Originally Posted by
Mr Proach
Academia is not benchmark here. Every-time a pilot takes to the sky he/she has an incalculable amount of rules and regulations which form a very firm (potentially life changing)noose around his/her neck. Pilots are scrutinised and monitored like no other profession on the planet. Many are paid very low wages and treated like absolute sh*t until they gain their first liveable pay and unless (in my day) you have wealthy parents or join the forces then all the education expenses come out of your own pocket (no gov't loans or handouts). Then there is the element of responsibility, these highly intelligent people you reference may be able to write a thesis on a smart phone while waiting is a fast food queue which is incredibly impressive but carries no real responsibility. In the aviation world one small error can lead to the loss of many lives and millions upon millions of dollars of equipment. Do you think that is worth something? Do you think that "responsibility" maybe the reason why Air traffic Controllers' salaries at busy airports base are circa 250K/year? Are your highly intelligent persons' every move continuously monitored? Are they subjected to continuous rigorous testing? Do they have to fill out detailed reports for every minor deviation that occurs in the course of their job. When you have a few spare months work your way through the labyrinth of aviation regulations and you will find all responsibility ultimately falls on the pilot. Then add to that a few thousand pages of equipment and procedural operating manuals all of which pilots are required to carry in their heads such that it can be instantly recalled whilst operating a highly complex piece of machinery in a three dimensional environment during a highly stressful event. Your comments do have some validity to the extent that pilots may not be the smartest people around because who would take on the level of responsibility, accountability and scrutiny for the peanuts that pilots are paid.
BINGO!
The thing that holds us all back is the fact that what we do is not classed as a profession. This is despite us having to have formal qualifications (albeit non-university) and having all the currency and proficiency requirements, and carrying more responsibility than any other “profession” I can think of. There are few single pieces of machinery that are as expensive or complex as a jet, and none that I can think of that can contain many hundreds of lives which can be snuffed out so easily in the blink of an eye. Yet what we do is viewed as a hobby that got out of proportion rather than what it is. Airline managers have fooled regulators and the public alike into believing that all we do is sit there while something else does our job for us, and they’ve never been corrected. It is curious then that when one of us fails to intervene when the automation has a melt down, it becomes pilot error. The corporate belief that people are expensive and that the true genius lies in the boardroom has been allowed to permeate the public conscious at all levels, unabated. Nothing will change until we change it and have our profession viewed as such.
The only thing that separates me from a great brain surgeon (for example) is: if I screw up more than one person dies of which I am probably one, if other people screw up more than one person dies of which I am probably one, I can bring an entire airline down with one tiny mistake, a decision I make at 8nm per minute can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars, and I deal with that responsibility all day every day while earning less than half that of a brain surgeon (for example). Airline pilot needs to be recognised as a profession and until then, we will live cap in hand and at the mercy of some accountant……which is classed as a profession.