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Old 22nd Jan 2013, 07:30
  #57 (permalink)  
Wingswinger
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Hampshire physically; Perthshire and Pembrokeshire mentally.
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StopStart and DADDY-OH!,

That pretty much describes it in my experience (RAF FJ to age 38, BA to 55, now a TC at a well-known Lo-Co until the sun sets).

It can be summed up succinctly as follows:

The ex-mil FJ pilot will have aircraft handling ability and experience that most purely civilian pilots cannot imagine, especially if he has been an FJ QFI or QWI and/or done the TP course at Boscombe Down or equivalent foreign establishment. He will not be "fazed" by unusual aircraft attitudes or the corners of an airliner's flight envelope. His hand-flying skill will be honed to such a level that it will be instinctive. An ex-Mil FJ pilot would not have stalled AF 447 or if he did he would have known how to recover immediately.

On the other hand, the ex-mil FJ pilot will not necessarily have the softer people skills which he will need to prosper in his new environment. He will be more comfortable giving and receiving orders and he will have to learn to discuss, hint and suggest his way to the goal. He will have to learn that he no longer picks his team, that he will have to work with the people he is given to work with and he cannot quickly ditch the weak, incompetent or poorly motivated. He will also have to accept that planning, organising, decision-making and leading at the level he was used to is no longer his prerogative. He will also have to learn how to handle himself in interviews if he wishes to progress beyond the flight deck. There is no continuous assessment for promotion or "talent-spotting" in an airline. The promotions go to those who are adept at selling themselves.

I he can adapt to that and accept that his superior flying skills will very rarely be called upon he should do alright.

My apologies to the ladies. "He" includes "she".
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