Originally Posted by
CLT Guy
When I had 50 hours and a PPL, I did not consider myself a real pilot. It wasn't until I was signing my name for a jet with paying passengers in the back that I felt like a real pilot. Even when I was flying a turboprop on the west coast full of rubber dog doodoo, I didn't consider myself to be a "real" pilot yet. I still had way too much to learn to be that cocky.
I still have a lot to learn, but I do consider myself a real pilot.
Maybe for a military guy, it was something different - a stage when they issued you wings that you earned.
But that is just me.
To me, that sounds like the distinction between being a "pilot" and a "professional pilot" or "aviator".
I've been flying airplanes for 25+ years, GA, military, and airlines, and I still have "way too much to learn to be that cocky", as you say.
But, the day I got my PPL and flew back to my home 'drome with that temporary ticket in a Cherokee, proud but scared, I was very much a "real pilot."