Originally Posted by
oldbeefer
I was always told that ATC were failed pilots and FCs were failed ATC Officers! (Not my opinion, of course - just what I was told).
OB, I suggest wrong on both counts. The failure is most likely to be unfit aircrew and not failed pilot.
As for FC being failed ATC, totally wrong as the aptitudes are very similar even if the end product is quite different.
Aircrew, ATC and FC are all skill/aptitude related jobs and a failure in one role represents a high training risk in the others. A few years ago a chopped pilot had a lower chance of qualifying as a navigator than an straight in navigator.
As BluntM8 said on a different thread "practicing the art of the navigator. I found that my skills were better suited to the cerebral than the motor skills." However both need the skill of SA or situational awareness.
And DanielOakworth said "as a retired Nav, I rarely took the opportunity to pole the jet, it wasn't what I was being paid to be good at so it bored me "
So each to his own.