Becoming a Airline Pilot

[tmpffisch]

I agree, if those are the choices.......choose medicine. In essence, EVERY pilot should agree.

[psycho joe]

Should also add LOOSE and LOSE.

Eg. If your marbles become loose, then you may lose them.

[Wally Mk2]

'JR' proof reading & spell check are a writers safeguard to literary hell!

Yr also probably correct re the Medico choice but there's still something about piloting a plane & surviving the experience:-) People fear going to the Dr's they would also if they knew my background Trouble is to be a quack you kind of need to know what yr doing but any fool can fly a plane


...........I wonder whether that wether will survive the weather..............

Wmk2

[Jack Ranga]

Wal, as I say mate, he could own his own plane after about 10 years. He could even invest in a Kingair for him and his mates for all the country clinics.

Ah, aviation on my terms love it!

Yep, any dumbass can fly a plane, piloting it is a bit different

[Virtually There]

Last I checked, if you wanted to get into medicine then you did need a firm grasp of English spelling and grammar - because you need to be near the top of your year to qualify for a Bachelor of Medicine & Surgery degree. The minimum ATAR for the above course at the University of WA last year was 96.0.

Perhaps the military might be a better option . . .

[Pontius]

It never ceases to amaze me how many pilots would be doctors and vice versa. Two of my AMEs had been professional pilots, I've flown with many pilots who were doctors and then changed careers to plough the ether and I know two who were young and keen enough to go the other way, i.e. leave the skies for a medical ward.

My take on things: if you get a good enough TER/TEA (whatever they're calling them this year) then go for the medicine.....I wish I had. Yes, a junior doctor is going to learn the skills of a zombie and be able to prescribe stuff while in a comatose state and it's going to take a considerable amount of time before the big $$$s kick in BUT compare and contrast that with guys looking to get into the airline game now and it's no different. I'd much rather be chasing (female) nurses around the ward, even though I'd be half asleep, than having to serve up burgers and fries while I wait to see if I can get another hour in a clapped out 152.

I consider myself very fortunate because the stars were aligned and I managed to jump from school to military flying to airline flying and have been very lucky in being in the right place at the right time. HOWEVER, if I'd chosen the other path I always considered (as Nooby is), by now I should have risen to the heady ranks of consultant surgeon, be able to afford a much bigger boat and be in my bed most nights, instead of stabbing myself with a pen to stay awake over some ocean or vast land.

I've got no choice now as I'm too old to convert (and couldn't afford the pay cut) but if I had my time again..........

[Virtually There]

Never too late, mate. Friend of mine started studying for medicine at the age of 35. She already had two degrees, so fast-tracked her undergrad studies, and finished her internship seven years later. She did the hard yards studying and working at the same time, but she proved to herself - and everyone else - that it was certainly possible.

[HulaBula]

I thought a degree may be an advantage when applying for promotions, eg. Command, alongside appropriate flight hours and licensing?

No. It is not a consideration for Command.

Getting a shot at Command is still seniority based in most airline companies. That is, having several years of unblemished (some may say unremarkable) employment history. Follow company rules, don't be creative, pass all your checks, and you will get the opportunity to qualify. Note I said opportunity to qualify, you would still have to pass the tests

A fellow with 1000hr on type and 2 years in company and a PhD will always run second in opportunity to qualify, to a guy that has a Year 12 education, an ATPL, company minimums and 5 years in company with nil significant events on his/her employment or training files. Always.

Now as to who would make the better Captain, well.....

My concern is, do pilots really get to communicate with passengers?

Yes. Over the PA, speaking from a script found in the company Operations Manual. You are warned not to make jokes, as they may be mis interpreted. It is also better to not make your PA while the movie is running. The PA will interrupt the morning news and the movie and irritate the pax.

Direct contact with passengers has been all but eliminated. In fact, it is actively discouraged. See Air Transport Security Regulations 2005 at paragraph 2.39 (c)

I get a thrill out of flying, but also out of working with people.

You might want to refine that a little more. Embalmers enjoy working with people, too.

Doctors also work with people. A&E specialists see healthy people permanently smashed up and disabled by stupid events like car accidents and domestic disputes. Oncologists often watch nice people slowly die. GP's often have to write medical certificates for time wasters, and be careful not to be hoodwinked into prescribing narcotics and analgesia to well spoken and nicely dressed drug addicts.

Medico friends of mine complain about inequities in workload and remuneration. Just like Pilots! Surgeons and anaesthetists in public hospitals often earn less than physiotherapists employed by professional sporting clubs. However it is also possible for a medico to earn ridiculous amounts of money, the penalty however is that they are usually very, very busy people. One friend wore the title Mister, way above a mere Doctor. However to earn his $400k salary would involve starting work at 6am, knock off at 6pm to have dinner with his family, then back to the office from 8pm to midnight to do his paperwork etc. Six days a week. Not my cup of tea!

So it aint all bread and circuses there, either.

The great advantage that a qualified doctor has, is that he or she can work for themselves, for the government, as a locum, or form a business or partnership.

An airline pilot has to work for an airline. And there's only a handful of those.



There is really only one thing that you ought consider before dedicating all your spare income until you are 25, and your entire working life to aviation -

Would any other occupation be second best, for you?

I've had to share flight decks with w@nkers, report to managers that were buffoons, fly aeroplanes maintained by gorrillas. Etc. Met a few nice people along the way too.

The one thing that keeps me in my seat is the view I reckon I'll have tomorrow morning at about 7am, of all the cars bumper to bumper on the freeway heading to work. To spend all their working day in little boxes with maybe no windows.

I'll clean up my ship, accelerate to 250KIAS and grin at them as my magic carpet climbs me to 33,000 feet.

You have to want this job. You won't survive all the sh!t that comes with it if that basic desire to fly is not driving you.

Good luck with your decision.

[adsyj]

HulaBula

Outstanding post.

[Jack Ranga]

I'll bet anybody here (not hear) that at least 95% of medical practitioners (even the gen y'ers) would know the difference between:

here : hear

weather : whether

lose : loose

to : too : two

there : their : they're

Which (not witch) would indicate some level of learning ability.

(and I bet hulabula drove to work amongst those same doods he saw when he took off)

[Jabiman]

(and I bet hulabula drove to work amongst those same doods he saw when he took off)

No he didn't because he had to go in to work at 0400!

[Jack Ranga]

He mustn't take the ring road!

[boltz]

Don't forget to consider the lifestyle that comes with the job.

[Jack Ranga]

boltz,

Neither of the lifestyles being discussed appeal.

But if you are going to live either of the lifestyles you may as well be respected, compensated etc

[Wally Mk2]

...........'JR' those pesky posters on other threads been teasing you with poor spelling & grammar hey?

One thing that a Dr doesn't have to do before he/she heads in to the 'office' for the day is get subjected to a security search & have to go thru numerous checks etc just so he/she can pilot a plane with an axe already in the cockpit just waiting for him/her! Never could figure that one out
I could never have been a Dr as I wasn't clever enough at school but got to be a 'pirot' & I still ain't clever! Still I love flying, I wonder how many Dr's love being a Dr?

Anyway all that blood & guts being a Dr, yuk ya can have that on ya own !


Wmk2

[KRUSTY 34]

Gidday Wal'.

I'll take a punt, no google. Jimmy Stewart to Richard (now Sir Richard) Attenborough.

Appologies for T.D.

[patienceboy]

Unless you are accepted into a cadetship you cannot become an Airline Pilot just by completing a degree program. Once you have your commercial license you must build experience and gradually work your way towards an airline job. This could take ten years or more and a degree will not fast track the process. Many people never make it.

To research your options, search for “cadetship”, “first job” and “going north” type threads. Also check out the Rex, Jetstar and Cathay Pacific websites for info on their cadetships. Talk to as many people as you can, but remember that some people will give you biased advice (both ways).

If I were in your position I would study my absolute hardest to be offered a spot in Medicine. Make it your single goal this year. You can deliberate all you like later on... Aviation will still be here in 12 months.

Good luck!

[Jack Ranga]

Wal, I don't sit and forensically analyse every post some just stick out like dogs balls!

I especially like the ones where pilots compare themselves to doctors/lawyers/accountants etc. I've met some pilots that could easily have completed degrees in any of those fields but if you want the money/rewards these guys earn I think you're going to have to present like them.

[xxgoldxx]

so I turn up to the airport and collect a flight plan and weather brief prepared by someone else to do a flight I must have been route checked on, with a plan stored in the FMS and a crew member who has done it a thousand times before with a fuel load to company SOP's and the AP ENG from Dep to short final on the FMS flown RNAV/ILS whatever with the auto throttle on the whole way... oh and I get to speak strictly controlled "pilot speak" on the radio (only as "PM" of course..) and occasionally a scripted few words straight from the ops manual to the pax...

so apart from the odd bit of moaning on Prune can anyone PLEASE tell us why the big deal with year 12 english..???

[walesregent]

Pick medicine. It is far easier to learn to fly if you have the sizable resources of a medical consultant, than it is to become a doctor later in life with the shaky pittance you risk making as a pilot. I say that as someone who is qualified in a medical field and who has basic qualifications as a pilot. Don't get me wrong, I love flying, but it is sure nice to be confident of making the next mortgage repayment/paying next year's private school fees, etc, and it is definitely possible to moonlight as a pilot- even flying the big stuff if you work at it hard enough. The best of both worlds, you might say.