Yes, an individual who is deaf can obtain a pilot certificate in one of the five categories of aircraft: airplane, rotorcraft, glider, powered-lift, or lighter-than-air.
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The FAA's 2020 hearing standard requires a pilot to hear the spoken voice with both ears at six feet with her back turned to the speaker. This standard replaces an earlier standard that used the whispered voice at various distances. A pilot who does not meet the spoken voice standard may not fly as normal.
On board your flightDepending on the severity of your hearing loss, you may want to let a flight attendant know that you won't be able to clearly hear crew announcements. And it's not a bad idea to bring along your own entertainment, whether that be reading or downloading some videos on a tablet.
Audiometric Speech Discrimination.Upon failing both conversational voice and pure tone audiometric test, an audiometric speech discrimination test should be administered (usually by an otologist or audiologist). The applicant must score at least 70 percent at an intensity no greater than 65 Db in either ear.
How hard is a pilots life? Airline operations are nearly 24/7, 365-day-per-year operations. This means many weekends, holidays, early morning starts, and late-night finishes. Pilots lack control over these schedules, too, and we – at least at most airlines – operate on a schedule one month at a time.
Challenging Career PathMost airlines require 1,500 hours of experience before even considering a candidate. This can take several years to obtain, depending on the type of job you get initially. There are ways to fast-track your career, however, and no airline has the exact same hiring standards or process.