Are there airline pilots who combine professional sports?

[Artuhans]

Are there airline pilots in the world who combine professional sports? Can I have examples of them?

[+TSRA]

I've worked with pilots who previously played professional sports, but none who are currently doing both. In my case, I've flown with a guy who played for the Canadian Football League, two guys who played for the American Hockey League, and one who played in the International Baseball League. The problem is that the airline pilot lifestyle does not often afford the time commitment needed for practice and games at the professional level. With that said, I'm sure there is someone in the world who does given the term "airline pilot" can be used loosely and because there is always that one person who seems to have 100 hours in a day.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (KLM), John Travolta (Qantas/Personal), and Bruce Dickinson (Astraeus/Cardiff Aviation/Personal) are professionals in other fields who occasionally fly or have flown transport category aircraft. Richard Kell (Premier League) made the switch to aviation after he retired from football.

[lederhosen]

Khawaja the australian cricket opener who is currently in fine form with the bat has a cpl/ir and an aviation degree, so he would be a possible at least in future. There was also a west indian test cricketer who had a second career flying for BWI I think. The most obvious example would of course be Niki Lauda who did not just fly but started a number of airlines as well.

[back to Boeing]

Originally Posted by +TSRA

I've worked with pilots who previously played professional sports, but none who are currently doing both. In my case, I've flown with a guy who played for the Canadian Football League, two guys who played for the American Hockey League, and one who played in the International Baseball League. The problem is that the airline pilot lifestyle does not often afford the time commitment needed for practice and games at the professional level. With that said, I'm sure there is someone in the world who does given the term "airline pilot" can be used loosely and because there is always that one person who seems to have 100 hours in a day.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (KLM), John Travolta (Qantas/Personal), and Bruce Dickinson (Astraeus/Cardiff Aviation/Personal) are professionals in other fields who occasionally fly or have flown transport category aircraft. Richard Kell (Premier League) made the switch to aviation after he retired from football.

Both the Underwood brothers (Rugby union) are now airline pilots. I think they played rugby for England before it was classed as a professional sport.

Edit. Apologies. Tony is an airline pilot. Rory is not but did fly in the RAF

[ShyTorque]

Originally Posted by back to Boeing

Both the Underwood brothers (Rugby union) are now airline pilots. I think they played rugby for England before it was classed as a professional sport.

Edit. Apologies. Tony is an airline pilot. Rory is not but did fly in the RAF

We had a rugby player on our squadron who played in the RAF team. He was also a pilot. The RAF often seemed to think that rugby took priority.