That's about the only trait I sadly can't live up to.
Personality of a Pilot.
- Thread starter Whatusername
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Cav
Former Maddog Whisperer
Which side of the couch did you sit on
I've never paid much attention but I'd say I tend to get along with the transport guys the best...I'll take a C130, P3, or C141 guy over some (not all) of the single seat fighter guys. But I also see a difference in the old school fighter guys and some of the more recent guys...like F4 (not single seat I know) v F18. Old school fighter guys are a blast to talk to.
Roger Roger
Bottom of the list
Qutch
Question everything
..... I'm probably the least "typical" pilot from a personality standpoint (exact opposite of a Type-A personality) but I still have some of these traits. I do know that I don't get along with fighter pilots. They're just the worst
I do recall being given some type of personality test before AF pilot training, but I was never sure what the point was, or even if it was for UPT, since they were recruiting/diverting some of us for some type of security clearance jobs. But once at UPT the emphasis was on the ability to think fast under pressure and at high speeds. I sort of enjoyed getting yelled at by IPs from the time I was 15, and would ask for an IP change when I was assigned an IP that was too diplomatic. And I wasn't happy unless we did a couple of spins. My point is, a different personality might be beneficial for military training. Especially for those shooting for the combat or higher speed aircraft. Just a guess. It's a different world in a cramped cockpit, wearing a dozen straps, with your face squished into an oxygen mask.
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thevideographer
Well-Known Member
... but what really got me about fighter pilots was how they didn't like any other personality type, even though it has nothing to do with how well you can fly a plane.
Qutch
Question everything
Navy or Air Force? I've learned there is a little difference even between them.
Muff3n
Well-Known Member
This article is almost scary. I am almost exactly the way described in the APC article. The only area in which I am not like the article is the part about dealing with other people and emotions. I have no problem communicating with others. As far as the hands on intelligence, slight paranoia, realist, and stive high goes, that is right on the money for me.
wheelsup
Well-Known Member
That's too bad I thought the ALPA one had me pegged pretty good, I even once bought a car just to take it apart. Had no intention of putting it back together. Even if it's flawed I'm giving it to my wife (she won't know if it was flawed) so I can have an excuse for all the "irrational" (according to her) stuff I do/don't do.
nocturnalaviator
AI Jedi
Which side of the couch did you sit on
I've never paid much attention but I'd say I tend to get along with the transport guys the best...I'll take a C130, P3, or C141 guy over some (not all) of the single seat fighter guys. But I also see a difference in the old school fighter guys and some of the more recent guys...like F4 (not single seat I know) v F18. Old school fighter guys are a blast to talk to.
+1
Sent from my Android mobile device.
bunk22
Well-Known Member
bunk22
Well-Known Member
Which side of the couch did you sit on
I've never paid much attention but I'd say I tend to get along with the transport guys the best...I'll take a C130, P3, or C141 guy over some (not all) of the single seat fighter guys. But I also see a difference in the old school fighter guys and some of the more recent guys...like F4 (not single seat I know) v F18. Old school fighter guys are a blast to talk to.
I think in general, prop guys are more laid back unless you are/were a P-3 driver. I fly with VT-21/22 down here in Kingsville, of which 90% are Hornet, Harrier or Prowler drivers. Us E2/C2 make up 10 percent and the jet guys are all over the place, from anal, huge ego to some of the most laid back types I've ever known. Us E2/C2 types simply rock
///AMG
Well-Known Member
indeed......do tell......
I think if anything, Cav and others are probably noticing the difference between single seat dudes and everyone else. We are used to doing everything ourselves, and we don't really talk very much when we fly (aside from tactical interflight stuff). I think that is where the generalities end though. The F-4 dudes are just crazy old men who grew up in a time when things were simple (technologically and tactically speaking), and you could get away with a lot more (in terms of regulations). But I think that is mostly just the age and the relaxed attitude that 1.7 billion hours gives you.
That said, the fighter community takes a pretty thick skin, which many folks (pilots especially) do not have, even if they think that they do. There is no room for the excuse matrix, and nobody beats around the bush. Related to flying or otherwise. You are under the constant scrutiny of your peers in absolutely everything you do (again, flying or otherwise), 24/7/365. That isn't the reality that many other people in this world live in, so it might be a little alien to folks who haven't had that mentality. Some people enjoy it, some don't.
Qutch
Question everything
One thing I learned to appreciate were the cultural requirements and traditions that we be prepared to cite our sources to back up our statements....precisely. Even while drinking at the O club. The manual number, the chapter, sometimes the page number. That raised the bar on professionalism. No b.s. artists allowed. It carries over into everything they do.
Enjoy it? I loved it, and still do. The scrutiny weeds out people who try to coast through on bluff. You either know the material or you don't. People who don't are quickly spotted. The end result.......you're surrounded by professionals. For the most part, the rest are gone.
edit: Like Cav 's signatgure line
"Rigid integrity is the first and most gainful qualification in every profession." Thomas Jefferson
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///AMG
Well-Known Member
That must be an AF-ism, as I've never debated in really any setting what paragraph a specific tactical recommendation resides in. This being said, you are of course expected to know the material, of which there is quite a lot of. I suppose if I were making a lot more bold statements about tactics than I normally do (about zero), I would need to cite some sort of source, but I'm not really at that stage of the game yet (somewhere around not FNG, but still a not-so-new guy)