Originally Posted by
Olympia 463
To get to be a fast jet pilot you MUST have a degree in engineering or its equivalent. I expect (but do not know for sure) that the same applies to helicopters.
...
If the point of the ATC is to enthuse youngsters with the idea of flying as a career you are selling them something that 99% of them will never aspire to. The largest amount of flying done these days is in commercial jet aircraft to which you progress maybe from propellor types.
I haven't read the whole thread (got bored a while ago) and rarely post, but thought I'd just pull you up on the above quote. I know at least one Typhoon driver who hasn't got a degree of any sort; he also happens to be an ex air cadet.
But I don't think the ATC has ever been just about producing pilots. Even in days gone by the ratio of cadets to future jet jocks must have been roughly proportionate to what it is now. What the ATC has always been about is producing 'air minded' youth... surely the requirement for this has not gone away, even though we now need fewer pilots than 30 years ago.
I have nothing of value to add regarding aircraft types, apart from a lasting disbelief that this has not yet been sorted out so the ATC can get back to doing what it's been doing quite successfully for a long time now: getting young people off the ground in large numbers... because surely that's the objective?
Cheers all
