Pilot training good for other jobs?
 

Hey Guys/Girls, I was wondering, if the pilot training would be useful for any/other career?

The thing I always hear is "do a degree in something to have it as your fall back plan", but if you didnt, could the skills you learned be valuable for anything else, especially if you are say only holding a frozen ATPL?!

Having a fATPL for another career is a problem, as employers will assume that you'll disappear as soon as a flight deck position comes along.

Yeah I can understand that, its a valid point, but I was thinking more on the lines that you didnt for what ever reason want to/or can become a pilot (say medical reasons or family or what ever there is...), would your skills be valuable to somewhere outside the cockpit?

No I don't think so, not in the way that say a law degree can fast track you through the police or something. It will show you are intelligent and technically minded yes, but as previously mentioned, you will not be seen as reliable, you will be considered to be falling onto a backup plan, or a short term plan to see you meantime until a potential pilot job comes up.

Im sorry it appears you have missed the question, I am not asking weather it makes sense, just weather there are good possibilities in other career sectors, be it other aviation related work or something completely new. And to give you an example of what I mean by not flying is say someone got their fATPL, a month later they are in a car accident/illness (or anything else you prefer to think of), their medical is refused and they no longer can fly, what options does their pilot education give them...

As stated above if you could fly again, sod all. If there was no possibility of flying again, then it would help you in the flying industry, ops, dispatch etc. But thats about it!

Probably none at all whatsoever. Which is exactly why all wannabes must be very strongly advised to seek alternative qualifications before taking the plunge.

It didn't help me in the slightest.

After completing training I worked for an agency driving vans / council trucks etc and whenever I pitched up at a new location it was " oh so your the pilot". Being flat broke was a great leveller.

Lucky you I say. Alot of unemployed pilots I know cannot even get a job stacking shelves at Tesco... overqualified I assume.

The other day I saw an advertisement for a job as an apron controller at the airport in Hamburg. They were specifically searching for someone holding and willing to maintain a valid CPL.

While this is one example of one job where a pilot licence was a useful qualification, I tend to agree with the previous posters who have said that generally a commercial licence is rather an albatross when looking for a job outside the flight deck.

Not outside aviation, it's more of a disadvantage I would say.

@Spider Man
 

Things have probably changed a lot since 1994.

Eventually working minimum wage and lack of piloting opportunities took its toll and I gave up the hunt and returned to my previous occupation.

Having a PPL is a great talking point in job interviews and one I have used myself, but anything beyond this? Probably not.

Apart from the fact that nobody outside of aviation will have a clue what it is, a fATPL gives you a very specialised skill-set which has limited application outside the cockpit. What skills does it actually give you? An ability to fly a multi-engine aircraft, in IMC for reward. And that's about it.

The biggest problem you would probably face is convicing your potential employer you weren't going to rush off to be a pilot at the first opportunity. If as you say you were prevented from being a pilot for some other reason, wouldn't they then be worried that they were "second best" to what you really wanted to do?

On the other hand I can very well see how you could build and demonstrate skills relevant to being a good pilot in non-flying jobs, for example: attention to detail; working under pressure; ability to work in a small team. I struggle to see how it could work the other way round, unfortunately.

My 2 cents worth:

I worked as an Area Sales Manager for a blue chip company, great benefits, working from home, company car this that and the other. In between I completed my fATPL on the modular route. My first mistake, I handed in my notice so that I could complete the CPL/MEIR Full time.

After the course, and now with a fATPL, I decided to hit sales sector again waiting for the first exclusive job.

Never thought at any point that it would be this difficult. No one was interested in me or my previous experience within the sales sector. That was shocking as I was closing very large deals at director level and hitting sales targets of £3M.

Now, although I'm in a better position and in a holding pool awaiting placement with an airline, still no luck on the job front.

GCEXO, Sorry to hear you're struggling on the jobs front. Out of interest, how have you explained the gap on your CV for the time spent training?

I imagine you're between a rock and a had place. If you're truthful about what you've been doing, no-one is going to hire you, leaving you with a gap on your CV of a few months and no easy way of explaining it.

Agree. Under most circumstances, at least.

Public knowledge about the industry and conditions faced by many new pilots seems limited. I've found that some employers outside aviation wonder why on Earth a commercial pilot would seek to work for them. I guess it's understandable.

Staffing agencies seeking labour (skilled or unskilled) for temporary assignments might be an option for some people during tough times with no work to be found elsewhere. Not that they necessarily have much to offer.

In addition to the various jobs within the industry, government bodies such as the CAA might be of interest in some cases.

There's a big difference between wanting to return to your old career because you're waiting for a flying job to turn up or returning because you tried flying and can't/now don't want to do it professionally.

Returning to the OP's Question
 

Think of how many exams you do for you ATPL's. 14 in total. For example Met. You would have a solid foundation in Met. You could go on to study further in Meterology and go work as a weather analyst. Human Factors/Performance, is there any reason why you could not do a little more study and become a consultant in Human Limitations/Performance in the area of performance sports?Aircraft Technical - study a little further and you could look at becoming a aircraft mechanic/vehicle mechanic etc.As a response to your original question, I would suggest that you have a good foundation in many practicle areas, which with a little further study/education/qualification, you could very easily slip into another industry.

Well, the level of knowledge in each ATPL subject takes a week or two to learn and it's very very far from being indepth going.

There is very little use of a flying background in other fields. Of course, if you have made it through all of it they will know that you are able to learn and adapt and maybe that you are not a risktaking adrenaline junky but other than that, I wouldn't expect cutting any corners careerwise.