Originally Posted by uptpilot

Aerospace does require an almost comparable level of education and discipline. The problem is that pilots are given a wide latitude of authority and non-supervision allowing them to get intellectually and operationally complacent. Also, it's "easy" when everything goes right. Even then, how often are you breaking requirements? Are you filing bird strike forms every time, are you reporting when you vacate an assigned altitude, are you doing a complete and proper brief every single time, are you using proper callouts every single time without exception, are you dealing with aircraft discrepancies strictly every single time or are you "deferring" them until it's convenient for the company or your commute home, are you turning on anti-ice strictly when the book says to do so, etc....?

You make your money in dealing with abnormal or emergency situations where you are required to do it correctly. This means that you have to have a lawyer level understanding of all the rules and regulations as well as an encyclopedic mastery of your flight manuals in addition to everything you would have learned in an undergraduate aviation degree. If we actually enforced the rules, there would be a gross amount of malpractice (the equivalence of it). So, please don't say it isn't brain surgery or some other analogy like it. If you can't explain supercooled droplets in theory and practice like you would hear in a college science class, then you are dangerous by virtue of academic insufficiency. Demeaning our own profession is a big problem for us which is why regional pilots get treated like garbage (it's their own fault). Act respectable, demand respect, and know everything there is to know. If you think the job is easy, then you are probably complacent or simply inexperienced.