B727DRVR

Hey F16,

I don't believe what I told you about multi crew aircraft in the civilian world was at all irrelevant. You were pondering, or maybe lamenting, that Military pilots that came from a crew aircraft seemed to have an edge in the civilian aviation world over the fighter types... And, you subtly hint at since fighter pilots are superior in the Military world, that it seems strange that they don't have the same advantage in the civilian world.

The answer lies in the fact that multi crew aircraft flying better translates to civilian flying than flying fighters does, and now the E-8, C-5, C-130, C-17, KC-135 pilot now has the edge. Airlines, cargo and passenger, Fractionals, Charter carriers, etc. don't care how well you can fly nap of the earth or Air Combat Maneuvering, but they do care how well you work in a team environment. In most civilian flying, you will be flying with all types of fellow pilots with varied backgrounds, many with credentials better than yours and many with credentials less than yours. Some of these pilots with less credentials will be senior to you and may be instructing you or supervising you. You will be flying with pilots of many different religions, ethnicities, political affiliations, sexes, gender identities, and you will be spending from 3 days to two weeks with these people. If you are flying passenger 121, part of your team will include flight attendants. Also, you will be interacting with crew scheduling, dispatchers, gate agents, rampers, fuelers, etc. You will be flying a Captain who may be much younger than you, and may not have been fortunate enough to have flown fighters like yourself. Regardless of what they flew before this job doesn't matter, it's how they perform in this new mission and you are going to have to get along with them.

What I'm getting at is that in the civilian world, there is a lot more to completing a successful week of flying than just your flying skills and the airlines know this. Spending a week with someone miserable to fly with to me is more painful than many can imagine... I guess what I am trying to say is that you might be a little obtuse by publicly musing (or lamenting) on a pilot forum that those washouts who were "inferior" to you were now preferred by some airlines. One of the coolest fighter pilots that I ever flew with was also remarkably humble. He never played it up and it wasn't the first topic of his conversations. It's OK to KNOW that you are superior to your fellow pilot, but to SAY or POST it on this forum puts you into a stereotype. Don't be that stereotype.....


PS- I'm sorry that you are bored with civilian flying.. Maybe you should look into charter or fractional flying, where you will be flying with little to no notice flights into some of the most challenging airports in the world. There is also air ambulance flying, which is particularly rewarding. And even more exciting and lucrative than that is ISR flying, done by L3, Avenge, etc... Air attack fighting fires looks to be really fun. No reason to be bored as they are many types of civilian flying that are much more athletic than 121, 135, or 91 passenger or cargo flying.