Originally Posted by
What
So someone in aviation doesn't have to be educated in basic physics, thermodynamics, aerodynamics and weather to name a few. So an Airline pilot doesn't need to learn how the systems in his airplane work in other words educated in those systems.
An electrician is educated in basic physics. He's not generally considered educated, nor does he need to be in his trade.
Learning systems is NOT education. Learning how to DESIGN and BUILD systems would require extensive analytical thought, and thus is education. Even learning how to model systems mathematically would be educational as it would provide a robust understanding of how they work.
I taught at 141 and 161 schools and although I'm actually very knowledgeable in thermodynamics, that subject never once came up.
Bottom line: people talking about education and aviation always come back to the systems. But the majority of pilots I meet do not even understand the difference between AC and DC electricity. They just memorize single-line diagrams and could not begin to draw a simple DC timer circuit, much less do the calculus needed for AC circuits.
Very few pilots (unless they are engineers) understand basic thermodynamics at all, or could even produce a simple graph or equation depicting heat transfer across layers a different materials.
Most pilots when asked about bernouli's principle will draw a cartoon flow restriction, and have never seen the full equation describing the various components of energy in a fluid flow.
Admittedly, pilots have more in-depth technical knowledge about a wider variety of disciplines than the average tradesman, but that does not make their knowledge and training "education". Pilots have some unusual and challenging aspects of their profession (hand eye coordination, multi-tasking, calm under pressure, etc) which are noteworthy and set them apart from the average person, but again have nothing to do with education.
Flight training as education is laughable, and it's almost pathetic to watch people try to rationalize their background into something it's not. Now a university flight training program could incorporate some education into the non-aviation core curriculum, and presumably have to do so for certification purposes. But a CPL/CFI from ATP flight school, MAPD, etc ain't education...
Somebody once pointed out to me that pilots are "the dumbest of the smart people"...