Do you pilot an aircraft or drive an aircraft?

Question

Stupid thing my friends and I were talking about.

Answer 1

Good Question and the obvious answer is a Pilot flies an airplane while an operator drives a car.  Taking it a step further, Underwater ROV's (Remote Operated Vehicles), used for work and exploration are 'flown' by 'Pilots'.  The similarity is they operate in a three directional vehicle.  That opens up the question of piloting a ship, which is the act of getting it from point A to point B.  (It could be considered three dimensional if you consider current as an axial force.

Answer 2

the question was nice!

here is the answer that i'm sure about

You FLY a plane.

Answer 3

"Pilot" is a pretty formal term.  If you read an airline policy manual, that's the word it will use.  But most people say "I fly an airplane."

But please don't say you drive an airplane.  You fly an airplane or, in formal terms, you pilot an airplane.

Answer 4

You drive a golf ball and light a pilot.

Answer 5

I drive an aircraft.

Answer 6

You really don't hear the word pilot used as a verb much, more as a noun.  Technically we do pilot (verb) aircraft, but it's usually that the pilot (noun) flys the aircraft.  Fly is the standard.

As for driving the aircraft you'll hear that a lot amongst professional pilots.  When referring to a person flying a CRJ you'll often hear a professional pilot call them an RJ driver.  Me, I fly a metroliner... I'm often referred to as a Metro Driver-- only by other professional pilots though (and private pilots to a certain degree).