The pilot is the narrator of The Little Prince as well as a figure based partially on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself. To some extent, the pilot also serves as a stand-in for the reader. Although he frequently expresses impatience with the norms and values of "grown-up" society, the pilot has also absorbed some of these concerns in much the same way the book's readers probably have. At one point, for instance, the pilot snaps at the prince to stop bothering him while he's trying to fix his plane—a practical task that The Little Prince suggests is ultimately less important than intangible realities like imagination, friendship, etc. Nevertheless, the pilot retains a childlike sense of creativity and wonder that allows him to relate to the prince and to explain the prince in a way his readers will understand and respond to.

Furthermore, the pilot changes as a result of his encounter with the prince. At the beginning of the story, the pilot is implied to be a somewhat lonely and disappointed man because he can't find anyone who shares his romanticism and imaginativeness. He can't "really talk" (3)to anyone. The prince's immediate grasp of the pilot's boa constrictor drawings signals that he is a kindred spirit, and the two become good friends.