Are pilots really professionals?

It seems like you're miffed that you see people accrue debt to try their hand at flying for pay, and flight school marketers use the term "professional pilot" to lure people. Every industry seems to do that, with the obvious (to us) difference that flying is a very big ticket item with little guarantee. Please elaborate on what you don't find professional about "professional" pilots... are you suggesting that a monkey can fly an airplane, or are you suggesting that people who make poor financial choices aren't worthy of being called professionals?

Flying is skilled labor, by the way. If that makes it professional... okay, whatever. If it's not professional work, that really wouldn't bother me.
 
Though I think there is a difference between being a professional aviator, and just someone who does it for fun, I think of flying in general as a trade. Yeah it has elements of most of the other professions (pro organizations, conferences, publications, etc etc), but it also requires really no formal education of any kind. Not saying that certain flying jobs don't require college degrees, but you don't need one to fly an airplane....I don't care how complicated the airplane or type of flying is.
 
True you don't need a degree to fly an airplane, but some sort of college degree has become accepted as the norm for pretty much any field beyond working at starbucks. That doesn't have much to do with professionalism, but rather what is the accepted "cultural norm" here in America. Most of the JAA instructors I work with don't have a degree and have no intentions of getting one. In fact one of my Swedish coworkers has a class date with Ryan Air flying the 737 and guess what...no degree.

Getting back to professionalism and what not...

I think it has to do with one's attitude towards their field. If you're just punching a clock to make rent then yeah it's a trade, but if you give your best sincere performance and have made it your life's passion to be a pilot then I would say it is a profession to you. If I wanted a trade I would have become a welder or mechanic and been on my way a long time ago, but I chose something that requires much more skill and commitment.
 
at1024 said:
If I wanted a trade I would have become a welder or mechanic and been on my way a long time ago, but I chose something that requires much more skill and commitment.
Click to expand...

Problem is, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Becoming an A & P or avionics tech, for me, would have required a lot more dedication to learning the concepts than being a CFI. Flying, teaching, and communicating just "come easy" to me. I'd argue that flying may be the easiest task in managing, maintaining, and generating revenue with airplanes. Just because I perceive it as easy doesn't mean I'll carry myself "unprofessionally." I agree with your point about overall attitude towards the field, but that means a tradesman can be just as much a "professional" as your AME.
 
OK, I will go one further. Is flying even a white collar job anymore? I don't think the vast majority of military aviation is, we are much more of a blue collar type of worker. How many people working white collar jobs have to be on a strict budget in order to survive or spend a great deal of time sharing a bedroom with several other guys (AKA stateroom on USS Boat).
 
C-182 flyer said:
OK, I will go one further. Is flying even a white collar job anymore? I don't think the vast majority of military aviation is, we are much more of a blue collar type of worker. How many people working white collar jobs have to be on a strict budget in order to survive or spend a great deal of time sharing a bedroom with several other guys (AKA stateroom on USS Boat).
Click to expand...

I'm not sure the military comparison works. What about military doctors and lawyers at your same rank - wouldn't they be similarly struggling on the pay, for doctors wouldn't they be bunking with other guys in the stateroom of USS Boat?

As to your original question, under the definition pilots getting paid are professional. A couple of things that are telling however are that a group of doctors, CPA's or attorneys would never ask the question. They wouldn't even conceive of the question. Also, probably pre-1985 no pilot would have asked themselves or others the question - it was simply understood and accepted.

I saw an article in the KC Star once that asked "Is KC a major-league city" - not as in baseball, but as in general. My response was "No, of course not...because if you have to ask it is obviously not readily apparent and you are grasping.

So, the question is, what has degraded the profession to the point where those within it even have to ask the question? Once that is identified and rectified you can start about changing/improving it.
 
Dictionary.com said:
–noun
10.
a person who belongs to one of the professions, especially one of the learned professions.
11.
a person who earns a living in a sport or other occupation frequently engaged in by amateurs: a golf professional.
12.
an expert player, as of golf or tennis, serving as a teacher, consultant, performer, or contestant; pro.
13.
a person who is expert at his or her work: You can tell by her comments that this editor is a real professional.
Click to expand...

Yes. A professional golfer is still a professional. Does tiger woods have a PhD? I don't see why a pilot has to win a bunch of donger measuring contests with doctors or lawyers to be considered a professional any more than a AA farm league baseball player does. If a person performs the duties of a pilot as a means to earn their living, then yes, they are a professional pilot. It's just semantics. People still consider "the world's oldest profession" a profession, don't they :) ?
 
WacoFan said:
I'm not sure the military comparison works. What about military doctors and lawyers at your same rank - wouldn't they be similarly struggling on the pay, for doctors wouldn't they be bunking with other guys in the stateroom of USS Boat?

As to your original question, under the definition pilots getting paid are professional. A couple of things that are telling however are that a group of doctors, CPA's or attorneys would never ask the question. They wouldn't even conceive of the question. Also, probably pre-1985 no pilot would have asked themselves or others the question - it was simply understood and accepted.



I saw an article in the KC Star once that asked "Is KC a major-league city" - not as in baseball, but as in general. My response was "No, of course not...because if you have to ask it is obviously not readily apparent and you are grasping.

So, the question is, what has degraded the profession to the point where those within it even have to ask the question? Once that is identified and rectified you can start about changing/improving it.
Click to expand...

Just for reference, I am not struggling on pay, O-4 with over 10, greater than 8 years flight pay, BAS, and BAH pays pretty well.
 
C-182 flyer said:
I would like to spark a debate about whether being a pilot is really a profession. Historically, the three professions have been the clergy, medicine, and law, but today almost everyone who gets paid to do their job considers themself a “professional”. Some would argue that to be a profession, you must be self regulating, have a high standard of ethics, have power over its members, and that the field carry a level of status or prestige.

So, are commercial pilots really professionals? If so, is the guy flying fish spotting missions a professional, or a blue color worker who drives an airplane rather than a dump truck? What about a jump pilot, a SCUBA instructor, a truck driver, a tandem master, or a police officer? All get special certificates to do their job and get paid to do it. Is a military officer a professional? Again, if so, at what level does he become one? The day he pins on gold bars and really knows nothing about his line of work, or when he is a Flag or General officer and is responsible for thousands of people’s live under his charge.

I do not think there is a right or wrong answer, but many different opinions on the subject. It may just be semantics since you can look up anything on the internet to support your own opinion, just look at “professional” athletes. Maybe in the past I would have gone the route of yes, pilots are professionals, but today I do not think that is the case.
Click to expand...

What do you think about engineers? I suppose they aren't real professionals either... Stop living in the past dude
 
I just think it's funny that members of clergy make the "professional" list, but apparently pilots don't. So, the people who stand at the pulpit talking about god and sprinkling people with holy water are professionals, but I'm not a professional even though I'm paid to fly a quarter-million pound jet over large sections of the ocean. Makes sense.

If I'm merely a blue-collared laborer, well, I'd like to see someone from off the street come and do it. That's why the "flying bus driver" statement doesn't hold any water, either.
 
dasleben said:
I just think it's funny that members of clergy make the "professional" list, but apparently pilots don't. So, the people who stand at the pulpit talking about god and sprinkling people with holy water are professionals, but I'm not a professional even though I'm paid to fly a quarter-million pound jet over large sections of the ocean. Makes sense.

If I'm merely a blue-collared laborer, well, I'd like to see someone from off the street come and do it. That's why the "flying bus driver" statement doesn't hold any water, either.
Click to expand...

Flying itself is pretty easy. I fly a 50k pound single seat jet over open ocean, drop bombs, study tactics, land on a moving runway and still think of it as blue collar labor.
 
C-182 flyer said:
Flying itself is pretty easy. I fly a 50k pound single seat jet over open ocean, drop bombs, study tactics, land on a moving runway and still think of it as blue collar labor.
Click to expand...

The way I see it you can either pound your face in at a "normal" job for the rest of your life, or your office can be at 35,000 feet and 300 KIAS with 90,000 horses behind your seat. I dunno the career sells itself if you ask me. BTW .....what were your initial expectations upon embarking on a career as a flight officer?
 
brent p h said:
The way I see it you can either pound your face in at a "normal" job for the rest of your life, or your office can be at 35,000 feet and 300 KIAS with 90,000 horses behind your seat. I dunno the career sells itself if you ask me. BTW .....what were your initial expectations upon embarking on a career as a flight officer?
Click to expand...

Make no mistake, I would not trade this job for anything, there is absolutely no other way I can think of where I could have the fun that I get to have. I am perfectly happy being a blue collar guy, it is just that I hear "professional" thrown around so much and was curious about what other people thought. I was not expecting people to get so defensive.
 
at1024 said:
True you don't need a degree to fly an airplane, but some sort of college degree has become accepted as the norm for pretty much any field beyond working at starbucks. That doesn't have much to do with professionalism, but rather what is the accepted "cultural norm" here in America. Most of the JAA instructors I work with don't have a degree and have no intentions of getting one. In fact one of my Swedish coworkers has a class date with Ryan Air flying the 737 and guess what...no degree.
Click to expand...

Yes, it has become the norm, but I'm speaking to the idea that while many fields require a degree to be competitive (or qualify), very few require a graduate level education to actually accomplish your job. Those fields I would call "professions".
 
This has been fun, I appreciate the banter, but obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Lord knows, every Navy pilot thinks he is better than his Air Force counterpart, but I guarantee you there are several guys on this board that have differing opinions. I love flying and intend to make a living at it for a long time, I will just have to seek out what is best for me when the time comes to move on. Don't take anything I wrote personal, some are in this business for the money, some for the love of flying, and I respect that.
 
It is what it is. You can call it white collar, blue collar, purple collar, or whatever...I like what I do and that is all that matters to me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top