How are pilots perceived around the world?

[Priority Club]

I say I'm in 'energy management' if I don't want the conversation to go anywhere. It's half true.

[cattletruck]

As a mere PPL I learnt the hard way not to tell work colleagues what I do as a pastime - corporate weeds who know absolutely nothing about this flying caper will eventually find a way to use it against you - sadly a fact of life in the weedy corporate world.

Often I would play dumb/ignorant with those at work that were vocal about their PPL (or acquiring one) and show fake interest and ask really inane questions just for my own amusement.

My last memorable flight was in a Tigermoth over a football stadium during semi-finals where my team was playing - I really wish I was wearing my team's scarf. But the flight wasn't for showing off, I really do enjoy open cockpits and it was a co-incidence there was a game on and my team was playing which was a bonus.

Next day at work I mentioned nothing, however one manager whom I respect seemed to have gotten some intel on my recent caper but kept quiet about it. Perhaps there is also something about him that I don't know

[Sholayo]

Well,
Most of the stuff I read here is - I am absolutely sure - big exageration.
I do not believe that any pilot pretends among people that he is just bus driver. Unless for fun. I do not believe you have such low self-esteem, and you truly believe people thinks this is a crappy job.
To all those complaining - if being a pilot is such piece of BS, why don't you just work in other area and just fly for fun on weekends? If you love flying but you hate being airline pilot, this is best thing you can do. In a western world at least, someone with university degree, smart, bright, able to take quick decision, able to work under stress and time pressure will easily make ample to not just rent a plane on weekends and afternoons but even to own GA machine like C-172 or something.

As much as I love lurking the forum, I am tired of people complaining about their profession, which is a dream job for 75% of male population of the world. I know it is hard, bot well paid and it hurts your family and personal life. But if so - why did you spent so much money and effort to get there? Why can't you quit and change profession? I assure you that ATP(L) skillset will allow you to be successful and financially stable in project management, engineering and number of other jobs which are much better than the picture of airline pilot you are trying to draw here.
I know you're joking, but checking PPRUNe for years I see same jokes for years. Booooring.

&

PS
You know, I am just jealous

[Rarife]

It really depends who you meet. I do not like and never like guys who said "I'm pilot" when they barely had their PPL but there are many people who show no respect for this. And by no respect I mean they consider you as total gargabe and say things "You do nothing anyway. Plane can fly on its own. You are there just for the feeling of PAX. You can not fly it anyway." "How you are better than bus driver? It is not such a big deal to stop a bus at bus stop."

It does not change my passion for this job but people are really like that. I wanted to be pilot since I was 10 years old. Once I said I want be a pilot in school. Since that I never did that again. And I do not do that unless there is no other choice. Btw. My friend, B737 captain, told his bank he is heavy machinery operator.

[Rated De]

Originally Posted by Bergerie1

PA28161,

In aviation there is a corollary. Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. And those who can't teach, check.

There is one small addendum; Those who can not do anything of that, usually end up in Airline administration.

Case study: An Australian Airline CEO tells a story he wanted to be a pilot, however the narrative (official) is that eyesight was his shortcoming. In actuality, he was unsuccessful with relevant testing at the target airline. True to form, he did use his stature, rising up the ranks to sit at a big desk, balancing a chip on each shoulder.

[Jet Jockey A4]

I don't care what others think of me and my profession as a pilot... I know I am a God!

At least it sure felt that way when I worked for 3 years as an airline pilot in France. :-)

[AviatorDave]

Originally Posted by arvida

Is being a pilot perceived as a good profession all around the world? I met a guy who been to Sweden and he told me to never tell anybody you're a pilot over there since they see pilots as nobodies!

On the other side in western Europe I know it's highly recognized.

Well, have a look at the SLF section of these forums,
Particularly, have a look at the nice thread wondering about pilots introducing themselves by name to passengers. The spin is: bus and train drivers don‘t do it, why should pilots.

The average public sees us as overpaid, constantly on strike, and essentially doing nothing at work since today‘s planes basically fly themselves, with all the computers. Basically, a little more qualified (if at all) than train, bus or truck drivers.

[towerguy]

probably pretty similar responses to being ATC .

My son (then aged about 4yrs ) was asked by teacher at kindergarten "what does your daddy do for work?" replied "oh, my daddy doesn't work, he just talks to airplanes!"
From out of the mouth of babes...

[Meester proach]

Truth, be told, it’s always the wannabes and bullish..... s that want to talk about being a pilot. I don’t because firstly , we normally have to go through the “ why do planes crash ?” and “ aren’t you scared ?”. Sadly, I’ve noticed , being a pilot becomes the most interesting thing people want to talk about with you.

Take it down a notch and I’ve noticed jealousy from a certain demographic that manifests itself , which basically says “ you do nothing and get paid a fortune “, why can’t I do that ?, when, of course they wouldn’t have the sticking power to pass PPL airlaw.

And of course, don’t mention it when you want building work done , because it puts the price up.

[westhawk]

Earlier in this thread, I shared a humorous (to me at least) anecdote of being mistaken for a hotel bellhop while wearing my pilot uniform. It just illustrates the futility and folly of being overly impressed with oneself!

Since then, the tread appears to have taken a more serious turn. So be it. If celebrity or adoration are important determiners of career choice, I recommend the performing arts.

[Priority Club]

Originally Posted by Sholayo

Well,
Most of the stuff I read here is - I am absolutely sure - big exageration.
I do not believe that any pilot pretends among people that he is just bus driver. Unless for fun. I do not believe you have such low self-esteem, and you truly believe people thinks this is a crappy job.
To all those complaining - if being a pilot is such piece of BS, why don't you just work in other area and just fly for fun on weekends? If you love flying but you hate being airline pilot, this is best thing you can do. In a western world at least, someone with university degree, smart, bright, able to take quick decision, able to work under stress and time pressure will easily make ample to not just rent a plane on weekends and afternoons but even to own GA machine like C-172 or something.

"I say I'm in 'energy management' if I don't want the conversation to go anywhere. It's half true."

For my part it's nothing to do with pretending for fun or low-self esteem or that its a crappy job. I've been passionate about flying airliners for 20 years (and its a superb job) but therein lies the rub, I put a lot of time into aviation over the years and now I want some me time. I no longer want to discussable things related every second of the day so I avoid it if I can. As someone else said, fielding tedious questions such as 'what's the worst thing that's ever happened to you' is simply not something I want to start talking about in my free time. Besides, telling the truth is always disappointing... 'once I had a spurious system fault that self-cleared' or 'a computer once needed re-setting'. And they don't want to hear that i find flying through thunderstorms scary.

I think that joke 'how do you know if there is a pilot in the room - he'll tell you' only applies in real for the first 5 years or so of your career!

[Herod]

I work in an aviation museum (a real one this time, as opposed to my post #12), and I find that once people are surrounded by the hardware their attitude changes. The average passenger just walks down an airbridge, or across the apron, their mind focused on getting to the seat. The people I talk to are interested in what pilots actually do, and the mechanics of how an aircraft behaves. Before anyone says that the demographic of museum visitors determines this, we have visitors from all walks of life and levels of society.

[dr dre]

Originally Posted by Sidestick_n_Rudder

The further north you go, the less respect. Didn’t know it’s so bad in Sweden, but recently heard the Swedes are now ‘ashamed of flying’, due to environmental concerns, so I kind of see they do not love pilots.

There is a movement in Sweden called “flygskam” or “flying shame”. It’s literally people who are ashamed to fly and who refuse to fly because of it’s effect on the environment. People are being literally “shamed” on social media for taking flights when they could’ve taken the train. Is the movement working? Airport passengers numbers have dropped in the last year whilst rail travel has hit record levels. If pilots are seen as enablers by this movement it could cause the profession some grief:

As ‘Flying Shame’ Grips Sweden, SAS Ups Stakes in Climate Battle

[DirtyProp]

As I fly regularly in and out of grass strips I describe myself as a "specialized gardener" with a rather large lawn mower.

[172_driver]

Funny how pilots refer themselves too silly nicknames yet want to be respected and paid like pilots.

I have been doing it for 10+ years, been commuting for half that time, I know the backsides of this profession and I wont glorify it. Yet I wouldn't call myself anything but what I am.

Even those who find flying to be wrong for environmental reasons (of which I am one, in some ways) raise n eyebrow. You can share insights and take part in healthy discussions.

[IZH]

Usually people show a lot of interest when they hear that I‘m a pilot. And I heard all the stereotypes. „Oh, but you are wearing glasses, is that allowed?“, „But you are just a Co-pilot?“, „I believe the training took you about six or seven years?“, „But you don‘t do anything anymore, right? You just have a button for takeoff and one for the landing?“
And most people believe I don‘t work a lot and do maybe one ore two flights a day with a nice break to have a dinner in the city.
But I have never met anyone who was disrespectful. In my opinion it is more that people seem to still admire pilots for what they are doing. But I don‘t walk around and tell people that I‘m a pilot, I only tell it when they ask me.

[The Range]

Originally Posted by Sholayo

Well,
Most of the stuff I read here is - I am absolutely sure - big exageration.
I do not believe that any pilot pretends among people that he is just bus driver. Unless for fun. I do not believe you have such low self-esteem, and you truly believe people thinks this is a crappy job.
To all those complaining - if being a pilot is such piece of BS, why don't you just work in other area and just fly for fun on weekends? If you love flying but you hate being airline pilot, this is best thing you can do. In a western world at least, someone with university degree, smart, bright, able to take quick decision, able to work under stress and time pressure will easily make ample to not just rent a plane on weekends and afternoons but even to own GA machine like C-172 or something.

As much as I love lurking the forum, I am tired of people complaining about their profession, which is a dream job for 75% of male population of the world. I know it is hard, bot well paid and it hurts your family and personal life. But if so - why did you spent so much money and effort to get there? Why can't you quit and change profession? I assure you that ATP(L) skillset will allow you to be successful and financially stable in project management, engineering and number of other jobs which are much better than the picture of airline pilot you are trying to draw here.
I know you're joking, but checking PPRUNe for years I see same jokes for years. Booooring.

&

PS
You know, I am just jealous

Someone smart and bright wouldn't own a C-172 or something. He/she would rent it.

[WeMadeYou]

I’m from Sweden and working as a pilot in Sweden and I don’t recognise this at all. Never ever heard anyone mentioning something like this. Usually people are very interested and asking quite a lot of questions.
Actually I sometimes find it a bit annoying to so often end up with my job as a topic.

[b1lanc]

Originally Posted by stilton

Agree, pilots are often their own worst enemies:

‘a trained monkey could do it’

‘just sit up here and push buttons’


are the sort of inane comments that have a large contingent of the public misunderstand and show contempt for what is still a fine profession, requiring a high level of technical skill, knowledge, good judgment and co -ordination

Impugning your own
profession is not clever

The most frustrating interview I ever had was with a Pan Am 707 captain who's son was a classmate in high school. We had to interview individuals in our occupation of choice. I walked out of his home extremely depressed after 5 minutes. 'It's like driving a bus - if you like that become a bus driver'. And that was in the 1960s. Sad.....

[Loose rivets]

I mostly used to keep quiet. I found just wearing my uniform to parties was enough. However, when in civvies I'd not say anything, but my wife, would sometimes let slip I was a pilot. I hated when that happened, but put up with the sudden thigh fondling. Though I hated it even more when they suddenly stopped the fondling and asked me if I'd got a big watch.

Girls who were old enough to know better suddenly had eyes that had become twice the former diameter. "Oh, aaaare you?!" They'd ask. The interrobang was invented for questions like this.

I was never quite sure if they had a string to their blouse buttons, but they'd spontaneously pop undone revealing a lacy bra that was clearly designed in black highlights along Lambert's Conformal Conic Projections - which would have my eyes tracking south to equatorial regions. My navigation was often interrupted by their boyfriend, who always seemed to be half the girl's height and only have one tooth . . . in the middle . . . and make the best use of it looking savage.

Then there'd be the disbelievers. More mature looking, often in power-suit and intense spectacles. Big planes? Erm, yes. Quite big. Then always, always, 'you don't carry passengers . . . do you?' Erm, yes.
Pause for disbelief mixed with areyouallowedtoleavaplanewhenyouseethepilotisadork - look.
'Live passengers'?
'Well, some of them are.'

Such sophistication would walk off with a set look of disbelief.

Then there's the sensible chap in a sports jacket. "What do you do?" He'd ask,
"Me? I'm a pilot for ACME Airways. Yourself?"
"Oh, I"m the chief pilot of British Airways."