I always find that when someone asks you what you do for the first time, 'pilot' doesn't really impress as it would have done 50 years ago. I normally say 'it begins with P'. Then I will settle on some guess that sounds suitably interesting, and BS my way through the rest of the conversation.
So far, I have been a psychologist, a photographer, a plumber, a pengiun keeper (and a pilot). The thing about being a pilot is that it really kills the conversation, quicker than if you were to say that you were a morgue assistant.