What do pilots tend to do if they get grounded?
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: Perpetually circling LAM for some reason
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Regret their life choices and hope they worked for an employer with decent loss of licence cover or had shelled out for said cover themselves. I’ve said this so many times on this forum - have a plan B.
All that aside, I know of several excellent chaps who were grounded, thankfully they all found roles in the training and ops side as well as flight safety; they didn’t fly obviously but were still in the sim and on the line on occasion on the jumpseat. It all depends how much you enjoy the more cerebral side of the job - a 15,000 hour training Captain/SFI working in the safety department full time is an absolute asset if he or she enjoys the work. Whilst they’re in that role they can of course fight to get their medical back.
On a happier note a friend of a friend recently got his medical back after a number of years - what seems insurmountable is not always so.
All that aside, I know of several excellent chaps who were grounded, thankfully they all found roles in the training and ops side as well as flight safety; they didn’t fly obviously but were still in the sim and on the line on occasion on the jumpseat. It all depends how much you enjoy the more cerebral side of the job - a 15,000 hour training Captain/SFI working in the safety department full time is an absolute asset if he or she enjoys the work. Whilst they’re in that role they can of course fight to get their medical back.
On a happier note a friend of a friend recently got his medical back after a number of years - what seems insurmountable is not always so.
Professional Student
Ground sim instructor (FSI Farnborough seem to be hiring these at the moment) although you'll need a certain number of hours/multi crew hours. Otherwise, some form of office/management role. Or something totally random.
As Speed_Trim_Fail said, always have a Plan B. It's not just medical groundings: redundancies, companies going bust, downsizing, sudden aircraft sales, etc etc all happen on a regular basis in this industry.
As Speed_Trim_Fail said, always have a Plan B. It's not just medical groundings: redundancies, companies going bust, downsizing, sudden aircraft sales, etc etc all happen on a regular basis in this industry.
