what a pilot is like....

[jrpilot]

Hello, yesterday I went to sign up for ground school and went to a college preview...well I went right for the pilot section and was quite hapy with what I saw and what they had told me to expect anyways as I was waiting in line for another future pilot and young college student, or senior in highschool had walked up with her boyfriend and said "Hey look you can become a pilot, that is just like being a bus driver (meaning it is very easy to become a pilot and require little traing)....I just don't think people understand what being a pilot is all about...

[Craig.]

Sadly the general public is ignorant towards flying. It no longer holds the magical and mysterious thought it used to.

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Sadly the general public is ignorant towards flying. It no longer holds the magical and mysterious thought it used to.

You can say that again.  

There aren't many thing out there that annoy me as much as the people who say that kind of stuff.  Ugh..

[beefhole]

It's sooo true.  Ignorance angers me to no end

[Nexus]

Well it depends.
The PPL part is easy, and dont require that much "smartness".
Heck I passed my PPL theory tests while just attending 50% of the class (because of my job).

While being a pilot is a tough demanding job, same can be said about surgeons, doctors, engineers etc.
I mean in some "pilot programs" you can go from scratch to a certified ATPL 1st officer in 2 years, while a specialist doctor needs to study some 10+ years...

Ever thought about that?

[OTTOL]

Ramp Monkey
A woman was looking at the animals on display in a pet store. A man walked in and said to the shopkeeper "I'll take a Ramp Monkey, please". The shopkeeper nodded and took a monkey out of a cage. He put a collar and leash on the animal and handed it the man, saying, "That'll be $5,000." The man paid and left with the monkey. The surprised woman went to the shopkeeper and said, "That was a very expensive monkey.  Most of them are only a few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?"The shopkeeper answered, "Ah, that's a Ramp Monkey. He can drive tractors, load cargo, and guide aircraft into gates. All with no back talk or complaints. He's well worth the money." The woman then spotted a monkey in another cage. "That one's even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?" "Oh, that one" replied the shopkeeper. "That's a "Flight Attendant Monkey, she's attractive and personable. She can serve drinks and meals, and even evacuate passengers from an aircraft in an emergency. A very useful monkey indeed." The woman looked around a little longer and found a monkey with a $50,000 price tag. The shocked woman exclaimed, "This one costs more >than all the others put together! What in the world can it do?" "Well," said the shopkeeper, "I've never actually seen him do anything except drink beer and play with himself. But his papers say he's a Pilot."

[TacitBlue]

lol, OTTOL.

You guys are right, people REALLY dont understand piloting, or aviation. I asked a freind of a freind for a ride to the airport, and he goes "oh, is that when your getting you pilot license thing?" I was blown away by that. He honestly thought that getting a PPL only required a quick stop at the airport. :-/

[chomp_rock]

It is said how the public is mostly ignorant towards GA, hell, they have airports shut down due to noise! Pity there is nothing us pilots can do to change it...

[TacitBlue]

Maybe we could start getting parks shut down due to noise and all of the kids they attract.

[beaky]

People are surprised when I explain that keeping a plane right-side up is no big deal, but when I go into how much knowledge is required even to get a PP cert., any thought that it's as easy or simple  as earning the right to drive a bus is quickly dismissed. And there are a lot of weird misconceptions out there- I remember a co-worker who showed some interest in taking a ride with me, until he found out that we wouldn't be under ATC control the whole time. It wasn't that he didn't trust me specifically, he just refused to accept that a mere pilot could be responsible for navigating safely using his own knowledge and common sense. Even after another co-worker went up with me and raved to everyone about how good a pilot I was, etc., I knew not to ask this other guy if he wanted to go. I have another friend who's just leery about  putting his life in my hands, as he puts it. Doesn't think anything of climbing aboard an airliner crewed by people he doesn't even know, but just can't wrap his mind around the idea that some guy he knows could fly safely. Weird. I've found that in general, the average person takes flying for granted when it comes to airlines, but views operation of light aircraft as some sort of arcane, crazy stunt, undertaken by lunatics. So really there are opinions out there that haven't changed in 100 years, despite the everyday neature of GA operations.

[beefhole]

While being a pilot is a tough demanding job, same can be said about surgeons, doctors, engineers etc.
I mean in some "pilot programs" you can go from scratch to a certified ATPL 1st officer in 2 years, while a specialist doctor needs to study some 10+ years...

Ever thought about that?

They equate us to bus drivers.  Not surgeons, not doctors, not engineers. Bus drivers.

I rest my case.

Great joke OTTOL

[TacitBlue]

Most people I talk to dont understand that getting a PPL dosnt automatically plant you in the left seat of 747 either.

[Ben_M_K]

This is a very interseting subject. I hope more people respond.

I pretty much agree with what has been said here so far.

Let me tell you a little story about my aunt. Well, when I told her I would be getting my PPL and asked her if would go up with me, she said "No way". I was pretty shocked at this. She always looks forward to going on buissness trips and says she loves to fly commercialy. All she said was that there was no way she was going up with me and that it didn't have to do with not trusting me. Does she not realise that most GA crashes come in IMC conditions? I just don't get people sometimes...

[Hagar]

I know plenty of people who think nothing of flying on an airliner but would never dream of setting foot in a light aircraft. There's also plenty of people scared stiff of flying in any sort of aircraft. When it comes down to it, pilots are ordinary people just like anyone else. Plenty of ordinary people fly nowadays & many have their own aircraft but they don't have the word PILOT tattooed on their forehead. Don't put bus drivers down, I couldn't do their job for

[Nexus]

[quote]
They equate us to bus drivers.