Passenger Liner Command

Captaining a Halcyon Starliner is one of the most coveted jobs in spaceflight. The ship is 520 metres long, carries up to 1,200 passengers and a crew of 64, and is flown by a flight deck of four pilots between Earth, Luna, L5 and the Olympus Ring above Mars. Passenger Liner Command is the 24-week course that turns an experienced first officer into the person ultimately responsible for all of them.

Flying skill is assumed. What the course adds is command. Over six months you will study passenger-safety law, cabin-crew leadership, medical diversions, security incidents and the decision-making needed when a 45 AU route has to be re-planned halfway through. Technical modules cover the helium-3 drive at 4.4 tonnes per 100 AU, cruise management at up to 520 km/s, and evacuation of a ship the size of a small town.

Candidates log 220 hours in the simulator, including our full Starliner bridge at Kepler Yards on L5 Lagrange Station, and 160 hours aboard scheduled liner services in the left-hand seat under a training captain. Evaluations include unannounced line checks and a final command check ride lasting a full Earth-to-Mars crossing.

Each cohort of eight candidates is mentored by four training captains, one for every two students. Tuition is 235,000 credits, though most places are sponsored by passenger lines, which explains a typical waitlist of nine months. Requirements are strict: a Commercial Pilot Licence (Orbital), at least one heavy type rating, 3,000 hours of multi-crew experience and a recommendation from a current employer. The next intake starts on 2 March 2188.

The first-time pass rate is 80 per cent, the lowest in our catalogue and deliberately so. Graduates earn the Passenger Command Licence. Prospective students often ask how long the full path takes from first solo; for most of our captains it is around twelve years.