Airline/Regional Education requirements

[Grievo]

G'day all,

Now I'm a long way from being put out by any of this, so it's merely a point of Interest.

I've been having a look at Airline minimum requirements, and some, but not all ask for completion of Year 12, English, Maths and Physics.

There doesn't seem to be any proportionality to this, for example, British Airways, Virgin Australia and Skippers Airways don't ask for any Educational Requirements, just the expected professional ones, ATPL's, Multi-Engine etc. Whereas Qantas and Skywest both do list Year 12 as a minumum requirement. As I say, there seems to be no proportionality to it, BA, Qantas, Virgin would be a level(ish) field but skywest and skippers surely not.

I'm curious as to anyone know's how rigidly this is enforced, or what the reasoning behind it is. The only reason I can think of is the maintaining of standards, but when you're forking out tens of thousands for licences and endorsements Year 12 seems a bit of an inconvenience to have to do as well for someone who hasn't got it. For me personally I left school about a decade ago without year 12 and joined the army, as was my wont at the time. It seems to me that if I have taken and passed all the endorsements/exams and done the hours applicable to that position, then Year 12 subjects would be a distant memory at best. I could see the value in it for a cadetship for an 18-20 year old, but a 25+ year old it seems a bit arbitary.

I realise this may incur some strong responses, I'm quite thick skinned, so feel free to put me in my place!

Thanks to any replies in advance.

[walesregent]

I think everyone knows at least one person who got into an airline, the military or where ever without meeting the specified minima. I guess it's a way of steadying the flood of applicants to a mere deluge, but other qualities could be enough to compensate. I don't know specifically, of course. In fact it would really only be the recruiters themselves who are privy to that sort of info.

[Mach E Avelli]

The major airlines and some of their affiliates tend to be rigid about minimum educational standards. You won't be able to complete the initial on-line application if you can't tick all the boxes.
Smaller operators like Skippers play it more loose. Their requirements vary with supply and demand (tighter when there is an over supply, looser when there is a shortage). Often it will be their clients who drive the minimum flying experience level and that will over ride any educational standard.

[Seabreeze]

onc i dreemd of been a pylit. now I is won. I didn need nufin but sperience in the Light Horse.

Seriously folks; why would airline management want to have pilots with additional education? Pilots (esp union reps) who understand economics and/or maths-stats are able to question management decisions using economic logic. The "Mushroom" method of bewildering the masses is alive and well.

[Wally Mk2]

It's very obvious that you don't need much of an education to fly a plane. there's many of us out there flying heavy metal that didn't get anywhere near the end of secondary school, me being one of them (form 4). It's more to suit the boffins & Uni freaks that now do the interview process as am sure they use the higher education to weed out the ones that can think on their own two feet, & we can't have that now so what the Co's now need are robots/drones who do as they are told,no more!
I've always maintained that a commercial pilot is more a trade certificate holder than a professional one it's just a skill at the end of the day. One of the few who wear a white collar but don't need much in the way of formal education.
But having said all that if they (the hirer) want the fancy bit of paper & ya wanna be a pilot ya have no choice but to do it:-)


Wmk2

[DutchRoll]

....you don't need much of an education to fly a plane.

That is abundantly clear from some of the pilots I've flown and conversed with over the years.

There are even some classic examples I've observed hanging around on certain aviation forums.....:ok:

[walesregent]

But having said all that if they (the hirer) want the fancy bit of paper & ya wanna be a pilot ya have no choice but to do it:-)

I haven't seen any airlines asking for a degree, only particular high school subjects, and these are much more likely to be overlooked than minimum flying experience.

I would hazard to guess that the educational requirements are there so there can be some confidence you can pass your atpl exams, if they are not a requirement themselves. Maybe having done them could snag you an exemption.

[Grievo]

I've been having a mosey through various airlines requirements and the most sensible I've seen was Cathay, tyhey basicall said, Yr 12 (or equivalent) or ATPL's. Which makes sense to me.

The scenario where I imagine it'd be a headache is for someone who has say flown 2,000 hours with virgin and wants to move to Qantas (I know, but it is hypothetical!) and doesn't have year 12. Surely Qantas wouldn't turn them away because of a bloody high school certificate?

Anyway, keep the opinions/rumours/libel coming, it's all good stuff :)

[pilotchute]

As many people know Qlink is constantly interviewing hopefulls for the cadet and DEFO streams. They must have some really high standards as very few people are getting hired compared to the 20 odd a month who get interviews. What surprises me more is that I know someone who was told he would have to get his Yr12 or equivalent before he could be considered. This is a company that has now concocted some scheme with FTA to train guys with only a CPL for the low, low price of only 55K for the honor to fly for Qlink!

The new scheme simply means they have run out of applicants. But hey, even with 2000TT with 500 multi you wont be considered without Yr12 even if we are parking planes.

[Lookleft]

Grievo your scenario is not hypothetical at all, thats what happened to a lot of Ansett pilots. They had lots of hours but no year 12 so their application was not processed. The way around it was one of those 2 week HSC "equivalent" English and Physics courses. Supposedly that gave you all the knowledge you needed to fly with QF.