Why do some folks choose to become pilots?

[suninmyeyes]

For many of us it started in childhood. A flight deck visit, the smell of jet fuel, that blast of heat as you stepped out of the fuselage onto aeroplane steps in some far flung hot climate.

Childhood continued with model aircraft, balsa wood, every free aviation magazine I could get my hands on. Just a knowledge that there was nothing else I ever wanted to do in life but fly aeroplanes. A fascination with the history and the advances of flight. I remember very well the first time I saw a 747 (Pan Am) and learnt to recognise the distinct engine note.I wondered if I would fly them and in later years I did.

The job has its dark sides, fatigue, too many nights out of bed, officious airport security, congested airspace. Sometimes can't get a word in on the frequency, several aeroplanes calling for start at the same time so noone gets a reply, a pause then 3 aircraft all try again, controllers marvellously patient, (in some countries anyway). Only a few years to go now until retirement but there are still some great parts of the job which still give me a kick and satisfaction like rotation and getting airborne, or manually flying and banking between low level cumulus clouds to give the passengers a smoother ride. Or a manually flown visual circuit that rolls out on finals exactly lined up on the inbound track despite the crosswind. The satisfaction and cameraderie when things have gone wrong yet you have coped with it all and managed to get the passengers safely to their destination blissfully unaware of any problems.

It saddens me when I fly with a copilot who has never had any enthusiasm for flying but applied aged 21 for sponsorship "because he didn't know what he wanted to do " and got it. He will happily taxi past an aircraft scrapheap with gems from yesteryear like a Britannia or Viscount with never a glance.

I am sure every pilot is different and had different motivation. This one never had any doubt about what he wanted to do and has always felt priviliged to be paid to fly someone else's aircraft. I would hate flying to become the preserve of those who have rich parents who pay for their son's licence even though he never had much enthusiasm for it. I would favour a "grammar school" system where those with enthusiasm and aptitude get selected rather than those with access to loans of £100 k or so. That is how it used to be.

It surprises me that colleagues say they would not recommend a career as an airline pilot to their sons or daughters. Granted the times are not as good as in the heyday, of the sixties and seventies and the prestige is not as high as it once was. But it is still a well paid job that is demanding and interesting