23-year-old private jet pilot reveals there are weird things about her job despite high salary

  • Eva Lucas is not your average pilot
  • She’s earning big as a private pilot to celebrities
  • But the career is not without its downsides

Published on Nov 24, 2023 at 7:07 PM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves

Last updated on Nov 24, 2023 at 7:07 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones

Eva Lucas is not your average private jet pilot.

She’s just 23 years old, and already earning big by flying private jets for the rich and famous.

Lucas spent just two years honing her flying skills.

She now jets everyone from business people to celebrities to locations all over the world.

But while it looks glamorous from the outside, the job is not without its fair share of lows.

READ MORE: Dassault’s new luxurious $75 million private jet is the ‘penthouse of the skies’

Most people Lucas’ age are still studying or just getting started at their jobs.

After showing an interest in aviation at age 17, Lucas’ parents offered her flying lessons at a local school.

It just took one flight for her to decide to make a career out of it.

She started training when she was 19 and earned her private pilot license in just four months.

By 21, she had her commercial license too.

Usually this process takes a bit longer, but Lucas took lessons every day.

Besides the difficulty levels, the cost of becoming a pilot is also pretty high.

Trainees can expect to pay between $6,000 and $20,000 for their schooling.

After teaching at a flight school for a year, Lucas was offered her first job on a private jet.

Here she spent a month learning how to fly a Gulfstream, the jet of choice for private clients.

Now she works a system of 20 days on followed by 10 days of rest.

During the 20 days, she is expected to be at her clients’ service, whenever and wherever they might want to fly.

Her company always puts her in a Marriott hotel when she travels, giving her up to $125 a day for food.

She’s flown all over, including to France, Colombia, South Korea and the Caribbean.

Some of her passengers have been celebrities, who have given her VIP tickets to watch them perform.

Fledgling private jet pilots can expect a starting salary of $60,000.

But their average income can increase to $225,000 over time.

That’s a pretty eye-watering amount, so what’s the downside?

Lucas says the lifestyle of being gone for 20 days at a time has had a negative impact on her dating life.

Her destinations are also not always exotic and exciting, but sometimes quiet and boring towns.

According to Lucas, the worst part about being a private pilot is the holidays.

The festive season is when private jet pilots are the busiest.

“I miss Christmas, my family’s birthdays, and am not able to meet up with my friends for occasions,” she says.

“The first year was a bit weird, but then you get used to it.”

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Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.