Archangel7,
I'm sorry to disappoint you but commercial flying qualifications have never been considered by academia as a 'professional qualification' alongside the 'professional' qualifications of a Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, etc. Notwithstanding the Bachelor Degrees that have been offered in aviation studies during the past decade or so, a straight CPL or ATPL licence is considered to be a 'trade' rather than a 'professional' qualification. The reason for this is due to an interesting set of conventions and a legal precedent;
Firstly, people have been sailing around in ships for thousands of years and by the late 19th century Ships Captains with Foreign Going Master Mariner's Certificates were recognised by academia as having mastered a long standing 'profession' and thus their qualification was afforded the status of a Bachelor of Science by higher learning institutions.
Secondly, aviation has been around for a much shorter time period (compared to seafaring) and no conventions were established during the latter part of the 20th century to formally confer any higher academic status to flying qualifications.
This proved to be a real dilemma for industrial judges (in this country and abroad) in determining the first industrial awards for commercial pilots in the late 1950's. At that time the closest set of award T.&C.'s that could be modified to provide industrial agreements for commercial pilots were trade awards (either plumbers and gasfitters or possibly electrical trades from memory) and so to this day commercial pilots (Airline Captains) as far as legal precedents under the awards are concerned are 'tradesmen' and Ships Captains (subject to their qualification) are recognised as 'professional's by institutions of higher learning.
Aint that a kicker!!
Last edited by THE ORACLE; 18th Nov 2007 at 00:27.