky as a private-jet pilot
The job’s demanding schedule can make maintaining a personal life challenging, especially since she lives in Tampa but has to fly to the aircraft’s location and be gone for 20 days at a time.
“I was previously in a relationship with a fellow pilot, and it didn’t work out,” Lucas said. “Dating can be tough, although now I’m dating a captain in my company, which works well due to our similar routines.”
“There are days when I find myself in less exciting places, like a quiet town in Ohio, and I miss my family,” Lucas said.
But the hardest part is working during holidays.
“That’s a popular time for clients to fly private. So unless you have seniority, you have to work those days,” she added. “I miss Christmas, my family’s birthday, and am not able to meet up with my friends for occasions.”
As far as time off goes, Lucas can request days off, but they’re not guaranteed and more difficult to secure during the holidays.
“It’s all about adjustments,” she said. “The first year was a bit weird, but then you get used to it.”
Correction: November 23, 2023 – An earlier version of this story misstated the pilot’s name as Eva Marcus. Her name is Eva Lucas.
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