Not made it very new playre friendly really. Cant figure out how to activate a crew member either. activate button just stays red
It took me a bit to figure the hired Pilot. But, now that I have, I love Hazel.
The very first thing you need to keep in mind is you won't be able to use your hired pilot until you have a Fighter Bay module equipped.
Only certain ships can eqip a Fighter Bay module. You can find the list on this page,
https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Fighter_Hangar
After you have the hangar equipped, you then have to make the hired pilot an active crew member at any crew lounge at a station.
Once you've done all that, you're gold.
To launch the pilot, square + down on the D- pad and scroll through the menu there to launch and give them orders and such.
Be careful, you can accidentally launch yourself in the fighter when you intended to send your hired pilot. Or you could switch with the hired pilot in the middle of combat.
You also want to be careful with how and when you issue orders to the hired pilot because they can cause you to receive fines and bounties.
All in all, I find my hired pilot to be myost valuable tool in my kit for the game.
And YES, I learned all that from trial and error. I hated the fines I had to pay out, and nearly lost my ship because I accidentally toggled back and forth with my pilot between my ship and the deployed fighter in the middle of combat.
I recommend flying to some place quiet and try out the controls and see how you feel piloting your shiny new fighter yourself and practice maneuvers with your newly hired Pilot.
Have fun out in the Black.