Originally Posted by
RISEnFLY
What traits make a good pilot?
I'm at the start of flight training. I've done intro lessons with a handful of schools in my local area, trying to find the right fit. I think I've narrowed it down, but I've heard the same kinds of things from each one, but I can't help but think they're blowing smoke.
The last guy, after landing, made the comment that I "appear very comfortable with the aircraft." He went on to say I seemed much more comfortable than his average student in the beginning, leaps and bounds apparently. The last couple instructors also said I had a good feel for what I was doing.
The flattery is nice, but in all honestly I'm about to embark on some expensive training in a field that's completely different than what I do today, and I need realistic feedback, not fluff. I have a desk job in a highly regulated industry, sort of like a project manager, and it's all well and good to get encouragement, but I'd like more input on what makes a person a good candidate for an aviation career.
I'm assuming you're considering a career change...
Good stick and rudder skills are a fundamental requirement, but they're not really that hard to acquire. If you're reasonably intelligent and athletic you should be fine in that regard. Meathead jocks may have trouble with some of the technical intricacies, and non-athletic types may struggle with the seat-of-the-pants and multi-tasking aspects. Being good at video games is no guarantee, again because of that seat-of-the-pants thing.
That's good enough for light GA, but for a professional turbine pilot you also need some tech savvy, good study habits, high degree of organization and self-discipline, and top-notch multi-tasking abilities. Additionally people skills are useful in and out of the cockpit. There's really no 9-5 equivalent to this, it's more of a package of various traits that all need to come together. You can get by without people skills in some aviation segments if you're methodical and consistent.
The ideal pilot candidate would probably be a HS or college team-sport athlete, engineering or computer degree, with some people skills and street smarts. A work background in a dynamic field where the laws of physics matter could also be useful (military, fire, fishing, logging, oil, etc...anything that keeps you on your toes). Also no serious "personality issues". Not to say you can't do it if you don't fir that exact background, but that's probably as close to ideal as you could describe.
White collar workers live mostly in a world where what really matters is what other people *think*. That mentality in an airplane can be a bad thing if you're so concerned about what the boss, the CA, ATC, the FAA, etc thinks that you forget about what Sir Isaac Newton thinks.