Woman is about to board Indiana-Tennessee flight. Then she sees the plane, her seat number—and the pilots


If you’re a nervous flier, convincing you to board a small plane may already be difficult. For one woman flying on a small aircraft from Indiana to Tennessee, however, her seat number, the weather, plus seeing those in charge of flying the plane made her feel even more alarmed.

In a recent TikTok video with over 669,600 views, content creator @adayinthelifeofarealtor expressed those fears to her viewers, who quickly reassured her.

What was so scary about this Indiana-to-Tennessee flight?

The TikToker starts by filming the plane from inside the airport. It appears to be either a Bombardier CRJ-700 or CRJ-900, both small regional jets that seat around 65 to 76 passengers.

Then the clip cuts to who she claims are the cockpit crew: three pretty young-looking men.

“Boarding a small plane, in 23 mph winds, in lucky seat 13—and my pilots are TEENAGERS!” she wrote in both the on-screen text and video caption.

Calling them teenagers appears to be an exaggeration. The men shown in the clip appear to be adults in their 20s or mid-30s.

Viewers think she has nothing to worry about

In the comments, viewers shared stories about flying with young pilots. Others reassured her based on experiences with loved ones who train as pilots.

“Most regional airline pilots are pretty young. They all start at regionals,” one commenter wrote. “I am a flight attendant for a regional and trust me they are young, but have a bazillion flying hours and are definitely competent!”

Another viewer said her 23-year-old son is already a captain.

“My son is 23 an a Cpt. For American and he gets asked all the time if he’s the flight attendant,” she wrote. “He flys better than my 55 year old hubby who is also a pilot. You are in good good hands shug.”

Others looked at the uniforms for clues.

“The guy on the left has 4 bars on his shoulder, that’s a Captain, you’ll be fine, they don’t hand those out,” another commenter wrote.

A fourth commenter also pointed to the amount of flying experience pilots generally need before reaching an airline cockpit.

“You have to have 1500 hours flying before you can even get your ATP certificate which is required for airlines transferring more than 30 passengers!” they wrote. “My husband was at 1800 hours before he went to his regional and 3500 before he got hired mainline. Thats A LOT of flying.”

How young can an airline pilot actually be?

Probably younger than some passengers expect.

In the U.S., you can get a student pilot certificate at 16 and fly a plane solo. At 17, trainees can earn a private pilot certificate, which requires around 75 hours of flight time. A private pilot can carry passengers but cannot be employed by an airline and earn income through it.

In order to fly a plane the size of the one the TikTok creator showed, a pilot would need a commercial pilot certificate. They can get that at 23 at minimum, having completed at least 1,500 hours of flight time.

Not all pilots get these licenses as early as they can, though. According to data by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the average age of U.S. pilots was 42.1 years in 2025.

@adayinthelifeofarealtor

Subplot News has reached out to the creator via TikTok messages for comment.