I used to know a guy who had a PhD in physics from Cal Tech and was a one of a few captains of the NASA 747 which ferried the space shuttle around. You know, what NASA did when they screwed up logistics for the Shuttle and had to do a walk-of-shame back to Kennedy Space Center at Mach 0.85. This guy had an insufferable ego and would spend the first ten minutes making sure you knew all his academic and flight credentials. Let someone like that apply.