Originally Posted by Matt101
My current employer did run a few psych tests actually, but I am fairly confident that they are just another hurdle that most clever people can beat anyway if you understanf how the tests work.
Mine too. Easy stuff. Very unlike ones I had to pass during my medicals before we were ushered into enlightened age of JARs and they got abolished.
Originally Posted by Matt101
I am just a tad confused about what is wrong with being excited by (or perhaps impressed by) the ability of a modern jet airliner to punch through something I wouldn't drive a car in.
Being impressed is for spotters and simmers. I'm glad we have CAT3b capability on A320 as it brought me home every time it needed to. Just sitting and waiting to see whether the AP will make good approach, flare and rollout was one of the most exciting things in flying for me, but it was far from enjoyable. What I enjoyed was lining up from visual circuit with two whites/two reds, making good crosswind landings, flying out of the sea of fog, nightflights with unlimited visibility.... Anyway I do use autopilot on any working day but I do not trust them blindly. They've turned their little electronic backs on me far too often, I'm only too glad that my company policy is that its pilots have to be proficient at every level of automation. Also I'm glad that my outfit prohibits use of autoland on 320, except for actual or practice LVP ILS. And the only ATHR mode I was allowed to use with AP off was THR CLB. Otherwise: manual flight - manual thrust.
Originally Posted by Paolo
Don't think you understood me matey..... when I said "slipped through the net", I meant "me" as I have gone through the UK system with a UK ATPL and various UK airline selection process without one psycho test!..... and yet I have had a reasonable career to date.
And may you long continue to have so, sir. Just because you were never evaluated does not imply that you are made of the wrong stuff for aviator. Also having long and successful career does not imply superior quality. As many other things in aviation, length of service boils down to statistics. Or luck, if you prefer. Better the pilot, greater the chance of having long career. But no guarantees.