FB,
too much brandy on the Christmas pudding I suspect. Certainly most people can learn to fly - a Cessna 150. But, to equate that to commanding a modern jet airliner, is akin to claiming Brain Surgeon status just because you happen to own a pair of white wellies and a Swiss Army Knife.
Most people who contribute to these forums would make more than adequate lawyers, judging from their ability to argue the finer points. Anyone who can pass the ground school for an ATPL should have no difficulty with a degree course.
The thing that distinguishes a pilot from a teacher is the ability to react correctly and instantly to a dangerous situation. Not something that teachers do a lot of. Having said that, a teacher can and should have an enormous effect on their pupils. Many years ago teachers had much greater status in the community than they do now. They lost that status and the financial rewards that went with it through a combination of factors, not all of their own making. We are on the way towards the same loss of status and reward, unless we make possitive efforts to inform the general public of our side of the story. It may even involve, Heaven forbid, hiring a
PR firm. It certainly involves correcting the mishaprehentions, of visitors to the flight deck and anybody else that we talk to, that it is easy and that anyone could do it. A recent survey, in a New Zealand newspaper, put pilots at the top of the list of people they felt they could trust. Lets keep it that way. When Tony Tyler briefs the press, we should refute anything that is incorrect or misleading. Perhaps, at the same time, we should request that he, and the rest of management, stop eating so much beef.